It’s time for Australian rugby to do it alone.
Except for the probably first four years of the tournament, Super Rugby is not a model after every metric that has worked well for Australian rugby.
The goal of Super Rugby was to lay the foundation for a successful wallabies outfit.
In 20 years, Australia has slipped to seventh place in the world, has lost 17 consecutive Bledisloe series and only won the Tri-Nations or Rugby championship titles in World Cup years when the tournament was shortened.
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‘DIZZY AND S ** T SCARED’: 20 YEARS AFTER THE BIGGEST TEST IN RUGBY
With a view to 2021 and beyond against the background of the coronavirus pandemic, there is a chance of change here.
So many competitive models have been launched by many influential figures in the past few months, and a Trans-Tasman option seems to be the one that continues to emerge.
Despite what we’ve seen in the past two decades, we’re still thinking about a competition between Australia and New Zealand.
This is a fundamentally flawed concept.
Rugby AU chairman Hamish McLennan recently described Australia’s relationship with New Zealand rugby as a “master-servant” dynamic.
Right now, people are turning out to be former All Blacks coach Steve Hansen, who, after calling Michael Cheika a clown during his tenure, turns out to be a pot that calls a cauldron black, and say that the Australians of a trans Tasman competition are not worthy.
Maybe it’s time for Australia to say, “Go ahead without us, we’ll see you at Bledisloe time.”
When I look at the personalities and the people I’ve played rugby with throughout my career, it is so frustrating to think that as servants in this relationship, we emerge from the top down with New Zealand.
It is time to take a risk and not let the fear cripple you to do something wrong because things have not gone in the right direction.
We clearly misunderstood everything in Super Rugby, otherwise the Wallabies would not be in seventh place in the world and run the risk of falling among countries like Japan in the ranking.
There is not a single measure that could be used to say that Super Rugby is good for Australian rugby, and especially in recent years we have created players who are mentally drawn by consistent losses against Kiwi teams.
Australia’s top Super Rugby competitors in the NRL, AFL and even the A-League have a positive Australian history every weekend they play.
Australia’s biggest rugby stars play more abroad than in Australia, considering international matches and super rugby tours.
In the meantime, aspiring rugby players and fans of the game are flooded with stars of all other important codes.
There is this line of thinking that Australian players have to compete against New Zealand, but let’s just do it when the Wallabies play New Zealand.
This model worked for us before and can work for us again.
In the meantime, let Australian rugby tell a positive story every Sunday morning.
Another question that is constantly raised in this discussion is whether broadcasters would pay for it and whether people would actually see a comp only for Australia.
With a view to the first few weeks of Super Rugby AU, people look and watch in a similar number as in previous years.
The broadcasters are already reluctant to pay a premium for the existing super rugby competition. Why is it considered a benchmark?
We know that broadcasters have paid a lot of money for doing business with NRL and AFL, both of which are domestic competitions.
Why not create our own competition, invest in ourselves and then reinvest in the Australian rugby community?
Yes, AFL and NRL have more teams and more Premiership games, but if you look holistically, there is a lot that rugby can bring to the table.
Whether it’s a product that offers options from schools to wallabies, maybe participates in a national club competition, or watches international provincial playoffs for competition winners in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.
The only way to get out of the current Australian rugby is to change the model.
We don’t want to be the World Rugby Kodak, we don’t want to be a formerly great nation that changes the world without it.
Australian rugby now has the perfect opportunity to go its own way and we should definitely.
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