Gudday Cobbers
I hope this little blurb of mine finds you fighting fit and punching well above your weight.
As usual there is plenty going on in our great sport this week. From the Samoan women knocking over the Fijians, to the French dealing out proper punishments to domestic-abusers even if they are national rugby players with prop Mohamed Haouas being sentenced to a year in jail after hitting his wife (some other folk could learn from that example) and through to the U20 Aussies and Kiwi’s ripping into each other in a two-test series that the Aussies won on aggregate points scored (apparently). There is plenty going on.
For me, I was most disappointed to learn last week that Penrith Emu’s 2nd grade had been punted from Canberra’s John Dent Cup after breaching the maximum number of allowable forfeits. And their 1sts can’t be seen as sustainable in that competition either given the score-lines they are suffering. That said, Blind Freddie could see that the viability of a club such as Penrith Emu’s being able to make a serious fist out of having to travel 285km each way to Canberra for rugby was not ever fair dinkum. We all knew that.
And so yet again I am thinking of the shameful situation in-which the more than 2.3million people who live in the Greater Western Sydney area have but one single Shute Shield club amongst them. Let’s be clear-eyed in this: GWS has the fastest growing population in Australia. It makes up 44% of the entire population of Sydney already. It’s a predominately working-class area with the requisite youthful demographics one would expect to accompany that. And yet they have one solitary Shute Shield club among them.
It’s sad. It’s pathetic. It’s an indictment on our game and its leadership that we let such obvious and accessible potential go not just to waste, but to rival codes.
But now I hear we have a new CEO for Rugby Australia about to be ordained. If the rumour mill is to be believed, Phil Waugh, who made 136 appearances for the Waratah’s between 1999 to 2011 and 79 tests for Australia from 2000-2009, is the hot tip to be the next big man for RA given Andy ‘Lex’ Marinos resigned a month or so ago. There is no doubting Phil’s blue-blood rugby pedigree: went to school at Shore, played Australian schoolboys etc, played club for Sydney Uni, was the 2003 John Eales Medal winner, was the 2004 Waratah’s Players Player and was also awarded the Waratah’s Best Forward for 2008, 9 & 10. The guy could play. And since rugby he has made his way in yachting, banking and finance.
Personally I do not know the guy. My impression of him is one of ruthless hard work and laser focus on achievement. And that’s great.
But what I can also say is that I can find no material to substantiate if he is a good not-for-profit manager, has any knowledge of professional sports business management, has any background in marketing anything, or even if he has any experience in proper senior executive leadership let alone a CEO role in what will be a highly visible post in coming years.
So I cannot help but wonder if he is the right guy to be appointing at the dawn of a period of not just potential, but dire and imperative need for brilliant execution as we stare not just at the French World Cup, but the Lions tour scheduled for 2025, the hosting of the Men’s World Cup in 2027 and the hosting of the Women’s World Cup in 2029. In the world’s most hotly contested sports market (yes, Australia it is), it isn’t a stretch of hyperbole to recognise that the balance of the 2020’s may well be either the break-out decade for the code, or the break-down of the code itself in Australia.
So I have to ask the obvious question – is Phil Waugh the guy to see that through? Or is he just a McHamish puppet to do what he is told?
And for my money, a bloody good test of Phil’s executive leadership mettle will be if he decides to buck the trend, change the history and lead the charge to finally grasp the nettle and unlock the clear and obvious potential for Australian rugby that lies in western Sydney.
Go on Phil. I dare you. Do something truly great for the code.
Or don’t.
I guess we shall find out soon enough.
Nutta’s Aussie Super Selection
This one was hard because frankly, a lot of our footy on the weekend was really poor. The presumption for selection this week was to pick Brumby’s because at least they won their match and to only overlook a Donkey if someone else played a genuinely notable game.
- Blake Schoupp – developing well
- Connal McInerney – is probably my No2 No2 for the Wobbs
- Rhys Van Nek – meat and potato’s guy who will get better
- Josh Canham – I thought the Scum Locks outplayed the Donkey’s Locks as a unit
- Matt Philip – I thought the Scum Locks outplayed the Donkey’s Locks as a unit
- Seru Uru – worked tirelessly in a game that was clearly personal
- Michael Hooper – how can I not pick him for Christsakes?
- Taleni Seu – I thought he put in a monster effort
- Nic White – the pick of the 9’s
- Carter Gordon – I hope he can make the next step up
- Dylan Pietsch – had a real dig and did a lot of work particularly off the ball
- Sam Spink – is going from strength to strength
- Sticky Ikitau – all class in an otherwise shaky side
- Tom Wright – scored a great try and did some smart things but shuffled for Chasey
- Chase Tiatia – did some really smart things
- Matt Faessler – the No1 No2 in the country right now
- Peni Ravai – another who clearly had some home-town points to prove
- Sam Talakai – a bit hard to justify given the uncontested debacle, but he is playing really well
- Carlo Tizzano – did not stop all night
- Pete Samu – gets the nod on the milestone match
- Ned Hanigan – played a massive shift
- Ryan Louwrens – did not stop trying
- Max Burey – just keeps getting better each time I see him
Player of the Week:
Congratulations to James Slipper and family on the birth of a wee girl on Monday. I hope all are well.
Perhaps a little controversially for this site, I will offer my thanks to Michael Hooper for his service to NSW. Let’s be clear about two things though: firstly, he isn’t dead. He’s just finishing up at NSW. There are still Super Finals, Wobbly matches, a minor thing known as a World Cup and then off to play overseas. Secondly, whilst I didn’t always agree with his selection by coaches, or his support of particular team mates, or his comments about ‘But we trained well’ etc, nonetheless the guy was an absolute trooper for NSW. Similarly to the way I view Michael Foley and Dean Mumm, the fact the coaching staff saw things in him that I didn’t see was not his problem. And I fear he became the focal point for general fan frustrations that were generally not his fault. He always kept himself in superb shape, always played at 100 miles per hour, always played at 101% effort and wasn’t ever an off-field embarrassment or liability to himself, the code or his folks. He showed up with boots on and mouthguard in and got picked. So full bloody credit to him and I thank him for his service to NSW. If I had 1% of his career I would be a happy man.
A wee nod and a whiskey for ex Wallaby Jack Potts who died on Monday 05 June aged 87. Nowra born and a Waverley College old boy, the outside centre played five tests in a three year career in the later 1950’s.
But for my vote this week, well it goes to the London Irish Amateur RFC (banner pic), who despite their professional brethren (and plenty more like them) imploding around them, are happy strong and confident the 125yr history of the club is safe in their hands. The professional side of London Irish made barely 50% of their payroll in the month just passed and have been given wind-up orders. This lands them in the same pile of bovinial excrementus as Wasps and Worchester with others rumoured to follow. However the same woes do not beset the amateur side of the club who train and play at the same facilities and recently just signed a new 15yr lease on their Hazelwood home. So as ever, full balls and filled beers to the amateurs who generally manage to achieve the things the professionals fail at – to survive against the odds.
So there you have it folks. What say you? Feel free to comment below.