Now that the money is starting to dry up the Force are having a cry and want to push for a player draft...
I have to side with my man Andrew Fagan here -
No need to draft players: Brumbies
The Western Force might need to pack its own violins for its trip to Canberra this week, because there is little sympathy for its plight from the ACT Brumbies.
Matt Giteau's defection from the Force to the Brumbies next season has sparked complaints from Perth that it has it harder than Australia's other provinces when it comes to player recruitment and retention.
The Australian Rugby Union will meet with the Rugby Union Players Association to discuss measures, including the possibility of a player draft, to shore up the Force.
But Brumbies chief executive Andrew Fagan, who also has his sights set on recruiting Force and Wallabies fullback Drew Mitchell, said there was no reason to change the contracting protocols governing Australian Super 14 teams.
"Everyone loses a few players from time to time, we lost Matt Giteau once, remember?" Fagan said. "We've all gone through periods where we've lost high-profile players and therefore you know the rest of your squad is under pressure because they may want to play with them.
"I didn't see Queensland calling for a draft when they lost players to the Force and we didn't call for one when we had a significant number of retirements and were down a little bit on personnel.
"I think the current system works fine."
With Giteau already gone and Mitchell and fellow young Wallaby James O'Connor attracting strong interest from rival provinces, the Force believes it will struggle to lure quality replacements to Perth, particularly with third-party agreements becoming increasingly difficult to come by.
The suggestion mooted this week to help prop up Australia's newest province is a draft model similar to the one used by the AFL, ensuring no one team has a monopoly on the country's best players.
Senior ARU manager Peter Friend and RUPA boss Tony Dempsey will discuss that and other potential options at a meeting this week.
Fagan said with only four Australian-based provinces there was no need for changes to the current system.
"We've only got four teams in the competition and that means there's only 60 starting spots. That sort of forces players to move because players want opportunity.
"In order to play for the Wallabies players wanted to be sure they're somewhere in the 22 each week and therefore they will move to guarantee themselves that opportunity.
"If we had six or seven teams in a competition then you might need to look at other mechanisms that ensure you've got a spread of players, but as things stand at the moment I don't see that is such a critical issue."
Giteau's defection is sure to add spice to the Brumbies' clash with the Force at Canberra Stadium on Saturday.
http://www.rugbyheaven.com.au/news/news/no...5237698097.html
