3. Ditch the NRL ‘hitlist’
Roll it up in a ball,throw it in the bin,douse the lot in petrol,set it on fire and throw it off a cliff. That’s the only way to deal with the whole business of league recruits. In any case,the entire pitch has been wrong. Rugby Australia should be telling NRL players they would be safer taking the money in a domestic competition,playing against blokes of similar attributes,rather than actually challenging themselves against the big South Africans or best New Zealanders.
That would light a fire in any of them brave enough to switch. Otherwise,forget about rugby league and put your time and money into the Jack Barretts and Massimo de Lutiis’ of this world.
4. Empower Phil Waugh
Whether Hamish McLennan stays as chairman or not would appear to depend on whether he is prepared to take more of a backseat role. He can’t be near any high-performance decisions after the sacking of Dave Rennie and the hiring of Eddie Jones months out from a Rugby World Cup,but the board must also now decide whether sponsors,broadcasters,state government allies,prospective Wallabies coaches,the Super Rugby clubs and so on feel McLennan is part of the solution or an impediment to moving forward.
Waugh has been thrown into the fire in his first months in the job and is in an incredibly difficult situation,but he has shown signs that he can grow into a capable CEO and effective operator behind the scenes. He has to be the boss from now on.
5. Play more games of rugby
It’s hard to find consensus in Australian rugby,but you can bet the house on the fact that no coach or player believes that they are getting enough rugby at the moment. Super Rugby Pacific is a relatively short competition,so unless you are involved with the Wallabies you aren’t being challenged for the second half of the year.
Former Force chief executive Tony Lewis implored Rugby Australia to start up a “third tier” competition,although the current financial realities make that a long shot. Yet,with plenty of already contracted Super Rugby players effectively sitting idle for six months there has to be a creative solution.
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6. Widen the base
There are two ways of doing this:cutting the number of Super Rugby teams or expanding the competitions underneath Super Rugby in a meaningful way. It should be extremely hard to get a Super Rugby contract in Australia,and yet the brutal reality is that every year there are players in each Australian squad who are no more than NPC-standard operators.
Cutting teams would be painful,but there can’t simply be an open-ended commitment to the five-team Super Rugby model if there are neither the players nor commercial benefits to justify it. Well after the establishment of the Force and Rebels,the Australian under-18 and under-20 sides continue to be heavily stocked by NSW and Queensland talent. Incidentally,the same logic should apply to Moana Pasifika - this isn’t simply an Australian issue,it’s a competition issue.
7. Make Super Rugby credible again
Heading into its third year,the ‘L’ plates have to come off - the eight-team finals format in a 12-team competition isn’t working. There isn’t the remotest chance that the team that finishes No.7 or No.8 is going to win the competition,so participation in the finals series is an achievement badge they don’t deserve.
There’s no way that a pitbull like Waugh,who was an absolute competitor in his playing days,would deep down back the current format,with clubs being able to dine out on “making the finals” when they didn’t earn it like in the old Super Rugby formats. It’s a cop-out,and if it remains then Super Rugby will breed players who take shortcuts.
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