Aussie Pro Rugby
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@NTA said in Aussie Rugby:
@Bovidae said in Aussie Rugby:
If the Force are to continue RA needs to ensure there is a more even distribution of players but will the other 4 teams be prepared to lose players for the greater good? The Rebels already took their best players.
I think you also need to factor in that Perth is a fucking long way from anywhere, which is distinctly unattractive to players who are at the top of the pyramid and want to be close to home, family, and familiar things.
I've flown Auckland to Perth before and it was a ~7 h flight.
The AFL survives in WA with travel across Aust. Are all the Eagles and Dockers players local?
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@Snowy I think this is what NZers just can't fathom. The damage to the (already diminishing) popularity of Rugby here following the most recent dramas, particularly cutting of the Force and the Folau saga, was palpable. Cutting another team really could genuinely turn rugby terminal. I would be extraordinarily surprised if we ever agreed to it, and i think we will push very hard to include Twiggy at every turn.
You may be right in that we would be more competitive now if we never expanded. But it's just too late to say 'welp wind it all back'. That ship has sailed. If we cut a team now - the majority of those players will simply leave.
And besides - the idea that two squads combined dramatically improves them doesn't seem self evident to me. It's not like having Harrison and Toomua in the same squad suddenly means we've got Beauden Barrett. When the Rebels and the Force effectively combined following the cutting of the Force, the Rebels stayed exactly as shit as they were.
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@Derpus I am genuinely not having a crack at you guys here. Aus rugby being strong is good for us too.
I just want a good competition and diluting talent is an issue. Even the mighty AKL side of the late 80's was weakened when we had the North Harbour split (and Harbour weren't good either).
Good coaching and selection is a part of your last comment, and competition between players is pretty well recognised as improving performance throughout a squad.
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It's clear looking back to the advent of Super 14 that including additional teams in Australia has not been a success. The Force managed to come as high as seventh in Super 14. There's been 19 teams involved in Super Rugby since 2006 and the Force have the sixth worst points differential of all of them accounting for seasons played. Not including this years domestic SR (where they currently have a points difference of -117 after six games), they finished with -1035.
2011 the Rebels are included and the best they've done is eighth - the year after the Force was dropped. The have the worst points differential for any Australian team.
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@antipodean Yep. We are not making this stuff up.
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The Blues has been NZ's worst team for some time, and still has a positive win-loss record against Australian teams both home and away. Whatever is going on there, our worst team is still substantially better than Australia's worst team.
However, I'm always a fan of watching us smash Aussie teams, so have as many as you want.
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@Godder said in Aussie Rugby:
However, I'm always a fan of watching us smash Aussie teams, so have as many as you want.
The problem is Australians don't. So if history repeats itself they bring nothing of benefit to the competition and in fact make it worse for Australians by diluting their existing teams. I don't know why they want this.
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@Derpus said in Aussie Rugby:
@Snowy But you are entirely missing the point. Cutting a team isn't going to happen.
I'm not missing the point. We are discussing the relative merits of extra teams in the competition. Are you RA and involved in the dialogue?
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@antipodean said in Aussie Rugby:
The problem is Australians don't. So if history repeats itself they bring nothing of benefit to the competition and in fact make it worse for Australians by diluting their existing teams. I don't know why they want this.
Amen.
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@NTA said in Aussie Rugby:
@Derpus said in Aussie Rugby:
@Godder 'NZ are the best at rugby'. My world view has been shattered.
I'm shocked we will even be allowed to have 1 team, TBH
fuck you Aussies are funny
Maybe 4 teams is the best for what your talent levels are?
Oh, so we have only 8 good players in the whole country aye?
You already dropped the force. For good reasons. In their entire history they've added fuck all except a place for kiwi and saffer expats to watch code.
They don't produce players, they pick up what every other team in Australasia don't want.
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Also, you guys see Michael Cheika is on the Roosters coaching staff?
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@mariner4life said in Aussie Rugby:
Also, you guys see Michael Cheika is on the Roosters coaching staff?
Now THAT is actually funny.
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@Siam said in Aussie Rugby:
Brumbies first try from a wonderful piece of refereeing
Clearly the refereeing team is from the same administration that put together the Force squad. Stunning incompetence from the moment the Brumbies winger stood on the sideline, threw the ball forward and yet they got a 5m scrum. Then the most obvious offside and somehow to these blind cretins it's not "clear and obvious" despite the fucking line painted on the ground.
I turned Kayo off after that.
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@antipodean said in Aussie Rugby:
@Godder said in Aussie Rugby:
However, I'm always a fan of watching us smash Aussie teams, so have as many as you want.
The problem is Australians don't. So if history repeats itself they bring nothing of benefit to the competition and in fact make it worse for Australians by diluting their existing teams. I don't know why they want this.
This is a very good point that i think gets missed a lot. Aussies don’t like watching their teams getting beaten regularly, whatever sport it is.
The NZ dominance of the Bledisloe and Super rugby for the last 15 years or so has been a huge factor in their supporters turning away from the game.So if condensing their resources into 3x teams to make them more competitive crosses a red line that isn’t possible politically within Australian rugby, and only they can decide that. The maybe a trans Ta$man comp isn’t in their best interests.
Just playing domestically or adding some other “expansion” teams to their comp will result in at least one of their teams/Groups of supporters being able to actually celebrate something each season. The other teams will also be in the running deeper in to the season and should hopefully hold the attention and enthusiasm of fans for longer.
Im definitely starting to lean heavily towards seperate Super domestic comps with an added heineken cup style comp with NZ, Aust, SA and whoever else.
This comp can be used for the expansion into new markets that everyone seems obsessed with.
