A lasting legacy Raelene Castle could leave for Rugby in Australia
Nearly half of Rugby Australia’s revenue last year came from broadcasting rights, with the Union receiving $61.m, illustrating just how important the on-field product is.
They spend almost as much as they receive, registering a minimal cash-operating surplus of $600k from the $140m in cash receipts in 2017.
A major reduction in broadcast revenue would seriously compromise the state of the game in Australia. Reported attempts by the body to form a trans-Tasman club competition and calls to kick South Africa out pose serious financial risks. Without South Africa, would the rights revenue for a trans-Tasman or a domestic competition, like the NRC, be worth the same?
A realised drop in value in the next rights deal would have a rippling contagion effect across the States, who rely on 30% of RA’s revenue to fund their Super Rugby teams.
A South African ‘SANZ-it’ could be a serious blow for the professional game in Australia, one that it might not recover from, and could leave New Zealand with collateral damage to deal with too.
That is a scenario to be avoided at all costs, and even as it stands, the game in Australia still has a growing problem with its value proposition.
The quality of the product is already declining, with Australia’s sides failing miserably in Super Rugby for the last three years. The Wallabies have headed down the same path.
If Australia wants to stand on its own two legs, it is going to have to do so by building from the ground-up, which is what has failed to happen so far. Trans-Tasman or national independence is likely more than 20 years away, and that’s with all the dominos falling in the right place.
There is little room for error right now for new CEO Raelene Castle in righting the ship, or at least getting into a position to have more leveraging power.
Rugby Australia’s new leader has to plot a path ahead with the game almost needing a complete revival. Her actions today could save the game, or send it further down the gurgler. Not one dollar can be wasted and all need to be funneled in the right direction.
Centralised contracting
Some tough decisions need to be made, firstly reigning in some of the state bodies who have run unchecked.
They have spent ‘unbudgeted expenses of $28m over five years’ in order to fund their Super Rugby teams, with the bill fitted by RA, in addition to the annual $35m-$40m that is already spent annually out of RA coffers.
The autonomy they have has not come with accountability. The team results have been poor but some coaches have been handed extensions, only to be sacked and paid out just months later.
Extremely bad, top-heavy contracts have been handed out to players which have ended up as pure waste. $1.8m was burned over three years by one team, overpaying for an ex-NRL star by ten times his actual value in the game. Just this year, over $1m was spent on two players playing club rugby.
These decisions have to come home to roost. And they say that French rugby has been living beyond its means. Australian Rugby is behind on the mortgage payments and buying overseas holidays on the credit card.
Centralisation, in this case, isn’t just a power-grabbing exercise, it’s a need driven by incompetence at this point.
The NZR handles any and all player payments to Super Rugby players above a $195,000 threshold, ensuring that top dollars go where necessary. It is not possible to pay a donkey like a racehorse in New Zealand but it is in Australia.
Rugby Australia needs controls over player and coaching contracting decisions for Super Rugby teams, as a measure to protect their own interests.
Wallabies aren’t produced by Rugby Australia and Michael Cheika – the lion share of a players’ development is overseen by State unions. Right now they are not doing a good job of it.
Resource the current schools’ system
RA needs to understand this because NZR does – invest, invest and invest in the production line.
They know for every All Black they develop they need two or three more to take his spot, and they know the start of this pipeline is schoolboy rugby. They have invested in the system to produce where RA continually pays for cream at the top.
The top-heavy recruitment approach has run its dash in the age of professionalism and needs to change.
Rugby Australia’s community rugby expense was $3.7m last year, just 2.8% of its overall take. Three players – David Pocock, Israel Folau and Michael Hooper will cost more than that every year.
NZR’s system is completely intertwined with schoolboy rugby, with most top schools operating at a semi-professional level. This is churning out more and more pro-ready players almost directly out of school. Three schoolboys from last year made Super Rugby squads for 2019, a quantum leap in just two years.
The only current breeding ground for future Wallabies is private school associations, namely GPS associations. This is the real foundation of rugby in Australia, has been for years and has not changed, but seems to receive no recognition by administrators.
Before expanding anywhere else this needs to be strengthened as much as possible and leveraged to lift the standard of schoolboy rugby everywhere else.
They are the ones already recruiting, scouting and investing in talent, doing most of the work. The best players in each of the regions are already identified and then recruited by these schools, they are even convincing some of the best league players to play too.
Rugby Australia needs to achieve alignment with the current private schools’ system, build on the current foundation and even help fund these programmes. Whilst not politically correct, RA-funded scholarships would only increase the numbers of quality athletes getting into rugby and utilise the best development framework for a rugby player already in place.
A national schoolboy competition for Australian Rugby is a necessity, which would require RA funding. As a start, getting buy-in from the GPS schools as a must, before expanding to others. The best schools in New South Wales, Queensland, and other states must play each other more because the top schoolboy players quite simply are not playing enough.
Elite schoolboys in New Zealand will lodge 30-40 highly competitive games a year. In Queensland, at least, the eight-game GPS schoolboy season needs to be doubled in length in addition to a national competition at the end.
These things can only happen when Rugby Australia invests in its relationships at the very foundation of the system. This would only be the start, with club rugby another, but important, story altogether.
The high school system is the very first block in the chain towards professional rugby and therefore it makes sense to get as many quality athletes into the game to start with and get them playing with the same frequency as New Zealand’s players.
Tightening the wallets
Australian Rugby must save themselves by freeing up the cash to re-invest in their system.
Shaving 20% off the current Wallabies player bill, 20% off Super Rugby funding and 50% of Marketing expenses would free up $12.6 million for Rugby Australia to deploy back into the foundation, without any further increases in revenue.
Other vague areas of RA spending include a line item for ‘High Performance & National Team expenses’ for $8.4m.
There is sure to be plenty of fat to cut to raise funds across all areas to pool together close to $20m to start with. That needs to go straight to the heart the game and get the blood pumping again. Slowly but surely, the scales will tip as the crop rises through, strengthening the base from which to grow the game from.
Strong actions by Castle might not yield results today, and will certainly rock the core of Australian Rugby’s current structures, but it could set forth actions to save the game – and that could be her legacy.
In other news:
Comments on RugbyPass
I certainly don’t miss drinking beers at 8am in the morning watching rugby games being played in NZ.
1 Go to commentsThis looks like a damage limitation exercise for Wales, keeping back some of their more effective players for the last 20/25 minutes to try and counter England’s fresh legs so the Red Roses don’t rack up a big score.
1 Go to commentsVery unlikely the Bulls will beat Leinster in Dublin. It would be different in Pretoria.
1 Go to commentsI think it is a dangerous path to go down to ban a player for the same period that a player they injured takes to recover. Players would be afraid to tackle anyone. I once tackled my best friend at school in a practice match and sprained his ankle. I paid for it by having to play fly-half instead of full-back for the rest of that season’s fixtures.
5 Go to commentsJust such a genuine good bloke…and probably the best all round player in his generation. Good guys do come first sometimes and he handled the W.Cup loss with great attitude.
2 Go to commentsWord in France is that he’s on the radar of a few Top14 clubs.
2 Go to commentsGet blocking Travis, this guy has styles and he’s gonna make a swift impact…!
1 Go to commentsWhat remorse? She claimed that her dangerous tackle wasn’t worthy of a red! She should be compensating the injured player for loss of earnings at the minimum. Her ban should include the recovery time of the injured player as well as the paltry 3 match ban.
5 Go to commentsArdie is a legend. Finished and klaar. Two things: “Yeah, yeah, I have had a few conversations with Razor just around feedback on my game and what I am doing well, what I need to improve on or work-ons. It’s kind of been minimal, mate, but it’s all that I need over here in terms of how to be better, how to get better and what I am doing well.” I hope he’s downplaying it - and that it’s not that “minimal”. The amount of communication and behind the scenes preparation the Bok coaches put into players - Rassie and co would be all over Ardie and being clear on what is expected of him. This stands out for me as something teams should really be looking at in terms of the boks success from a coaching point of view. And was surprised by the comment - “minimal”. In terms of the “debate” around Ireland and South Africa. Nice one Ardie. Indeed. There’s no debate.
2 Go to commentsThere’s a bit of depth there but realistically Australian players have a long way to go to now catch up. The game is moving on fast and Australia are falling behind. Australian sides still don’t priories the breakdown like they should, it’s a non-negotiable if you want to compete on the international stage. That goes for forwards and backs. The Australian team could have a back row that could make a difference but the problem is they don’t have a tight five that can do the business. Tupou is limited in defence, overweight and unfit and the locks are a long way from international standard. Frost is soft and Salakai-Loto is too small so that means they need a Valentini at 8 who has to do the hard graft so limits the effectiveness of the backrow. Schmidt really needs to get a hard working, tough tight 5 if he wants to get this team firing.
3 Go to commentsSorry Morgan you must have been the “go to for a quote” ex player this week. Its rnd 6 and there is plenty of time to cement a starting 15 and finishing 8 so I have no such concerns.
2 Go to commentsGreat read. I wish you had done this article on the ROAR.
2 Go to commentsThe current AB coaching team is basically the Crusaders so it smacks of wanting their familiar leaders around. This is not a good look for the future of the ABs or the younger players in Super working their way up the player ladder. Razor is touted as innovative, forward looking but his early moves look like insecurity and insular, provincial thinking. He is the AB's coach not the Golden Oldies.
10 Go to commentsSimple reason for wanting him back. Robertson wants him as captain. Otherwise he wouldn’t be bothering chasing him. Not enough reason to come back just to mentor.
10 Go to commentsI had not considered this topic like this at all, brilliant read. I had been looking at his record at the Waratahs and thought it odd the Crusaders appointed him, then couple that with all that experience and talent departing and boom. They’ve got some great talent developing though, and in all honesty I don’t think anyone would be over confident taking them on in a playoff match, no matter how poor the first half of their season was. I think they can pull a game out of their ass when it counts.
2 Go to commentsNot a bad list but not Porecki and not Donaldson. Not because they are Tahs, or Ex Tahs, they are just not good enough. Edmed should be ahead. Far more potential. Wilson should be 8 and Valentini 6. Wilson needs to be told by his father and his coach, stop bloody running in to brick wall defence. You’re not playing under the genius Thorn any more. He’s a fantastic angle runner. The young new 8 from the Brumbies looks really good too. The Lonegrans are just too small for international rugby as is Paisami, as is Hamish Stewart at 12. Both great at Super Rugby level. Stewart could have been a great 10 if not for Brad Thorn. Uru should be there and so should Tupou. Tupou just needs good Australian coaching which he hasn’t been getting. I don’t think Schmidt will excite him.
3 Go to commentsIf he wants to come back then he should. He will be a major asset to the younger locks and could easily be played as an impact player off the bench coming on in the last 30. He is fit, strong and capable and has all the experience to make up for any loss in physical prowess. He could also be brought back with a view to coaching within the structures one day. Duane Vermeulen played until he was 37 or 38. He is now a roaming coach within the South African coaching structures. He was valuable in the last world cup and has been a major influence on Jasper Wiese and other young players which has helped and accelerated their development and growth. Whitelock could do the exact same thing for NZ
10 Go to commentsBrett Excellent words… finally someone (other than DC) has noted that Hanigan is very hard and very good at doing what Backrow should do… his performance via the Drua sauna was quite daunting for those on the other side… very high tackle count… carries with good end result… constant threat to make a good 20-25 meters with those long legs… providing his mass effectively to crunching the Drua pack… Finally he is returning to quality form… way to much injury time over the last 2 years… smart-strong-competent in his skills… caught every lineout throw aimed at him and delivered clean pass to whoever was down below… and he worked hard for the whole 80 minutes… Ned has to be in the top 5 for backrow honors… He knows what is required as he has been there before…
20 Go to commentsI think Sam Whitelock should not touch a return with a bargepole. He went out on a high, playing in the RWC Final. He would be coming back into a team that will be weaker than last years, and might even be struggling to win games, especially against the Boks. Stay in France, enjoy another year with Pau, playing alongside his brother.
10 Go to commentsRyan Coxon has been very impressive considering he was signed by WF as injury cover whilst Uru has been a standout for QR, surprised neither of those mentioned
3 Go to comments