All professional players have responsibilities ... It's very critical that players live up to the standards that are expected and it is disappointing. |
As much as you can get a read on someone over a coffee, he came across as an impressive person who is genuinely interested in the challenge of playing rugby against the best teams in the world on an international stage. |
Australia would be keen for the top-flight England team to be here. We certainly won't be resting ours. |
Australian rugby and our supporters expect their players to represent themselves, their team and their country in a manner befitting an international player. It is unfortunate that we have had to resort to such a measure, but in this instance we were left with no choice. |
Because of the significance of the issue, both the NSWRU and ARU agree further action is warranted. After the problems in South Africa last year, we have put a lot of effort into redefining the Wallabies' disciplinary protocol. This latest incident has to be viewed as a serious matter, and automatically must go to a code-of-conduct tribunal conducted by an independent chairperson. |
Elton has received ongoing advice from specialists in Melbourne and Brisbane in recent times, and the most important thing is that he has not suffered any long-term or permanent injury. |
If he decides he wants a new challenge in an international game with the potential to play his way into a Rugby World Cup, that's great. |
It is a contract based on incentive, and proving himself in rugby. We cannot comment on the actual numbers, but the $750,000 figure which has been bandied around is just nowhere near the mark. Third-party offers have also not been involved in any of the discussions, and is not part of any offer which has been made. |
Over the past two months we have identified where we need to go. I am very pleased that John Connolly will head the coaching team to take us there. We certainly have the players, now we have a head coach with the right skills to get the Wallabies back in a winning vein. |
SANZAR has worked hard to push rugby into new and existing markets and the ABC Asia-Pacific deal is a huge step into more than 40 countries with a potential viewing audience of 10 million households. |
The clock is ticking but we will put the right structure and the right coaching team in place to put the Wallabies in a winning position for 2007. |
The issue of third-party agreements for individual players is a complex issue and something we will be looking at very closely. |
There was concern at the AGM (on Thursday) about player contracting. |
There's a real party atmosphere, it's fantastic. |
These are questions we want to ask of ourselves. |