In a professional era, is it really worth spending all that money on player development and retention asks Tank Lanning in his Sport24 column? Why not just buy what you need when you need it?
Tank Lanning
When flying to Joburg or Cape Town, do you buy a ticket or build a plane?
Simple answer if you fly once a month. Slightly more complex if you fly every day. And vastly more complex if you actually own an airline.
When needing to win a Super Rugby title, do you buy in Vincent Koch or develop Steven Kitshoff? The former developed by someone else and coming in at a cost. The latter developed by you, and now buggering off to make money off those skills in France?
WP come in for a lot of stick re losing players. Think Francois Hougaard, Handre Pollard, Willie le Roux, Thomas du Toit, Tim Swiel and Johann Sadie. Yet in their Academy and Institute, they have one of the best player development systems in the world!
One only has space for 23 players each week. Loyalty seems to be something you get only from a dog in today’s professional era. So is it really worth spending all that money on player development and retention? Why not just buy what you need at the time?
I’ll tell you why. Buying in players gives you the Sharks. Developing players gives you the Lions.
A cursory glance at a recent Sharks match 23 revealed that only 5 players, Pat Lambie, Marcel Coetzee, Fred Zeilinga, Waylon Murray, and Kyle Cooper were schooled in the region. Their solution to losing Willem Alberts? Signing ex Bulls and current Waratahs flank, Jaques Potgieter.
Yes it is a professional game, and of course you can now buy a team, but money does not grow on trees, and there is still a lot to be said for a team and province culture that gets developed from the bottom up.
Hence Lions coach Johann Ackermann making the call to develop their talent from within instead of paying out millions for marquee players. Players are then given the assurance that they are backed in the system as a young player. Through trusting their talent conveyor belt, they now have eight or nine players who were not on Heyneke Meyer’s radar a year ago, who could play for the Springboks.
In a fully professional era, it’s pretty damn awesome to see so called “Old fashioned” values like playing for the jersey and your team mates, together with an incredible team spirit, playing out successfully between the white lines.
In a recent edition of Vodacom’s “Think Tank” I was asked to pick my form XV of the tournament thus far, and took a little stick for not picking a single Lions player. Rightfully so perhaps, but what I did not get to say was that the next best player in almost every position would be a Lions player.
None of Ruan Combrinck, Harold Vorster, Lional Mapoe, Elton Jantjies, Faf de Klerk, Warren Whiteley, Jaco Kriel, Franco Mostert, Julian Redelinghuys, Ruan Dreyer, Akker van der Merwe, Schalk van der Merwe, or Jacques van Rooyen would let a Bok side down!
So apart from the continuity allowed via not having to rest the Bok players this year, they also have no big egos to manage (something definitely bothering Gary Gold at the moment). And through backing the players in their system, not overly complicating the coaching structure or on filed game plan, they have built a culture that everyone buys into.
Something that is much more difficult to implement when buying players in from all over the show.
Ridiculous transfer fees like in soccer should be implemented. This should go to province coffers. Then they can compete in any wage negotiations.
English football has a mixture of both approaches. Think of the likes of Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, Christian Bale and David Beckham, who were all home grown. Of course, there are scores more imports from continental Europe and abroad.
I think there’s room for both systems to flourish. Someone has to develop those players, after all. There’s money to be made in the transfer market too (there’s no reason to wait for a player’s contract to expire).
lol “took a little stick for not picking a single Lions player”. How many times have you backed the lions this year? People should know by now how biased you are.
Well at least you are better than Rob Rouwing.
Lastly in the so-called “Province-tank”. You have a lot of negative things to say about Joubert helping the Lions but not a word mentioned about the Lions conceding two tries as a result of hands in ruck from the Highlanders?
Also, if the Stormers are playing with so much intensity, why could they only beat the Lions by 3 points? Could also have been a draw if the lions took the kick?
No mention of this?
Please try to be a little unbiased, you are a “reporter”
Tank, please, please, don’t “become more unbiased” – we don’t need another pc minded “reporter” who fumbles around with words and niceties trying to be fair to all.
I read you stuff because I want to know your OPINION and you call it like you see it.
Keep it real and keep it coming!
Hah. Shot Leslie. I live in the Cape, went to school and university in the Cape, and played for WP. No matter what I write, I think people will think I am biased toward WP. If only people knew how many times I have been called into WP HQ to have discussions around my so called negativity toward them 🙂
Appreciate the comment Johan. I see myself as a columnist offering opinion on all things rugby, rather than a reporter, but I hear you. I love what the Lions have done, and have said so publicly on numerous times, but in my heart, always knew they would implode at some stage and do not see them having enough in the tank to go all the way. It’s a simple case of resources. And so it came to be against the Brumbies, who shut them down with simple, but highly organised defence.