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Rebels stick with Dane Haylett-Petty

(Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

Wallabies outside back Dane Haylett-Petty will captain Melbourne Rebels again as the Victorian club strives for a first Super Rugby finals spot.

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Entering their tenth season Melbourne have never logged more than seven wins, a tally they have achieved in four of their last five campaigns, some of which they started well only to fade in the closing stages.

Haylett-Petty, who plays winger or fullback, retains the role he held in 2019.

“Last year I took over just before round one, it felt like I was winging it a bit,” Haylett-Petty said.

“I definitely learnt a whole lot of lessons as the whole team did.

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“But we’ve talked a lot about being a start up (franchise) and we’re only ten years old and being innovative.

“I feel like the leaders have had a lot of say, taken a lot of control, a lot of responsibility, a lot of ownership, we’ve had a lot of fun with it.

“The big strength for us is the stability we’ve got. It’s the first time we’ve had in our ten-year history the same chairman, CEO, head coach, captain, all the coaching staff are the same.

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“We’re just building from a strong foundation.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/B7fXPm2gNS4/

Haylett-Petty felt the Rebels’ 2020 roster had a lot of depth.

“I think the Rebels have done a really good job in their off-season in terms of recruiting,” the 30-year-old said.

“We’ve lost some young guys but we’ve replaced them with a lot of Super Rugby experience.

“Guys like Wellsy (backrower Michael Wells), (back Andrew) Kellaway, (halfback) Ryan Louwrens.

“They are going to add a lot to our season.

“We used the least number of players in Super Rugby last year and I really think we’ve got a lot of depth to get us through this season.”

The Rebels play the Brumbies in a trial in Albury on Thursday before starting their Super campaign against Japan’s Sunwolves in Fukuoka on Saturday week.

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Melbourne’s Super W side will have co-captains, with PNG international and new recruit Mel Kawa joining 2019 skipper Meretiana Robinson.

– AAP

Dave Rennie has officially kicked off his new tenure with Australian rugby:

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Bull Shark 5 hours ago
Rassie Erasmus' Boks selection policy is becoming bizarre

To be fair, the only thing that drives engagement on this site is over the top critiques of Southern Hemisphere teams.


Or articles about people on podcasts criticizing southern hemisphere teams.


Articles regarding the Northern Hemisphere tend to be more positive than critical. I guess to also rile up kiwis and Saffers who seem to be the majority of followers in the comments section. There seems to be a whole department dedicated to Ireland’s world ranking news.


Despite being dialled into the Northern edition - I know sweet fokall about what’s going on in France.


And even less than fokall about what’s cutting in Japan - which has a fast growing, increasingly premium League competition emerging.


And let’s not talk about the pacific. Do they even play rugby Down there.


Oh and the Americas. I’ve read more articles about a young, stargazing Welshman’s foray into NFL than I have anything related to either the north and south continents of the Americas.


I will give credit that the women’s game is getting decent airtime. But for the rest and the above; it’s just pathetic coming from a World Rugby website.


Just consider the innovation emerging in Japan with the pedigree of coaches over there.


There’s so much good we could be reading.


Instead it’s unimaginative “critical for the sake of feigning controversial”. Which is lazy, because in order to pull that off all you need to be really good at is:


1. Being a doos;

2. Having an opinion.


No prior experience needed.


Which is not journalism. That’s like all or most of us in the comments section. People like Finn (who I believe is a RP contributor).


Anyway. Hopefully it will get better. The game is growing and the interest in the game is growing. Maybe it will attract more qualified journalists over time.

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