wallabies reach new depths

[Ken Gargett]

after yet another dreadful performance, what does one of our players do (no doubt your first thought was get pissed, belt someone, get tossed off an airline, send selfies and the usual rubbish)?

none of that – he asks for more money.

i can honestly say that if i’d been asked to guess, that would never have occurred to me. truly extraordinary.

ben mowen, come on down. i think that it is correct that this bloke made his wallaby debut only this year? has played okay in a dismal team, but hardly outstanding. he is not allan border holding back the windies tide while those around him sobbed in their soup. he is on a big brumbies contract and can add $200k a year in match payments from the tests to that. but wants more. so all up, he’d have to be on north of $600k? yet, for a first year wallaby, that is not enough. that is more than alfred morris got last year!

apparently one has to play two years for the wallabies to be eligible for top-ups. two years. hardly outrageous, i would have thought, but because it doesn’t apply to codeswappers, he is unhappy.

mind you, said codeswapper is so hopeless off his left foot that rather than even attempt a kick with that foot, he ran out over the sideline on the weekend. inspiring stuff from a fullback. god save us.

one can only hope mowen is sacked on the spot. he and the rest of the grubs playing for the wallabies should hand back every cent they have made because none of it is deserved. they could all be charged with fraud for impersonating rugby players.

i am so sick of these dreadful hopeless jokes that i am ready to don the blue and white and start yelling ‘ole’ for the game this week!

this bunch of arrogant hopeless, moronic jokes do not deserve any support.

[Jeremy Festa]

Wow! That is disappointing! I think this type of thing stems back to a poor feedback process, post-match and/or training performance.

To put it simply, I think we celebrate mediocrity far too often. And this starts in the school sports system, where everyone wins a medal or a ribbon.

These players have grown up in a culture that has conditioned them to expect a reward. Even if they perform poorly.

[Ken Gargett]

the family bought the 30 year tickets about 20 years ago so i can go without contributing to the fat bank accounts of these frauds. but when they expire, i can't imagine renewing. so disgusted with the lot of them.

mowen is a bloke mckenzie convinced not to give up on rugby some time back. this is how you repay that?

mind you, when the example is set by his provincial coach spitting the dummy and taking his bat and ball and running home because he didn't get the wallabies job, what can you expect.

i have zero respect for jake white as a bloke for what he has done. clearly he can coach, but as a human, a grub. and when the players see that, what the hell can we expect?

i gather that the brumbies have clauses which could prevent him from coaching for a year. they owe it to their fans, team and to rugby to enforce that.

[Fuzz]

Simple. Cap all players salaries at $80k. Each year you get a 10% increment and a 10% bonus (of base salary) if your team makes it to the quarter finals, 15% for the semi finals, and 20% for winning the championship. So after 10yrs, even if you are on a team that never makes the finals, you'd be on $200k.

And since clubs are no longer paying huge salaries, tickets to matches will drop to reasonable level.

[Ken Gargett]

Simple. Cap all players salaries at $80k. Each year you get a 10% increment and a 10% bonus (of base salary) if your team makes it to the quarter finals, 15% for the semi finals, and 20% for winning the championship. So after 10yrs, even if you are on a team that never makes the finals, you'd be on $200k.

And since clubs are no longer paying huge salaries, tickets to matches will drop to reasonable level.

whereupon 99% leave and play rugby league (perhaps not the props) or go to france or japan for big dosh. so we don't even have the usual grubs.

[Fuzz]

whereupon 99% leave and play rugby league (perhaps not the props) or go to france or japan for big dosh. so we don't even have the usual grubs.

No probs, just cap all codes. Those who want to play for the love of the game will remain, and the grubs can bugger off overseas.

[Ken Gargett]

No probs, just cap all codes. Those who want to play for the love of the game will remain, and the grubs can bugger off overseas.

fine in theory, fuzz. but who caps them? government? you really want them involved?

agreement between the codes? the US govt can't agree to give itself money. you think different footy code would agree? no chance on earth.

problem is kids play for the love of the game. adults want to make a living.

[Fuzz]

fine in theory, fuzz. but who caps them? government? you really want them involved?

agreement between the codes? the US govt can't agree to give itself money. you think different footy code would agree? no chance on earth.

problem is kids play for the love of the game. adults want to make a living.

Why not? The govt sticks it's nose in everything else.

And you can't tell me you can't make a good living on a starting salary of $80k a year.

[Ken Gargett]

Why not? The govt sticks it's nose in everything else.

And you can't tell me you can't make a good living on a starting salary of $80k a year.

i understand fuzz, but you'd need thee federal govt to do it. can you imagine how many votes abbott or albo or shortarse would get if they caused carlton to lose judd or souths to lose inglis etc etc.

NEVER going to happen.

[Fuzz]

i understand fuzz, but you'd need thee federal govt to do it. can you imagine how many votes abbott or albo or shortarse would get if they caused carlton to lose judd or souths to lose inglis etc etc.

NEVER going to happen.

Cause the downfall of Abbott? Then all the more reason to do it!!

[Philprop]

Nw O'Connor is sacked, he is left without a contract anywhere in AUS. Some may say this adds to the woes, some may say it helps. I'm on th fence, O'Connor is a great player when he is on his game and can win a game for you in a heartbeat( as he's done before). But he is a bit full of himself and enjoys a party ( such is the culture of rugby at grass roots level though). It will be interesting where he ends up until 2015 when the ARU will allow him to come back and even if he will come back.

[El Presidente]

Nw O'Connor is sacked, he is left without a contract anywhere in AUS. Some may say this adds to the woes, some may say it helps. I'm on th fence, O'Connor is a great player when he is on his game and can win a game for you in a heartbeat( as he's done before). But he is a bit full of himself and enjoys a party ( such is the culture of rugby at grass roots level though). It will be interesting where he ends up until 2015 when the ARU will allow him to come back and even if he will come back.

The Wallabies predicament in no small part has been the schism in the playing group split along the lines of culture. Horwill, Moore and the other hard heads are battling with the antics of the younger brigade. It has caused bad blood internally and it can't continue. They could do worse than to employ a "squad manager" along the lines of John Eales and Phil Kearns to mentor and reinforce to the younger players what the Wallaby culture and responsibilities are.

The ill discipline can be fixed relatively quickly. Talent and match play will take much longer and that will require the rebuilding of a secondary comp in Australia that allows rugby players in the next tier to play 8-9 months a year (ala NZ and South Africa).

The game is on its knees here. They haven't the luxury of any more errors in its development.

JOC is the product of the system that the ARU has permitted to develop over the past decade.

[ARRV]

The Wallabies predicament in no small part has been the schism in the playing group split along the lines of culture. Horwill, Moore and the other hard heads are battling with the antics of the younger brigade. It has caused bad blood internally and it can't continue. They could do worse than to employ a "squad manager" along the lines of John Eales and Phil Kearns to mentor and reinforce to the younger players what the Wallaby culture and responsibilities are.

The ill discipline can be fixed relatively quickly. Talent and match play will take much longer and that will require the rebuilding of a secondary comp in Australia that allows rugby players in the next tier to play 8-9 months a year (ala NZ and South Africa).

The game is on its knees here. They haven't the luxury of any more errors in its development.

JOC is the product of the system that the ARU has permitted to develop over the past decade.

So sad but true - the game is really on its knees here.

Managed to pick up a couple of seconds of Nick Farr-Jones on tv last night but from what I could garner he was intimating that the coffers are empty (or almost empty) at the ARU.

He was advocating incentive contracts only for players. Problem is that they all then bugger off to France and Japan. But the failure to properly nurture the game over the past 14 years following world cup success and then the RWC in Sydney / Aus and develop or maintain a viable 3rd tier comp means that we now do not have the cattle to beat the best teams in the world and if the finances at the ARU are not great then very difficult to see how that is going to change in the future.

I mean since 2000 we have had scrum difficulties but nothing appears to have been done about that - why is it that Argentina can compile a competitive / dominant scrum and we cannot? The corner piece of our game is ensuring that you can win the set piece contest. Dont worry about flashy backs - they cannot do anything if they are getting crap ball.

Also there is a lack of spirit in the wallabies at the moment as is evident from their woeful defence - defence is state of mind - putting your body on the line for the team. Not happening at the moment and missing way too many tackles.

Dont know the answer frankly.