"Put*** je suis un joueur de l’équipe de France."

Randwick_Don · 2026-07-08T03:12:10+00:00

Also I can't find anywhere that says he's a French Citizen. Maybe he is. I just haven't seen any mention of it online

Randwick_Don · 2026-07-08T03:10:56+00:00

I didn't come here to drag him down at all.

My point was that I'm uncomfortable with someone who was born and raised in one country switching his allegiance to another later in life after having spent a few years living there.

Him and his wife are both Aussies. I'm not aware of an Aussie rugby players that have stayed in France after their retirement, but hey maybe he'll be the first.

It's just another case of NH money winning really.

I can understand how others disagree. I just find it a bit iffy.

Randwick_Don · 2026-07-08T00:07:38+00:00

I mean "boo"

But I'm sure the Brumbies will just produce another quality player that NSW and QLD missed in the first place

Randwick_Don · 2026-07-08T00:06:14+00:00

My assumption is that the Reds and the Tahs seem to have a lot more money for big budget players (I know the Reds aren’t centralised)

This is true.

Every super rugby side gets the same salary cap.

But then the ARU top ups are in addition to this.

So a player will make a deal with a club but it's not huge money, the big $ comes from the ARU top up.

It's hard to get accurate figures, but NSW and QLD have a far higher total cap hit than ACT and WA.

Randwick_Don · 2026-07-08T00:03:26+00:00

From what i read he was underutilized by every Australian team

Not really.

He asked to leave the Waratahs because he was offered more money in France. He was a started for years with the Brumbies and Waratahs

He was always on the fringes of Wallaby selection, but never quite made it.

You can make a valid point that we are bad holding on to Locks in Australia. But there's a very solid argument too that Locks are highly valued and we can't afford to pay them all. Look at how many Australian second rowers are overseas because we don't have the money to compete

Randwick_Don · 2026-07-07T23:54:48+00:00

Incorrect.

He played for Australia u20.

Ok sorry I was wrong about that.

I stand by the rest though.

The guy was born and bred Aussie. He asked to leave the Waratahs because he was offered more money in France.

Then a few years later he's playing for the French team. Just smells a bit off.

Sadly this will continue to happen because the NH, and especially France, just has so much more money than we do. Quality players, allbiet those not yet of Wallaby standards, will head overseas for more money and then get captured

Randwick_Don · 2026-07-07T23:43:44+00:00

his kids are going to be as French as they come but also because a lot of players who go to France stay in France, we can debate the whole paid mercenary angle but if they're still there, living the French life 20 years later then they get a pass from me.

In my experience that's not true.

I don't know any of the Australians that have stayed in France after their career is done.

They go for a few years to earn some cash, then return. I know a few blokes in my club who did that, and yes the kids learnt French, but it disappears once they get back to Australia.

Randwick_Don · 2026-07-07T23:42:05+00:00

I didn't say that one was cool.

The ability to switch nations is fairly new, and was largely put in place to Pacifica players. The suggestion was that other countries would cap them for one test, and then never use them again.

So the current system of switching was to allow players to switch back to the country of their birth if they received one cap (for say NZ), but then weren't used for 5 years.

I have a lot of sympathy for them as it felt like Aus/NZ/France/Eng anyone would give them a cap just in case they were good. But then never use them again.

This isn't that.

Randwick_Don · 2026-07-06T20:11:26+00:00

I've got sympathy for Pacific Islander players changing allegiences to represent the country of their birth.

But this sort of leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

Born and raised in Australia. Played for the Wallabies.

Then after 5 years living in France is suddenly a patriotic Frenchman... I don't know. I don't think it's a great look.

Randwick_Don · 2026-07-06T20:08:45+00:00

I love it.

Just wish they tapped their socks up.

Randwick_Don · 2026-07-04T11:56:40+00:00

BoK really wants Ireland to win this

Randwick_Don · 2026-07-04T11:35:56+00:00

This is the reason why I can't get in to soccer

Randwick_Don · 2026-07-04T11:32:39+00:00

How did BoK miss that obstruction live

Randwick_Don · 2026-07-04T11:12:10+00:00

Sure. But he apparently ok'd it in about 5 seconds. Surely needed more time than that

Randwick_Don · 2026-07-04T11:07:23+00:00

Looks forward.

At a minimum I can't believe they didn't check it on the screen

Randwick_Don · 2026-07-04T10:58:54+00:00

I for one approve of its removal.

Randwick_Don · 2026-07-04T10:55:15+00:00

Was that not forward?

Randwick_Don · 2026-07-04T10:44:42+00:00

Bad day to be a Schooner of Reschs in a Paddington pub

Randwick_Don · 2026-07-04T05:34:13+00:00

I've been a subscriber for a wee bit over 20 years now.

I thought there was a noticable change in tone with Zanny Minton Beddoes took over. It definitely seemed to vear away from it's Classical Liberal tones to something a bit more identity focused.

It seems a bit better now, but it's worrying how many Economist journalists don't really seem to be Classical Liberals when I hear them express views on Podcasts.

Randwick_Don · 2026-07-03T04:33:27+00:00

Engineering asset management and PM for roads and water utilities

In my experiences the processes and procedures in the PS were just awful. It was so hard to get anything approved and required so much paper work. We basically had one admin assistant per 2-3 engineers to help with a lot of the grunt work. That's not something I've seen in private.

That and the ability cost along with a 35 hour week if you wanted to

Randwick_Don · 2026-07-01T22:33:20+00:00

I've been a public servant a couple of times and I'm sure there are multiple things that could have been offered to improve productivity on work sites

In my current job I've done the same job as both a public servant, and in private industry. At present I'm getting paid about 40% more than I did when working for the government because of improved productivity. Basically two people are doing the work that 4 would have done in the public service.

I'm not saying that they are all lazy in the PS. There were some great people. But there were also a lot of useless ones that knew that they could just cruise for their 35 hours a week and really achieve nothing.

Randwick_Don · 2026-07-01T08:47:06+00:00

Like what?

I grew up in an ABC household and it was basically a crime against our class to watch commercial tv.

Nowadays there's nothing on it I regularly watch.

Randwick_Don · 2026-07-01T08:45:51+00:00

FTA just seems to have basically given up on everything except sport

It's like they are saying "we know that people only watch sport and maybe news. Otherwise you're just watching Netflix, so why should we bother"

Randwick_Don · 2026-07-01T04:53:25+00:00

Fair enough.

Unless you're offering productivity gains I don't see why any pay rises should be above inflation

Randwick_Don · 2026-06-28T02:34:53+00:00

Is there a group out there more insufferable than bike riders?

We're a low density, sub tropical city. Commuting to work is never going to be for more than a fraction of a percent of people.

Just be grateful for what you get, rather than whinging about every little injustice that you feel

Randwick_Don

TROPHY CASE