Queensland throws support behind Rugby Australia's centralisation bid
The Queensland Reds have backed Rugby Australia’s (RA) centralisation bid, provided the alignment doesn’t stretch to the Super Rugby club’s commercial arm.
The Wallabies’ World Cup flop has prompted a top-to-bottom review of the national program and shone a spotlight on RA’s bid to align high-performance programs across the clubs.
On Wednesday, Queensland Rugby Union (QRU) chairman Brett Clark and chief executive David Hanham co-authored a letter to members outlining the club’s position on the reforms.
“While the QRU is very supportive of high-performance alignment, it will not agree to any proposal on centralising commercial or corporate functions,” they wrote.
“The very strength of our state unions is the expertise they bring in their own markets.
“We are open to work on commercial initiatives together but will always retain our independence for the benefit of Queensland rugby, its members and stakeholders.”
“It should also provide a clear view of what is needed in a leadership and governance framework to ensure we put the right people, in the right roles, in the right system,” they said.
Clark and Hanham said the recruitment of former rugby league winger Les Kiss as new Reds coach, after nearly two decades coaching rugby overseas, was executed in partnership with RA.
“We want to play our part to improve rugby in this country,” the statement said.
“We have seen the benefits of centralising high-performance outcomes with teams like Ireland.”
The QRU have delivered four successive profitable years to sit comfortably as the country’s most financially sound Super Rugby outfit.
Other clubs have felt the loss of an annual $1.7 million RA injection that was withdrawn during COVID-19 – money the Reds say the governing body are willing to discuss reinstating.
RA is in talks with clubs after announcing an in-principle centralisation agreement in August.
The NSW Waratahs are set to hand their commercial and high-performance keys to the governing body, while the Melbourne Rebels are expected to follow suit.
The ACT Brumbies are in a similar boat to the Reds while it’s understood the privately owned Western Force are broadly supportive of the reforms.
Former Wallabies captain Stephen Moore has called for a drastic overhaul of the domestic product, despite RA stating their opposition with lucrative broadcast dollars at stake.
Moore felt money should be redirected from Melbourne and Perth’s Super Rugby teams into the club scene in those cities, for them to field strong sides in a lower-tier competition, with more resources put into resurrecting country rugby in NSW and Queensland.
“The stakeholders of the game need to decide if the people running the game are going to be able to get us out the other end,” he told AAP of the centralisation bid.
“If that’s ‘yes’, then great. But if it’s ‘no’, we need to know now, because this is the time for the change.
“It’s been in the last couple of years that we’ve really slipped down into bordering on being a second-tier side, so it’s been a rapid decline.”
Comments on RugbyPass
ABs lost against a side playing without a hooker - The guy playing, had one shoulder. Line outs were a gimme for the ABs, and the last 8 minutes 14 played 14 against a team that had been smashed 3 weeks in a row… Yet with all that possession, with all that territory, with all the advantages they actually had, especially in the last 8 minutes, they couldn’t buy a point. Those last 8 minutes determined if they outplayed the Boks or not. History will show that the Boks completely outplayed the ABs, especially in those last 8 minutes, the business end of any rugby match
225 Go to commentsWould’ve, could’ve, should’ve, didn’t.
225 Go to commentsKok will become a fan favourite
1 Go to commentsI am really looking forward to Leigh Halfpenny playing his first Super rugby game for the Crusaders Playing a long side his former Welsh and Scarlets team mate Johnny McNicoll.Johnny has been playing great, back in a Crusaders jersey.The attack has strengthened big time. Also looking forward to David Havili at 10. David is a class act, it also allows Dallas McLeod to remain at 12. A good thing.
1 Go to commentsIf he had stopped insisting on playing in the backrow, instead of wing, where everyone told him he should, he would have been a Bok years ago….
11 Go to comments‘Salads don’t win scrums’ 😂 I love that.
19 Go to commentsCan’t wait for the article that talks about misogyny in Ireland. Somehow.
16 Go to commentsI would like to see a rule change, when the attacking team is held up over the try line, by allowing the defensive team to restart a goal line drop out releases the pressure for the defensive team, but what if the attacking team had to restart a tap 5m out from the defensive team it gives the attacking team to apply more pressure, there are endless options for the attacking side and it will keep the fans in suspence.
2 Go to commentsLess modern South African males predictably triggered.
16 Go to commentsMy heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to commentsIt was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
84 Go to comments