Wallabies - overrated and overpaid?

Question

Wigan FC to pay back traveling fans after losing 9-1. Don't you think the Wallabies should reimburse their traveling fans after such a dismal display on their 'Grand Slam' tour - I read their annual salary amounts to AU$27 WTF for?

Additional Details

...and they still keep calling it the 'Grand Slam' tour?

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

Yes it's a charmed life, do body building half the week, fitness work the rest and work hard for 80 minutes a week and then say burnout is a factor and we can still improve..... now were is my personal trainer,nutritionist,masseuse,financial advisor,manager...........

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

not smug, not biased - in tune

Answer 2

Good point. I think that the Australian patience with Robbie Deans must be wearing thin. He's a good Super 14 coach because he had top players at the top of their game. I'm glad we stuck with Henry.

Answer 3

It's not a good tour for them by any means but it wasn't as the fans weren't expecting it. They've had a poor season full stop, winning one game in the Tri-nations. I don't know how the fans could expect them to come to the Northern Hemisphere and win every game because currently they're not playing well. With Wigan it was a one off result, but the Wallabies have has a poor season altogether and it's not a complete surprise that the Northern hemisphere teams have evenly matched them. They haven't been torn apart like Wigan, they deserved to beat Ireland and Scotland but failed, so they are unlucky but refunding money for a draw and a 1 point loss is a bit disrespectful for Ireland and Scotland.

Answer 4

At the moment they are probably overpaid. Not over rated. Naturally we were hoping for a good tour but it's not meant to be. I thought we were lucky to get a draw with Ireland when you consider our first try came from an Irish dropped pass that was picked up and scored from, virtually an intercept. Scotland defended as though William Wallace was the coach. Not much in attack but they defended very well forcing the Wallabies into error. We've had two poor seasons under Deans. Look at the selections for this tour. Three 10s sent over, Giteau, Cooper and Beale. Mortlock gets injured and they send another 10, the Brumbies youngster. The midweek game coming up. O'Connor at 15 at Beale at 14. Well d'oh.

Yes there are going to be questions asked after the tour of senior players, coaching staff and ARU management. We know the only ones to get off scott free will be the ARU.

Answer 5

Spurs 9 - Wallabies 8 say no more!

Answer 6

Why do SH fans always ask for the moon? Not so long ago this forum saw much tearing of hair and gnashing of teeth from Kiwi fans because the All-Blacks didn't win the try nations -- this year. Now its the Aussies. So it is an off year for Australia -- get over it -- it happens! These things go in cycles and no one stays on top forever. A two year run of supremacy is pretty good nowadays, and the South Africans are already starting to sweat anyway given the loss to France.

Heck -- between 2001 and 2003 England was without question the supreme rugby nation in the world. Now have a pathetic performance in the Six Nations, they struggle against Argentina and last weekend they were never really in the game against New Zealand. Are English fans frustrated -- yes. Do they think it is the end of the world -- no.

And now we Canadians -- who hope to move into the Tier One pack of nations sometime in the foreseeable future -- get soundly thrashed by Japan. Twice. Get over it!

Answer 7

The Aussies are at rockbottom, and yes they are overrated, as for being overpaid, the players have got the ARU over a barrel, they know they can swan off to a rich European club and get more cash, and the level below the national side is not up to Intl standard. So it puts the top 15 players at an advantage for they know there is little competition to replace them. This tour to the NH has exposed the quality of Australian depth, I still rate Deans, but one more loss on tour, and he could be back coaching under 9's at Mid Canterbury. No doubt about it the acid goes on him, he will accept full responsibility, HOWEVER and its a biggie, he dont have quality cattle as they say, the problem is OZ dont have a NZ Cup and all the divisons like NZ has and SA has the Currie Cup as well. Also they are competing with Aussie Rules, League, Football and coming a poor 4 or even 5th in popularity and tv viewing in OZ.
Perhaps they need to start getting Aussie guys from Europe like Gasiner, Harrison, Henjik, even Norton Knight from Cardiff, and bring some help in for Deans like McKenzie Dwyer and McQueen.
Genia has been the find of the season for the Aussies, good luck Aussie for Wales.

Answer 8

Australia don't have the foundation that NZ has in Rugby, hence the difference. Rugby us probably rated 3 or 4 in Australia and you expect to be the greatest team running around. Deans problems are simple, the skill level for the plays they are trying to acommplish are beyond there current capabilites. I'm still not convinced that some of these players should be in there, but then you have to look at who Deans has to choose from. I say give the forwards 2 tasks for the game and same as the backs and let them go from there. Australia will need at least 2 yrs to really develope this current team but I dont know if the public can cope by losing to 3rd rated teams, and that is no disrespect to Scotland.

Answer 9

Overpaid - certainly! Overated? At this point in time, yes! But when you look at their losses, it has not been by much.
With what Deans had to start with, I think Australia Rugby is getting there. Next year and the year after, the Wallabies will be a force - a significant one - in World rugby. I wish it weren't so but the signs are there and once they gell, I can see a great team in the making.
I agree with Dwyer however, they need some tall hard trees in the forwards. Bring back Vickerman and Sharpe.
Go the ABs!

Answer 10

Personally I didn't ever think Robbie Deans was such a great coach. look at Pieter de Villers, he's got a great bunch of players around him which make him look good.

An yes Wllabies are overrated and overpaid!

Answer 11

yes overpaid, yes overrated

But the ARU has no option, if they don't pay people top dollar to play union, players have the option of league and Aussie Rules instead. Both other codes pay really well. So cr@p players get paid a lot for not winning matches.

The fanbase is eroding anyway, fans are spoilt for choice for sports in Australia and can afford to choose to follow sports where the Aussie teams win. The Wobblies losing means they lose fans, so it's not going to be a good year in 2010 for them.

Answer 12

They are not overrated and definitely not overpaid! Market forces indicate the worth of individual players. Wigan FC players don't spend vast amount of time away from home living out of a suitcase in different countries with different cultures. On Fox Sports a couple of nights ago the commentators were comparing the current results to those in about 1994, shortly before we won the World Cup. The were rabbiting on about how the current group of players were no-where near the standard of those great players, such as John Eales, Phil Kearns, Tim Horan, Jason Little, Campo etc. What they failed to realise is that those great teams didn't magically appear and, at the time the World Cup winning side was experiencing losses almost of the magnitude of that against Scotland, no-one was talking of the players being amongst the greats of the game. They were copping the same ridicule as today's players. Robbie Deans has a plan. The plan is to build a side capable of winning the World Cup in 2011. Not the Tri-Nations now or next year, not the Bledisloe now or next year, the World Cup in 2011!! How many years have we seen the All Blacks sweep all before them in the years prior to the WC and then fall at that hurdle. Leave the criticism until after 2011. Then we'll know if the short term pain resulted in long term gain.

blackie

PS If, according to the questioner, the Wallabies total salary is AU $27 that equates to less than $1 per person! In that case they are certainly overpaid!!