Rebels have cash, now need players
Sat, 13 Feb 2010 22:55
Melbourne Rebels head coach Rod Macqueen has acknowledged that the Rebels' recruitment venture in Europe had made no headway in signing players for the pending 15th team in Super Rugby.
Macqueen said the rebels would now approach the domestic Super 14 player pool and would do so with plenty of cash to entice players.
It is now six weeks since Melbourne were announced as the 15th franchise, and so far they have failed to sign any players.
"The reality is we don't have a team and the idea is to get ourselves sorted, which is why [assistant coach] Damien Hill went to Europe to see who was available, because all of their contracts are basically up." Macqueen told The Sun-Herald.
"But in principle we are looking to get a minimal amount of players from overseas. We really want Australian players and we want to develop Australian players. That's our primary goal.
"Signing players is never a quick process, so we're not too concerned we haven't signed anyone yet. The main goal is to make sure we have the right mix of players - we don't want to end up with 22 individuals.
"We're starting to form some opinions on what we need and who we need. It's obviously a challenge, but we'll get there." said Macqueen.
Meanwhile, the Brumbies and Waratahs have challenged Macqueen and his Melbourne Rebels to "come and get" their star players.
The Waratahs and Brumbies insist attempts to snare their star players would be in vain, saying they weren't concerned about a repeat of the bloodshed experienced in 2007 when the Western Force entered the competition.
"I'm sure Melbourne will be trying to sell the dream and what they're able to offer, but we're actually bringing it," Brumbies boss Andrew Fagan told the Sydney Morning Herald.
He is confident of retaining off-contract Wallaby captain Rocky Elsom.
"I'm not concerned by Melbourne approaching our players. You've got to have faith in your own programmes and we truly believe we have the best rugby programme in the country.
"We've got a strong playing squad and high expectations for the years ahead, so I don't think players are going to be looking at running away from the Brumbies too quickly.
"We think we do things pretty well here, with a successful team and a program that's going to develop them into better football players. So it's going to take a hell of a story from Rod Macqueen and the Melbourne guys to make them give that up and risk going down to a new franchise."
Waratahs CEO Jim L'Estrange agreed, and was adamant the Waratahs would re-sign the majority of its 12 off-contract stars, who include Wallabies Berrick Barnes, Benn Robinson and Wycliff Palu.
"We've got to make sure we get the right culture, we have a winning team and make sure we give them good coaching," L'Estrange told the Sydney Morning Herald.
"And I think those sort of criteria make it as difficult as you can for someone to make the kind of decision to go to a new team, a new city in a World Cup year - and last time I checked they didn't have a harbour or a beach five minutes from training.
"So with that, it doesn't faze us at all, to be perfectly honest. We're prepared for them. We're ready for them. I think we'd be silly if we hadn't learned from the Western Force debacle a few years ago."
"As it did with the Force, you take a bit of a hit and you expect to do that but I'm not concerned about losing a plethora of starting players," Fagan said in an interview with Sydney Morning Herald, adding: "I think the primary player movement will be players looking for opportunity if they're sitting behind guys."
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