Brumbies may be the best Australian Super Rugby team but this season could be a hard sell

In the halcyon days of the Brumbies, a couple of months out from the start of the season, the focus would be on the potential makeup of the team.

Would Larkham move from fullback to fly half? Would Gregan go around for another season or would the Brumbies have the firepower to beat the Crusaders?

The calendar would be marked with the dates the Brumbies played the Waratahs.

Sadly, in the lead up to the start of the 2024 Super Rugby season, the focus has been almost entirely on the code tearing itself apart.

We’ve had the woes of the Wallabies’ worst-ever World Cup performance, the Eddie Jones saga, and speculation about the future of the Brumbies.

As to the direction of Australian rugby, we are still waiting as the game continues to turn on itself.

There has been next to no publicity around the players, the teams, and the competition.

Rugby league has hardly had to do any self-promotion. The media and rugby union have done more than enough to promote the NRL through the off-season.

I feel for the Brumbies. Through no fault of its own the club has been caught in the middle.

On one hand it has been attempting to prepare for the upcoming season, which gets underway on 23 February against the Rebels.

But on the other hand, the Brumbies are battling Rugby Australia to maintain their identity in the face of what has at times appeared to be a hostile takeover.

A centralised rugby program may be the way to go with Rugby Australia controlling contracts, player movement and the high performance programs in a bid to get the Wallabies back on an even keel.

But there needs to be greater consultation and trust. Both have been in short supply in recent months.

The problem has been the lack of a clear direction from Rugby Australia, with the waters becoming increasingly muddied through the departures of the Wallabies coach and chair.

Eddie Jones and Hamish McLennan were the two key drivers in the quest for the centralised system.

With Jones and McLennan gone, where does that leave this vision?

There has been little to indicate that this is the course set for the future of rugby in Australia.

And I’m not sold on the idea of a top-down approach.

Where does that leave grassroots rugby? It’s the heart and soul of the code where clubs operate through the goodwill of volunteers and localised sponsors rather than a so-called grand vision.

Meanwhile, the Brumbies’ coaches and players, for their part, appear to have cocooned themselves from the outside noise.

The start of the season is imminent, and in the past, when there has been drama around the club or code the Brumbies remained poised and produced on the field.

The 2004 season is a case in point. In that year the Brumbies won the title amidst the coaching drama where David Nucifora became the first coach sacked after winning the Super Rugby title. Australian rugby’s loss turned out to be Irish rugby’s gain.

In the meantime, the game is being torn apart from within.