Source :- THE AGE NEWS
The Perth Bears have signed Wallabies legend David Campese as their recruitment guru as they try to tap into the best rugby talent in South Africa.
The code switch of one of Australian rugby’s biggest names is a bold move and has the potential to be the marquee signing the Bears have been craving.
The plan is to establish a rugby league academy in South Africa and capitalise on the vast amount of talent in the rugby ranks. Perth doesn’t have a natural junior base, but if the Bears can establish a production line of players coming out of the Rainbow Nation, it will be a masterstroke.
At worst, it is a concept worth giving a go. It’s a five-year project, so it’s a serious attempt to capitalise on the talent available in South Africa. The Bears’ aim is to bring players into their pathways as they develop, with the aim of bringing a couple of players through every year.
“South Africa consistently generates more professional-calibre rugby players than its domestic franchises can fill and Perth is uniquely positioned to capitalise on this with direct travel alongside an already well-established South African community in Perth,” Bears CEO Anthony De Ceglie said.
“Our South Africa strategy, which is still before the ARLC, is being run by our elite pathways manager Ian Millward and recruitment manager Dane Campbell with oversight, of course, by head coach Mal Meninga. We’re all really excited about the experience and expertise that a legend like David Campese can bring to the strategy.
“The absolute key for the Perth Bears is to create a sustainable long-term pathway from South Africa to Perth – building on our Bears Tracks Academy blueprint.”
The project is understood to have been heavily driven by ARLC chairman Peter V’landys, who identified Campese as the person to head it up.
Vlandys said: “South Africa has always had big, skilful rugby players. I have always believed you could procure a couple of their marquee players who would adapt to rugby league. It not only brings new exciting talent and a new dimension into our game but a new market in South Africa, as South African Rugby fans will follow their journey.”
Day-to-day communication with Campese has been through Bears board member James Bracey. As a rugby identity, there are none bigger in Australia than Campese and to persuade him to switch codes is a significant win for league.
Campo was highly sought after as a player at his peak, and he has known Meninga for decades.
Classy Cleary will bounce back from MCG mauling
It was missed by many, but a kind gesture out of sight of the 91,671 people at the MCG for Origin II made a kid’s night and began the healing process for shattered Blues halfback Nathan Cleary.
Moments after fulltime, in a classy gesture, he gave his boots away to a fan.
Cleary will try and forget about the Blues’ thumping 44-24 defeat in the short term and draw inspiration from it in the long term as he attempts to turn his worst Origin performance into his best.
After passing his boots to the lucky young fan, Cleary avoided all media and ran off the MCG wanting to get into his circle of trust to process what went wrong.
After a game, it is often dad Ivan and mum Bec who are around him. On Wednesday night, the circle also included the love of his life, Mary Fowler.
The Matildas star had never attended an Origin and it meant a lot to Nathan to play in front of her. There’s no question that, as disappointed as he was for his state, teammates and his family, he was also upset that he couldn’t have won for Mary.
Cleary’s love and openness around Fowler is heartwarming.
You could see it in the sheds where she was supporting him through a tough moment. Seeing them standing there holding hands showed how genuine and normal they are. They don’t seek publicity like so many power couples. But if it happens, they absorb it and move on.
Now Cleary has two weeks of heat to deal with. His record in Origin deciders will be discussed at length and the idea of “owning” the interstate arena will be raised again.
The Blues’ greatest coach, Phil Gould, says the whole notion of Cleary having to “own” an Origin series is ridiculous.
Cleary called his game two performance “embarrassing”, but he carried the state on his back in the last 23 minutes of an unforgettable game one in Sydney, guiding the Blues to victory over a 12-man Queensland side.
His 40/20 in the back end of the second half was described by Brad Fittler as the greatest kick he has seen, while he also scored a decisive try and put up the kick for fullback James Tedesco to score his memorable four-pointer to clinch the victory.
The concept of “owning” Origin is too often based on the great 2005 series by the immortal Andrew Johns.
“This whole idea of Nathan or anyone owning Origin is ridiculous,” Gould said. “Players can own moments, a game … but look, the only person out of all the true greats of the game to have a claim to that is Wally Lewis. He consistently dominated that arena time and again. He is on his own in that arena.”
Ivan Cleary pointed out something similar when he was asked about his son owning Origin and questioned whether Lewis really did dominate. Eight man-of-the-match awards from 31 games indicates he did.
When you look at the Blues halves, Peter Sterling was a standout. Sterling got four man-of-the match awards in 13 Origins. Johns had four in 23.
James Tedesco (25 games), Greg Bird (18), Ben Elias (19), Cleary (19) and Ricky Stuart (14) have all won three.
Cleary is judged against Johns’s incredible 2005 series, but it took the player considered the state’s greatest ever halfback time to reach those heights.
Now let’s look at where Johns played in Origin. He started 16 games at halfback, five at hooker and two off the bench. He started three at hooker in 1996 and two in 1997. Geoff Toovey was the starting halfback in all five of those games.
We all romanticise about Joey at Origin – and he was truly great – but we need to acknowledge that displays like Cleary’s in game one are not a million miles behind.
You also get the feeling Cleary’s best is yet to come, with game two a blip.
Daley claims fall on deaf ears
A News Corp article critical of Laurie Daley’s pre-game Origin team talk got under the skins of the Blues players. To say the coach was putting them to sleep before game I may be a stretch. Trying to get anyone from the Blues team to agree with what was written is impossible.
But journalists are not going to make a story up. So we asked some questions. What we have learned is that his pre-game speech in the Blues hotel in Melbourne left everyone with goosebumps.
Here is the only thing I can establish. Daley had a bad ear infection in camp one. It was so bad that in the dressing room after the Sydney game, he asked us to change sides before our post-match chat because he could not hear questions out of his left ear. When he spoke to me in that interview, I couldn’t hear one word he was saying because his voice was so soft.
I could only see his mouth moving. He couldn’t tell how loudly he was talking. It sounds like an excuse, but I had to listen to our interview the next morning while writing my story to hear what he said.
Now, if that somehow translated to him being no good at pre-game speeches, we could understand how it was relayed to those who had not seen what was going on in Blues camp. The way it was handled could have included that information if there was a genuine belief that his talks were not effective.
Seven and hell for PVL
Here is an observation on the NRL TV rights.
If you have been living in an area which has no access to news, here is something you should know: NRL supremo Peter V’landys genuinely dislikes the AFL. He likes to call it the FLA or something similar.
Why, then, would he have his product on a station known for being the AFL station? Rugby league would risk being a poor cousin on Seven if it gets the TV rights, given its recent history as that. V’landys rides the Nine Network hard to make sure the NRL is prominent on its programs like the Today Show. He doesn’t miss a trick.
He wouldn’t have that sway at Seven, which has made a huge investment in the AFL. V’landys will be able to argue, but his views will be countered by the AFL people.
Seven has also just made some drastic job cuts. It would raise eyebrows if they were then to go on a hiring spree to do a good job with league coverage. Yes, Seven has made investments in the Rugby League World Cup and a league chat show, but unfortunately that program is not a ratings factor and doesn’t get close to Nine’s equivalent.
Bleak outlook for league in Melbourne
From a crowd perspective and in other areas, the Melbourne Origin was a smash hit. But there is a real lack of appetite for big-time rugby league in the bleak city at the moment.
Rugby League World Cup organisers were desperate to have Melbourne involved this year, particularly as the Storm are based in the Victorian capital and the growth of the game is important there.
However, NRL officials say there was zero appetite from the Victorian government to host a World Cup fixture in Melbourne. Had they shown any interest, a quality game would have been sent down there. The Storm have done such a great job making the game popular in Melbourne, but there has been a distinct lack of support from the government around the World Cup.
It’ll be interesting to see when and if Origin returns to Melbourne, as Wednesday’s game was a catch-up match from the COVID period.
With New Zealand now in the Origin scheduling roster and Perth having a new team in the NRL next season, it will be interesting to watch how often games are taken to Melbourne in years to come.
It would be a huge shame if Melbourne falls off the roster. Selling Origin to foreign states is a big money-spinner for the NRL and the state leagues.
New Luke the best on the box
Three-time premiership winner and budding rugby league analyst Luke Keary has positioned himself as a must-sign for whoever ends up with the NRL TV rights.
He is not contracted at Fox Sports beyond this year and will be up for grabs. He is the best new media talent in the NRL by a mile. He is brilliant across podcasts, radio and TV commentary, and does what many former players entering the media struggle to do – speak his mind.
He had strong views on Tigers five-eighth Jarome Luai in recent days – but Luai responded with his best game of the season in the Tigers win over the Titans.
Keary was on a panel interviewing Luai on Fox and had to deal with a player who he had criticised. He handled it beautifully – apologising to Luai, who had just scored a hat-trick. That softened Luai, who was all class and didn’t take offence. He acknowledged he had been down on form.
Keary has been compared to an AFL expert commentator, Kane Cornes, but Keary is far more analytical and less provocative for the sake of it.
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