Rebels fresh, fighting fit
THE Melbourne Rebels are as fit as they have ever been.
They are locked on to the way they want to play too and, according to new captain Dane Haylett-Petty, have got rid of the shortcuts, laziness and disciplinary issues, onfield and off, that cost them a maiden Super Rugby finals appearance last season.
The Rebels are the spruik team of the Australian conference, having added former Wallaby Quade Cooper to resume what was a title-winning partnership with Melbourne scrum-half Will Genia.
Not everyone, however, is sold on the Rebels yet.
They’re outsiders against the Brumbies in Canberra tonight and Haylett-Petty, despite being part of the “most bought in” playing group he’s been a part of, wasn’t quite sure what his team would produce.
“I think we are as ready as we’ll ever be,” he said.
“But while you want everything to be perfect in Round 1 because you have been working on them for months now, it’s never perfect, it’s always a grind.
“We have to expect that … the way the Brumbies play is a grind. But we are ready.”
The Rebels were the most penalised team in Super Rugby last season.
Haylett- Petty said that won’t be the case this year.
“I feel like last year … we probably took a few too many shortcuts, were probably a little bit lazy and it’s something maybe we didn’t pick up during the pre-season,” he said.
“Once the season starts it’s a little bit hard to turn around.
“We knew that was an issue, we reflected hard and have made a lot of changes. Hopefully we have stamped that out.”
Coach Dave Wessels, who has signed a three-year contract after spending the summer taking a sledgehammer to the clubhouse to create a more open workplace, said “better players make better coaches”.
He’s added some of those to his group and, despite being as ready as his players, was also being measured in his expectation for the early part of the season.
“I have enjoyed this preseason much more than any others,” he said.
“We’ve done a much better job of tracking and trying to improve the things we can control, and as a result I think our environment has been a really good one this pre-season. ”