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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack team podcast

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Speaker 1: from News Talks at me.

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Speaker 2: So, off the top of your head, where do you

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Speaker 2: reckon the Wallabies currently sit in the world rankings. Sure,

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Speaker 2: they're behind US, Okay, they're behind South Africa obviously, but

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Speaker 2: they are also languishing behind Scotland. They're languishing behind Italy.

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Speaker 2: Would you believe Yeah? According to World Rugby, the Wallabies

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Speaker 2: of September twenty twenty four are the ninth best national

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Speaker 2: team in men's rugby. They only just squeak in ahead

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Speaker 2: of Fiji. And it's funny because you know, when I

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Speaker 2: was a kid, the Blederslow felt like the biggest thing

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Speaker 2: in rugby outside of a World Cup. Now it probably wasn't.

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Speaker 2: It was probably me being an excitable kid and thinking,

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Speaker 2: oh New Zealand versus Australia, blah blah blah. Teests with

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Speaker 2: South Africa were at least comparable, and Lions tours had

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Speaker 2: that special prestige. But I would get so worked up

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Speaker 2: for bledders Lows because they always felt like any team

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Speaker 2: could win. I still remember epic Blederslow clashes, the John

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Speaker 2: Eels era, George Gregan in that tackle, you know, Jeff

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Speaker 2: Wilson spilling the ball as he dived for the line.

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Speaker 2: The Wallaby's just holding on for Blederslow glory, But what

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Speaker 2: happened New Zealand. Rugby has had its issue. World rugby

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Speaker 2: has had its issues, but arguably no country that plays

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Speaker 2: rugby has experienced anything like the decline that Australia has

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Speaker 2: experienced over the last twenty or twenty five years. Those

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Speaker 2: epic Blederslow clashes of the past are very much of

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Speaker 2: the past. It's twenty two years since Australia last held

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Speaker 2: the bleders Loow. We now have an elected member of

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Speaker 2: Parliament in New Zealand who has never seen a Wallaby's

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Speaker 2: team win it. And get this. According to the Australian

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Speaker 2: Sports Commission, rugby is now Australia's ninth most popular sport

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Speaker 2: by participation. Ossie rules has four times as many kids

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Speaker 2: who play basketball, is five times as popular as rugby

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Speaker 2: by participation. But not only that, rugby loses out to

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Speaker 2: badminton in terms of participation, Rugby loses out to rock

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Speaker 2: climbing in terms of regular participation. There are lots of

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Speaker 2: things that have probably contributed to it. Right, I always

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Speaker 2: reckon the private school rugby culture in Australia has probably

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Speaker 2: isolated the sport from a big slab of the population.

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Speaker 2: Concern overhead knocks will have impacted participation. The domestic rugby

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Speaker 2: competition was hollowed out and ultimately scrapped, which means that

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Speaker 2: the Super Rugby teams are now the only real professional

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Speaker 2: options for young rugby players. And get this, the AFL

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Speaker 2: has eighteen teams, the NRL has sixteen Australian teams plus

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Speaker 2: the Warriors. They'll have that team in Papu and New

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Speaker 2: Guinea soon too. Super Rugby will now have just four

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Speaker 2: Australian teams, So no domestic competition and just four teams

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Speaker 2: in Super Rugby. You know, maybe fewer teams is good,

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Speaker 2: maybe it's bad. I just think it's I think it's

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Speaker 2: telling that a city of five million people couldn't sustain

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Speaker 2: a side. How many people in Melbourne didn't even know

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Speaker 2: that the Melbourne Rebels were a thing. And you've got

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Speaker 2: to say that as a TV entertainment product. Sorry, but

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Speaker 2: the Brumbies versus the Force rarely compares to the thrill

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Speaker 2: of the NRL. Now, all of this is not to

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Speaker 2: diminish this evening's game I'm excited, of course I am,

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Speaker 2: and I'm certainly not hoping for a Wallaby's win. But

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Speaker 2: ultimately it is in our interest for Australian rugby to

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Speaker 2: somehow work its way back into something akin to the

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Speaker 2: force of the past. New Zealand rugby needs much, much

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Speaker 2: stronger competition from across the ditch. We need. The specter

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Speaker 2: of potentially losing the bleder is low. And look, maybe

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Speaker 2: I will eat my words, maybe I will be blushing

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Speaker 2: come this time tomorrow. But as much as I will

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Speaker 2: enjoy with the game this evening, right now, it doesn't

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Speaker 2: feel like all that much of a contest.

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Speaker 1: For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, Listen live

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Speaker 1: to News Talks ed B from nine am Saturday, or

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