Aussie Pro Rugby
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@mariner4life said in Aussie Rugby:
@voodoo said in Aussie Rugby:
@antipodean said in Aussie Rugby:
@Tim https://play.afl/auskick seems to be remarkably successful. Programmes like that are making headway in traditional league/ rugby areas.
AFL, aside from appearing to be well run, also has a natural advantage at the junior level these days - in a world where concussion effects are being recognised and increasing numbers of parents don't want their kids playing the violent codes, AFL is a great compromise . You can still be a bit aggressive, but there is little in the way of impact injuries.
It also gives a decent grounding in using both hand and feet skills.
I still don't like the sport, but I can see why parents put their kids into it.
the AFL, in the main, works off a bottom-up model. Get the kids in, and everything else takes care of itself.
Just worth repeating ad nauseam that ex-Wallaby captain's are very unlikely to know what the bottom of the pyramid wants and needs.
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@nzzp said in Aussie Rugby:
@antipodean said in Aussie Rugby:
First up test for incoming CEO if it's Kearns or Farr-Jones; recognising the parlous financial state of RA, will you do the job for free?
Pop quiz hotshot: how much would they have to pay YOU to take on that CEO role, in that viper pit? Honestly, I'm not sure there's enough money... would be brutal
I'd take it on.
The first thing I'd is get each of the 11 previous captains who signed, plus Lynagh & Eales in, on a one to one basis and have a chat. Let them clear their airs, and have a discussion. I'd listen. I'd take a lot of notes. Then I'd do the same with the existing CEO, Club Captains, Team Captains and coaches of each of the super rugby team.
Then filter out the garbage ideas, and work on developing the package which has many people on board as possible. Too many people jumped off the train.
Only at this point would I outline my vision. I'd say nothing until everybody else had their input.
The biggest issue that Castle has is that people were never on board with her selection. That, and Folau.
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@mariner4life said in Aussie Rugby:
the rugby codes, especially the overly influential ex-players, have this weird obsession with the notion that you can only run the game if you played it at the top level. I wonder why that is? And, for some weird reason, people latch on to it as if it's perfectly logical.
The NRL is about to make the same mistake. It's fucking retarded.
I have been around rugby players nearly all my life. I would trust very, very few to run a fish and chip shop, let alone a gigantic sporting enterprise.
The other thing is that, by the time these "rugby men" get to the C-level, they've been out of the game for so long that what they "know" about the game (at least at the elite level) is practically obsolete.
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Kearns is obviously the anti-Hammett.
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@MajorRage said in Aussie Rugby:
@nzzp said in Aussie Rugby:
@antipodean said in Aussie Rugby:
First up test for incoming CEO if it's Kearns or Farr-Jones; recognising the parlous financial state of RA, will you do the job for free?
Pop quiz hotshot: how much would they have to pay YOU to take on that CEO role, in that viper pit? Honestly, I'm not sure there's enough money... would be brutal
I'd take it on.
The first thing I'd is get each of the 11 previous captains who signed, plus Lynagh & Eales in, on a one to one basis and have a chat. Let them clear their airs, and have a discussion. I'd listen. I'd take a lot of notes. Then I'd do the same with the existing CEO, Club Captains, Team Captains and coaches of each of the super rugby team.
Then filter out the garbage ideas, and work on developing the package which has many people on board as possible. Too many people jumped off the train.
Only at this point would I outline my vision. I'd say nothing until everybody else had their input.
The biggest issue that Castle has is that people were never on board with her selection. That, and Folau.
I'd venture to suggest that the people the most out of touch with Australian rugby are ex-Wallaby captains.
They may know a bit about the game in the top echelon. Those skippers with a few miles may know a bit about the game in the elite Sydney and Brisbane clubs and schools.
Fuck all of them would know about the grassroots supporter who volunteers time to run a small suburban club (like an @NTA )...
... or about a club in regional Queensland who can barely scrape up 25 players, or 4 front rowers and has to travel 3 hours every second week and pay hundreds of dollars each to the governing body for the privilege of getting bashed to fuck ... Or indeed not being allowed the opportunity to enter a team in the B grade comp meaning there is no meaningful rugby between say Noosa and Rockhampton ...
They have to fix the base to support the apex.
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@booboo I don't disagree. But they have high public profiles, and if you get in the job and alienate them, the cycle will repeat.
The grassroots is obviously the starting point, but if you don't get the high profiles on board first, the rest won't follow.
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@MajorRage said in Aussie Rugby:
@booboo I don't disagree. But they have high public profiles, and if you get in the job and alienate them, the cycle will repeat.
The grassroots is obviously the starting point, but if you don't get the high profiles on board first, the rest won't follow.
I think @nzzp has a good starting point, but I would add that after all is said and done, call or write to the signatories to tell them to GTFO and write an open letter telling the world that with snakes like them and cunning stunts like that in the middle of the biggest crisis in the history of professional rugby, Australian Rugby is doomed, and if they care at all about Australian rugby instead of their own political nonsense, they will STFU and keep their noses out.
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Good Article Really sums up the Mess that is Australian Rugby
[link text](link url)https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/opinion/121269539/amateur-hour-returns-as-raelene-castle-crumbling-sends-australian-rugby-back-to-the-past
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@Bovidae said in Aussie Rugby:
Maybe Castle and the whole board need to go as well
Did the staff number increase under Castle. Not a smart move for a business that was struggling. But 150 staff and paying the boss 800,000. It justs eesm excessive to me
*Alan Jones has fired a parting shot at Raelene Castle, saying the outgoing Rugby Australia (RA) chief executive "knows nothing about the game" and should never have been appointed to the role in the first place as he called for the entire board to follow her lead and stand aside.
The former Wallabies coach and radio broadcaster has been one of Castle's fiercest critics since she took the role in 2018, particularly over her handling of the Israel Folau saga.
"This solves absolutely nothing," said Jones on his 2GB program on Friday morning. "I have said all along it is easier to throw Raelene Castle under the bus. I can't imagine anything that she has done, whether it's the bloated expenditure, the ridiculous growth in staff to over 150, the foolish and personal spiteful attack on Israel Folau, the hopeless performances off the paddock and on the paddock ... all of these things have been endorsed by the board
Castle resigned as RA boss on Thursday evening after a tumultuous few weeks and attention will now turn to the survival of a board that may also see a number of casualties during a precarious period for the code.
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@Winger said in Aussie Rugby:
Did the staff number increase under Castle. Not a smart move for a business that was struggling. But 150 staff and paying the boss 800,000. It justs eesm excessive to me
Pulver got $775,000 and a $500,000 bonus in his last year.
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@antipodean Really says everything that does Wow
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@antipodean said in Aussie Rugby:
@Winger said in Aussie Rugby:
Did the staff number increase under Castle. Not a smart move for a business that was struggling. But 150 staff and paying the boss 800,000. It justs eesm excessive to me
Pulver got $775,000 and a $500,000 bonus in his last year.
This also seems excessive. Even if they were rolling in money
And why 150 staff. Maybe Jones has a point. Some leaders love to increase staff numbers as it makes them feel more important. But Id like to know what the equivalent staff number were 5 , 10 ,15 and 20 years back. And if RA was starting from starch how many staff would they need to do this work. RA really need a very senior ruthless cost cutter to be part of this new structure. With a top man or woman who is on board with cutting costs
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But just citing staff numbers isn't enough. What were the staff doing? Were they back office suits, or were they development officers working with juniors and coaches?
This is a crucial difference. And citing the past is no guide here, because for years the ARU was the biggest drain on the game, a pack of empty blazers who had their snouts permanently in the trough.
But of course these were the good old days we are trying to emulate, so what would I know?
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@barbarian a victim of their own success? That period leading up to the 2001 Lions series and 03 RWC where The coffers were flushed, players were getting big money and ARU got over excited by throwing large sums at league players trying to exert itself more on the domestic landscape.
Administrators were not going to be left behind as well with large salaries going their way.
Fast forward to 2020 (and it started a few years ago now) and many who knew d day would come are now just shaking their heads with [insert frustration / disgust / disappointment / disillusionment ]
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@ACT-Crusader Welcome back.
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I read somewhere that NZR's staff numbers had increased a lot in the last 5 years too. The devil is in the details.
Edit: According to the 2018 Annual Report, NZR employed 149 people as of 31 Dec, 2018 (111 people in 2015). So comparable to RA in total numbers.
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@Bovidae and presuambly higher numbers where there is a central system?
I wonder if that increase under Castle was related to the investment in grassroots etc? could also be a bunch of folks on fixed and/or short term contracts.
lol ahem - I see @barbarian is already on point and asking about context! Good man
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@Winger said in Aussie Rugby:
Maybe Jones has a point.
No. He fucking doesn't. He never does. He's just a massive fucking hypocrite who rests on the laurels of "coaching" a great team and appealing to the male, pale and stale old boys who think Sydney and Brisbane club rugby is the answer to the current state of our shitty national team.
If you want to have any credibility with the majority of Australian rugby fans, just fucking ignore the stupid old queen.
