In the lead up to last weeks NRL Trial Danny Green and Wendall Sailor took time out to visit the World Sports Expo at Perth Convention Exhibition Center. Wendall was in Perth all week attending media interviews and spreading the word of Rugby League to all. Wendall should be commended for his efforts in promoting not just the St George Illawara Dragons but also the WA Rugby League.  Wendall even took time out to visit the WA Reds SG Ball team at training and be around the team on game day. Keep any eye out for more pictures of Wendall’s time here in Perth. Well done Wendall!

The WARL are pleased to advertise the vacant positions for the 2012 Women’s League Tag State program. We are seeking applications for the following positions:

Head Coach

Assistant Coach

Team Manager

Trainer

All prospective candidates need to apply in writing with accompanying resume to dchristy@warugbyleague.com.au

Applications close C.O.B Friday 2nd March 2012.

The Cash Converters WA Reds have lost on the road this weekend. The Rnd 2 clash against St George was seen as a winnable game for the Reds. However the team suffered a heavy defeat 44 – 12. Head Coach was obviously disappointed with his teams performance. Green believes that this result could prove to be the wake up call the team needs to kick on with their season. Best players for the Reds Waqa Blake and Luke Turner. The team are at home this week and will face a Cronulla Sharks. This again is a game that the Reds are capable of winning. Get along to Ken Allen field, Fremantle and support the team as they search for the their first win of the season. Kick off 11.30am.

WA Rugby League chief executive John Sackson responds to a rival bid for a Perth NRL team from mining magnate Tony Sage.

Q. What’s your position on Sage’s quest to get the license?

A. It’s fair to say that the WARL have worked very hard for two and a half years now and perhaps a little longer than that to earn more respect for the game of rugby league in Western Australia and to strengthen the foundations of the game in WA and to put us in a position where it’s fair to say we are considered a favourite, if not the red hot favourite, to get an NRL franchise back in Perth when the commission addresses the issue of expansion. We’ve worked very hard and very closely with the South Sydney Rabbitohs over the past three years and this will be the fourth year that the Rabbitohs have made the investment to bring one of their home games to nib Stadium. They’ve played a big role in the development and growth of the code here. The public in WA want their rugby league, they want their NRL and we’ve gone a long way to conveying that message to the powers that be in Sydney.

A. We remain very focused on what we’re doing. We’ve been working on this for two and a half years, we’ve been meeting consistently with David Gallop over that time and we’ve got a great relationship with David Gallop and his senior management. We remain very focused on what we’re doing, we believe what we’re doing is right for the game in this state and we’ll continue to be focused on that. It’s a competitive world and the fact that other people have emerged with a franchise here is a reflection on the fact that we are considered a favourite to get a franchise, so it’s not surprising that other parties have come out and want to get on board. Perhaps there will be other parties that will get on board in the future as well, we’ll wait and see. We’re continuing down our path, we’re pleased with where we’re placed.

Q. Any contact with Sage and would you consider joining him?

We’ve had no formal contact with any other competitor. If any other entity would like to sit down and discuss the situation with the WARL and perhaps get on board for one unified approach for getting an NRL franchise back here then we would welcome that opportunity and we would invite interested parties to sit down and have a chat to us with the ultimate goal of getting a franchise back here. That’s what we want and that’s what the sports fans of Western Australia want.

Q. Do you and your people know what’s best for rugby league in WA?
We consider ourselves to be in a strong position because our business model for an NRL franchise is strongly linked back to grass roots, community rugby league and we believe it has to be. We have to create pathways for the kids that are playing rugby league here to aspire to greater representative honours, to NRL aspirations and forming that pathway. Our view on this bid is strongly linked to the whole of the game and the health and prosperity of the game at a community level. We think that’s critical. It’s not just about coming in and buying a team, it goes much deeper than that.

Q. Ricky Stuart is being touted as a coach. Have you been in contact?

A. I wouldn’t be telling the truth if I said we hadn’t been having approaches and conversations with interested coaching parties, but to be quite honest our view is that we think it’s quite meaningless to start dropping names of coaches. It’s too premature. The commission has not come out and confirmed expansion is happening. Do we believe it will? Yes. Do we believe it will be 2015? Absolutely. But to be dropping names of coaches now for a team that would be entering the competition three years down the track we think is a little premature. We think that if we are successful in earning the right to have a franchise, we’ll be very careful in targeting the sort of coaching staff that we believe would be needed to form a very successful franchise on the field and off the field. We’ll address that issue at the appropriate time, but it’s fairly pointless to start dropping names at this time.

Q. Can the WARL match Sage’s bankroll?

I believe we can. We’ve got a business model that we believe is sustainable for the long term. We are very confident in our ability to raise the necessary funds and build a business model that is sustainable. We know it’s an expensive proposition. We know we need $15 to $20 million to run a franchise. But we back ourselves to achieve that.
　
Q. Will you seek clarification from Gallop of where Sage is at?

I’ve already placed a call to David and I will definitely be seeking clarification as to where this sits. All I know at the moment is what I’ve read in the newspapers and what I’ve seen on television, but I don’t want to overreact to it to. He’s had a meeting, but we’ve been in constant contact with David Gallop and the senior management at the NRL over a long period of time. It takes more than a meeting with David Gallop to win a franchise.

Q. Does Tony’s bid hamper Perth’s chances?
I don’t see it as hampering, not at all. I think the other party know where we’re placed. I think they’re smart enough to realise Perth is extremely well positioned to win a franchise here, and I think he’s trying to capitalise on that.

Q. Sage says he knows all the major sponsors?

That may be the case. He has a sporting team at the moment and I don’t see too many new sponsors involved in that. But we are very well connected with corporates in WA. We have members on the board that are extremely well connected and highly respected as people with great integrity and great ability with business people. I will back ourselves to generate the corporate support that we need to build a successful franchise. Up until now we’ve been selling hopes and dreams, because no one’s officially stood up and said expansion’s happening. But we are delighted with the progress we’ve made in regards to getting some highly regarded brands involved in rugby league from a grass roots level, and they want to be with us if and when we are successful in getting a franchise.

Q. Media reports say expansion could be later than 2015. How disappointing would that be for the WARL?

That would be extremely disappointing. It would be very, very frustrating. Personally I can’t see that happening. I feel very, very confident that expansion will take place in 2015. That’s my view on it. That’s what I’ve been hearing consistently over the last 6-8 months. My understanding is that by the end of this year we will pretty much know where the successful franchises will be located and any new franchise, I believe, will need two years, and every day of those two years, to build a very successful franchise both on the field and off the field. It’s our intention with any team we set up in the NRL that we want to hit the ground running. We want to have a team that is extremely competitive both on and off the field from a corporate point of view, from a community engagement point of view, so it would be extremely frustrating. The challenge for us would be to keep the momentum rolling. We’ve made very good headway with rugby league here in the last few years and I point back to the roll that the Rabbitohs have played in that by coming over in those three years, involving growing the game in WA. I think we can live with 2015 and I’d be very, very surprised if it goes beyond that.

Q. Would you be ready to go if David Gallop called tomorrow?

There’s no way we’d be ready to go to be quite honest. It takes time. If David rang up and said ‘guys, you’ve got a franchise and can kick off in 2013’ that is certainly impossible. Coming back to the fact we want to hit the ground running, we want to lay strong foundations for any franchise here for the longer term and that can’t be done overnight. You’ve got the issue of the recruitment of coaching staff, players, front office staff, management, and that takes time. If it’s going to take longer for us to set up a franchise for us to be successful, then so be it. We want to build a franchise that’s here for eternity, not a franchise that is going to struggle along from year to year with our fingers crossed that hopefully one day it will come good. We want to dot the i’s and cross the t’s and prepare as best as we possibly can.

The Cash Converters WA Reds SG Ball team today embark on their campaign in the NSW competition. The SG ball team is lead by Head Coach Daniel Green with strong support from assistant coaches Andrew Korn and Angelo Tsakalos. The Strength and conditioning is once again headed up by Peak Body Health and fitness’s Tony Merrick and Roger Steward. The 2012 Reds began their path to SG Ball back in September with a series of trials. The interest in the SG Ball program has grown rapidly locally with many young players in Perth now  seeing a real pathway to the NRL through the WA Reds program. The WARL has made the commitment to the development of WA based juniors in 2012. This has seen 20 of the 25 man squad come out of WA this season, this in its self is a massive achievement to reduce our quota of eastern states players in just a short space of time.

We look forward to the 2012 season with both excitement and expectation as the club grows stronger and learns from experience the coaching staff raise the bar as to what results we expect this season. The squad has been doing the hard work four times a week since October. Last week the team played their first ever interstate trial game as part of their preparations against Melbourne Storm. The team came away with a hard fought win with South Perth ‘zip zip’ man Jordan Jacob scoring the winner to win 20 – 18.

Head Coach Daniel Green and his believe that finals football is certainly achievable this year, these aspirations will be tested tonight against North Sydney Bears.

If You still haven’t got your tickets www.ticketmaster.com.au or pay at the gate.

WA REDS Kick off 5.00pm

ST George Illawara Dragons v North QLD Cowboys Kick Off 7.00pm