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The Melbourne Rebels

Wally

Wally

Academy Player
Joined
May 22, 2004
Messages
330
There is going to be a continuing flow of news about the new Super 15 franchise over the next year so allow me to streamline the information in one convenient thread.



The story so far...

Rebels squad for 2011 as of May 20:

* Laurie Weeks [Prop] (Qld Reds)
* Adam Freier [Hooker] (NSW Waratahs)
* Greg Somerville [Prop] (Gloucester) IMPORT
* Adam Byrnes [Second Row] (Qld Reds)
* Hoani McDonald [Second Row] (Newport Gwent Dragons) IMPORT
* Luke Jones [Second Row] (Western Force)
* Michael Lipman [Flanker] (Bath) IMPORT
* Gareth Delve [Number 8] (Gloucester) IMPORT
* Tim Davidson [Backrow] (Leeds Carnegie)
* Jarrod Saffy [Backrow] (St George Illawarra Dragons)
* Danny Cipriani [Flyhalf] (London Wasps) IMPORT
* Sam Cordingley [Halfback] (Grenoble)
* Richard Kingi [Halfback] (Qld Reds)
* Stirling Mortlock [Centre] (ACT Brumbies)
* Lachlan Mitchell [Centre] (London Wasps)
* Cooper Vuna [Wing] (Newcastle Knights)
* Peter Betham [Fullback] (NSW Waratahs)
* Julian Huxley [Fullback] (ACT Brumbies)

Import total 5/10
Squad total 18/30

Coaching staff:

* Harold Mitchell [Chairman]
* Pat Wilson [Interim CEO]
* Rod Macqueen [Coach]
* Damien Hill [Assistant Coach]
* Mark Bakewell [Assistant Coach]
* Nathan Grey [Skills]
* Ben Darwin [Scrum]

Potential signings:

* Mark Gasnier (Stade Francais)
* Peter Hynes (Qld Reds)
* Adriaan Strauss (Cheetahs)
* Luke Rooney

News:

* Inaugural Rebels CEO Brian Waldron resigns in the wake of the Melbourne Storm's salary cap rort of which he has been accused of being the 'architect' during his time at the helm there. The Rebels quickly appoint Pat Wilson as interim chief in order to quickly and decisively cut off all oxygen to the story.
 
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A quick wikipedia search reveals...

PR Laurie Weeks (Qld Reds) [62]
PR Greg Somerville (Gloucester) [63]
HK Adam Freier (NSW Waratahs) [64]
LK Luke Jones (Western Force) [65]
LK Adam Byrnes (Qld Reds) [66]
LK Hoani MacDonald (Newport Gwent Dragons) [63]
FL Jarrod Saffy (St George Illawarra Dragons) [58]
N8 Gareth Delve (Gloucester) [67]
N8 Tim Davidson (Leeds Carnegie) [68]
SH Sam Cordingley (FC Grenoble)[69]
SH Richard Kingi (Qld Reds) [70]
CE Stirling Mortlock (ACT Brumbies) [71][72]
CE Lachie Mitchell (London Wasps) [73]
WG Peter Betham (ACT Brumbies) [69]
FB Danny Cipriani (London Wasps)[74][75]

Should be interesting!
 
Haysie said:
A quick wikipedia search reveals...

PR Laurie Weeks (Qld Reds) [62]
PR Greg Somerville (Gloucester) [63]
HK Adam Freier (NSW Waratahs) [64]
LK Luke Jones (Western Force) [65]
LK Adam Byrnes (Qld Reds) [66]
LK Hoani MacDonald (Newport Gwent Dragons) [63]
FL Jarrod Saffy (St George Illawarra Dragons) [58]
N8 Gareth Delve (Gloucester) [67]
N8 Tim Davidson (Leeds Carnegie) [68]
SH Sam Cordingley (FC Grenoble)[69]
SH Richard Kingi (Qld Reds) [70]
CE Stirling Mortlock (ACT Brumbies) [71][72]
CE Lachie Mitchell (London Wasps) [73]
WG Peter Betham (ACT Brumbies) [69]
FB Danny Cipriani (London Wasps)[74][75]

Should be interesting!
Click to expand...
That would have made life easier. Though Wikipedia is only so reliable, I'm fairly certain Betham is currently a Waratah.

If it's true it's interesting to see this Lachlan Mitchell signing as he was completely unknown to me. Apparently he got signed to Wasps straight from the NSW academy.
 
Good luck with Danny Cipriani, he is currently in very bad form and we would appreciate it if you could train him up to an acceptable standard for when he returns to London Wasps in 2 years time :)
 
Bloody hell, thats quite an interesting squad being formed there. Would be interested to see how some of the NH guys get on down in Australia although Michalak really enjoyed his time at the Sharks apparently.
 
Apparently they're set to offer Billy Slater (melbourne storm) a $1mil contract. Will be interesting to see whether he takes it, as he'll be getting a wage cut (i presume) now that Storms been ousted as having been paying over the salary cap
 
Prestwick said:
Bloody hell, thats quite an interesting squad being formed there. Would be interested to see how some of the NH guys get on down in Australia although Michalak really enjoyed his time at the Sharks apparently.
Click to expand...

What's the story there?

Olyy said:
Apparently they're set to offer Billy Slater (melbourne storm) a $1mil contract. Will be interesting to see whether he takes it, as he'll be getting a wage cut (i presume) now that Storms been ousted as having been paying over the salary cap
Click to expand...

I doubt Melbourne could afford that much money on their own without ARU funding, and as far as I'm aware they have stated they will no longer go after established leaguies.
 
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"Slater is an athlete. He would be the ideal fullback in rugby," a source close to the Rebels said. "It is just a matter of how much the ARU wants to tip in."
Click to expand...

It's good to see the Rebels are immediately picking over the bloody carcass of the Storm but I don't think they will pull if off without the ARU, and unless they are hypocrites they won't offer a top up deal.
 
It'd be a good signing, but has he ever expressed interest at switching to union?
He's one of the top League players in the world, would be a shame if he switched and then was just average in his new code

Also, i didn't realise that just 5 storm player took up half of their sallary allowance!
 
Just in regard to the Rebels tabling a $1m offer to Slater:

Macqueen also said reports that the club had offered a massive offer to Slater were not correct. ''I can assure you we haven't. We don't usually confirm or deny any of those things but I'm very happy in this case to say no we haven't. I've said unequivocally that we have not approached anyone regarding Billy Slater and we don't intend to and nor have we approached any other player in the Storm."

"The reality is in all of these things is that the rumours are out there all the time. It's been interesting from our perspective to see how many players are actually linked to the Rebels. There would be only a very small percentage of those who are correct.''

Macqueen said more signings would be announced soon, and that the club was still waiting for a decision from former NRL star Mark Gasnier.

- Brisbane Times
 
Izzy Folau is making intentions clear tomorrow.. hopefully.. could be a big day for the Melbourne Rebels and Australian rugby in general to sign Folau.
 
redunderthebed said:
How childish. :mad:

Rebels can **** right off i shall be heading smellbourne town to cheer on the brumbies and hopefully crush the rebels.
Click to expand...
I love how "How Childish" can be followed by calling Melbourne "smellbourne".
 
Julian Huxley yesterday signed for the Rebels taking the squad total to 16.

Squad on the first page updated.
 
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You need to add Luke Rooney to potential targets, read somewhere or seen somewhere that the Rebels are possibly chasing him.
 
Didn't Rooney say he had his sights set on an England shirt?
That's why he was going to go to Worcester, presume he has a get out clause for if they went down, leaving him a bit lost


EDIT:
Just read he's now got his sights set on a Wallabies shirt, he changed his tune pretty quick :p
 
We really haven't heard anything about Rooney since he left the NRL. If he's playing well I think it would be a good move by the Rebels to bring him back.

Michael Lipman, a former England player currently with Sydney club Warringah, is soon to be named a Rebels recruit. The Rebels have been given permission by the ARU to start negotiations with Lipman.
 

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