2015 Squad Contract Renewals

[G_Beard]

The Force Loosies are a unit to behold.
Agree with the notion of anyone joining the fold will get really good really quickly, with that much energy about.
Elements of the Fantastic Four, the Avengers and the X-men.
Couple positions to shore up in the outer backs.
Gutted about the lads that have explored other options, excited about who is joining us for next season.

[valzc]

I see that massive unit Taniela Tupou is pretty keen on moving to Aus - wonder if the Force would be keen on snapping him up before the rest get onto it!

[zimeric]

he'll be East Coast fodder for sure... no chance he'll want to come all this way over west when he can get big $$ close to home

[Hoolly Doolly]

More decks being cleared in Queensland as Ed Quirk is heading West, more soon

Is cotterall confirmed to re-sign yet? A trade off between the 2 would suck

[GAFFA]

Is cotterall confirmed to re-sign yet? A trade off between the 2 would suck

Confirmed 2 year contract.
www.westernforce.com.au/NewsEvents/NewsArticles/tabid/905/ArticleID/11867/Cottrell-to-return-for-another-two-seasons.aspx

[WFDom]

So MMM & Badger are off & Cheese looking like resigning.

Any chance you can update the front page TiF? Anyone else got any goss regarding comings & goings?.... very slow day offshore

[Lano]

I hope the Force don't waste any further time with Willem Steenkamp. Surely he's got to be the most passive forward ever born. He has managed to avoid contact, mauls, collisions and missed a pathetically easy tackle against the Brumbies. The only thing I saw him do all season was he once pointed to an opposing player in a line out.

[andrewg]

I'm concerned that we still have 10 members of our playing squad who, as far as we know, have no future with the Western Force beyond 2014. It's almost political in the way that some things are only being half said or implied. I'm sensing some real problems in finalising contract issues.

I don't need to hear comfort words like "the club knows what it's doing!" I need to see some important matters getting resolved.

As far as we know we could be losing ALL of our run-on front row AND a number of the players who were willing to step up and show their improvement and committed effort when needed in 2014. We need some X-factor players who can help take the Western Force to the next level by adding more depth and building upon the big improvements over the past 2 seasons. Yes, we need to continue to develop good local talent but this is a slower process than grabbing talent already proven at Super XV level who want to be part of what Foley and Hodgson et al have created at the Western Force.

I am even more concerned that there has been no announcements regarding the recruitment of key players to improve the calibre of our squad to help lift us to the next level. I hope the silence on the latter is not a sign that we have failed to seal the deals, as it seems that so many good players elsewhere have already committed to moves. I hope also that the Club has learned from the Will Genia fiasco which showed that a handshake or verbal commitment just isn't enough.

It would be great to have these matters resolved before the Awards Night so that we can thank those going for their efforts and to start getting REALLY excited about 2015.

[todd4]

I hope the Force don't waste any further time with Willem Steenkamp. Surely he's got to be the most passive forward ever born. He has managed to avoid contact, mauls, collisions and missed a pathetically easy tackle against the Brumbies. The only thing I saw him do all season was he once pointed to an opposing player in a line out.

A tad harsh.

[SNOB]

I hope the Force don't waste any further time with Willem Steenkamp. Surely he's got to be the most passive forward ever born. He has managed to avoid contact, mauls, collisions and missed a pathetically easy tackle against the Brumbies. The only thing I saw him do all season was he once pointed to an opposing player in a line out.

Sounds like you've only watched one game this season.

[farva]

I'm concerned that we still have 10 members of our playing squad who, as far as we know, have no future with the Western Force beyond 2014. It's almost political in the way that some things are only being half said or implied. I'm sensing some real problems in finalising contract issues.

I don't need to hear comfort words like "the club knows what it's doing!" I need to see some important matters getting resolved.

As far as we know we could be losing ALL of our run-on front row AND a number of the players who were willing to step up and show their improvement and committed effort when needed in 2014. We need some X-factor players who can help take the Western Force to the next level by adding more depth and building upon the big improvements over the past 2 seasons. Yes, we need to continue to develop good local talent but this is a slower process than grabbing talent already proven at Super XV level who want to be part of what Foley and Hodgson et al have created at the Western Force.

I am even more concerned that there has been no announcements regarding the recruitment of key players to improve the calibre of our squad to help lift us to the next level. I hope the silence on the latter is not a sign that we have failed to seal the deals, as it seems that so many good players elsewhere have already committed to moves. I hope also that the Club has learned from the Will Genia fiasco which showed that a handshake or verbal commitment just isn't enough.

It would be great to have these matters resolved before the Awards Night so that we can thank those going for their efforts and to start getting REALLY excited about 2015.

Mtate, the Forces season only ended last week. We still have super rugby finals on the go at the moment.
I would assume that in the final few weeks, most players stop worrying about contracts and concentrate on trying to make the finals. Trying to look at contracts at that time would be horribly detrimental to the squads preparation. And any earlier and you don't have a decent understanding of who you want to keep.

I would suspect that we will see re-signings with the club over the next few months.

[Alison]

I agree with you Andrew.

My theory is that as we have so many non-Wallaby players who maybe have less reason to ply their trade in Aus, many of them are looking at the money being offered overseas and using that as the benchmark for negotiations with RWA. As we just don't have a cheque book anywhere near the size of our overseas competitors, maybe RWA is trying to find other ways in which they might be able to bridge the gap and it's that which is taking the time?

Or, maybe those players are already lost to us but RWA don't want to tell us until they have replacements to announce at the same time?

Either way, the bottom line appears to me to be money - or rather, our lack of it here in Aus compared to the Northern Hemisphere.

[andrewg]

Mtate, the Forces season only ended last week. We still have super rugby finals on the go at the moment.
I would assume that in the final few weeks, most players stop worrying about contracts and concentrate on trying to make the finals. Trying to look at contracts at that time would be horribly detrimental to the squads preparation. And any earlier and you don't have a decent understanding of who you want to keep.

I would suspect that we will see re-signings with the club over the next few months.

The finals don't effect the WF and 8 other Super XV teams. For them the season was over last week (some even earlier). The amount of movement from teams such as the Reds is showing that other franchises have been locking in players for the past 2 months. Most discussions are with the players' managers - not the players.

At the pre-season meet-the-Members-meetings we were advised by the CEO that Kyle Godwin's signing was an indication of how the WF would be operating in 2014. Members could expect to see on-going evaluation of the players during the pre-season period and early games. More of the valued players would be signed early in the year so that it wasn't a distraction to the players during the season. This obviously hasn't happened.

As we can see by the movement off-shore and within the Australian franchises many players are getting picked up NOW.

I agree that this process can be a distraction. It's been a distraction since before the June Test break when KBomb's departure was announced by McKenzie. There is obviously always a lot happening in the background.

It may also explain why some players didn't get switched on after the June Test break as clearly the same intensity wasn't present.

Some of the WF players will be involved in the NRC. There will be ongoing physical development of some players just like last year (when most bulked up e.g Benny Mac who carried an extra 5kg this year [for the better]). A few players will be involved in the Rugby Championship. Then for most it will be 5 weeks holiday and back into pre-season again.

A few will be involved in the Wallabies Spring Tour and the WF will not see them again until mid-January.

I'm just expressing my concern that the year has not unfolded in the way were were informed that it would regarding an early resigning of valued players AND we have yet to announce any new players. At the same time it appears that the Nthn hemisphere clubs are offering big $$s to attract good players.

If we had those we wanted to keep already locked in then they wouldn't be listening to approaches from others.

[chibi]

Just saw this today, Hernandez to leave Racing Metro for Argentina maybe it's a short-term option for an experienced back?

[andrewg]

I hope the Force don't waste any further time with Willem Steenkamp. Surely he's got to be the most passive forward ever born. He has managed to avoid contact, mauls, collisions and missed a pathetically easy tackle against the Brumbies. The only thing I saw him do all season was he once pointed to an opposing player in a line out.

Wilhelm Steenkamp appears to fit into the team culture at the Western Force but I suspect that the Club was expecting someone more like a Potgieter (Waratahs).

IMO Wilhelm showed what he could do in the home game against the Tahs when he combined with Hodgo to ensure Skelton didn't get over the try line.

However, his work rate is generally low (as shown by his stats) and in most aspects of the game he is quite ineffective. Generally his impact (carries, passes, off-loads, defenders beaten, clean breaks etc) is <50% of Sam Wykes. Tackle efficiency only 84% (Potgieter 92%) , half the carries of Sam Wykes and he only averages 1.1m advance per carry (Sam 1.8m, Potgieter 2.6m). Early in the season Wilhelm was quite effective at the breakdown (8 Turn Overs. Sam had only 5)

For those who remember/noticed, Wilhelm suffered a mid-season shoulder injury at a home game and he then missed a number of games, including the SA tour. He was almost absent when playing after the June Test break (as his stats show). He became a very low-impact player.

I hope that Wilhelm gets a chance to work on his physical condition in the off-season, bulk up, heal any nagging injuries and get an injection of Aussie mongrel blue dog so that he can make his physical presence on the field felt for the WF in 2015.