How to watch the Tahs for 33 cents

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WHAT costs $5 million to put on the field but less than a postage stamp to watch?

The Waratahs, apparently, based on a new a ticketing deal being advertised on their website.

Under a new membership package tied to the Wallabies, a Combo 4-game deal gets you a ticket to the first Bledisloe Cup Test in Sydney and seats at any three Tahs home games for $90.

Eagle-eyed snouts point out, however, the Test ticket at ANZ Stadium — a bronze general admission — is priced at $89 on its own.

Doing the maths, this would break down to 33-cent tickets to see Izzy, Kurtley and the NSW team; representing either the best value in town or perhaps worries in Tahland about modest crowd figures.

To be fair, it must be said package deals are always the sum of discounted products, and in the wider sporting world, anything tends to go when it comes to boosting the total number of "members".

One rugby province was recently suspected of selling one-game memberships late in the season, although most draw the line at two games at the base-standard deal.

What can then follow is season memberships being counted several times as multiples of two; so an eight-game deal is counted as four members.

Some Australian clubs suspect this is the tactic of one rival currently boasting huge membership numbers.

And which high-profile Sydney NRL club that counts up to 1000 "Pet Memberships" (at $50-a-pop) in their annual tally? The pets would be furry, named Maximus and eat carrots, if that helps.

***

Usually Waratahs players can't wait to get their shirts off and go for a dip after a long training session of curls and bench-presses, but few were overly enthusiastic at a Perth beach on Thursday.

Just as the NSW squad were walking to the beach, they were told that lifeguards had spotted the biggest ever shark off the West Australian coast on Wednesday, estimated to be five metres. We reckon the shark steered clear as soon as it saw Will Skelton wading into the surf.

***

In a big loss for Australian rugby, former Wallabies prop Dan Palmer is set to retire at the age of 25 and pursue full-time studies.

Ex-Brumbies teammate Clyde Rathbone revealed the news in his column last weekend and inquiries of Palmer's management confirmed the 25-year-old plans to hang them up at the end of the current French season, where he plays for Grenoble.

A cerebral front rower (yes, they exist), Palmer is looking to study in the US or possibly at Oxford.

Former Brumbies prop Dan Palmer is set to retire. Source: News Limited

Ewen McKenzie is a big fan and will be disappointed to lose Palmer, after he first blooded him as a teenager for the Waratahs in 2008.

Palmer played one Test for the Wallabies against Scotland in 2012 and injury prevented more Tests that season. He was a rock of the Brumbies scrum last season.

It had been hoped Palmer would return to Australia and be a fixture in the Wallabies squad for years to come.

***

Don't be surprised to see Henry Speight training with the Wallabies well before the IRB officially allows him to play his first Test in September.

Under eligibility rules, Speight can't play a Test for Australia until September 11 because he had a short stint in New Zealand rugby at the end of 2011.

But there are no rules saying a player can't train with a national side before he is eligible to play, and Ewen McKenzie is not the type of coach who plans haphazardly.

If Speight continues to perform at his usual level when he returns from a broken jaw, McKenzie will have him in his squad learning plays and calls well before September.

***

The battleground that is TV rights negotiation tends to be a bloody arena, but the various combatants were holding fire this week after Bill Pulver's early "we want soccer's deal" salvo was fired last weekend.

Pulver wants the ARU to get their current $25m-a-year deal bumped up in 2016 to match the FFA's $40m-a-year deal from Fox Sports and SBS.

Rugby hopes to attract free-to-air interest and create "competitive tension" for their Wallabies and Super Rugby rights. It's understood Channel 10 are undecided if they'll beef up their current deal to screen Tests only, which they buy off Fox Sports.

The ARU are intent on a big result, and we hear Pulver has approached an insider to help them in the next negotiations. John Marquard, a former chief operating officer of both Fox Sports and Channel Ten, has been asked to consult for the ARU.

***

THE Brumbies success in recent years is starting to take a toll on the club's abilities to keep all its star players, and the vultures are circling.

A squad full of offcuts just a few years ago, the ACT squad is now chock full of Wallabies and up to 10 big-name players, including Christian Lealiifano, Scott Fardy, Jesse Mogg and Matt Toomua, are off-contract this year.

Jesse Mogg is one of several Brumbies players off-contract this year. Source: Getty Images

The word is out that with all the expanding salaries they will struggle to fit everyone under the salary cap next year, and clubs like the Rebels and the Force are keeping a very keen eye on proceedings. Melbourne desperately need a Test-quality playmaker and you'd assume they'd pay good money for either Lealiifano or Toomua. The Force need to build depth in a number of positions.

Stay tuned.

***

Congratulations to Western Australia and Victoria, who are the under 17 and under 15 Junior Gold Cup champions respectively after winning their finals last weekend.

The inaugural competition was a huge success, and showed the immense talent coming through in non-traditional rugby states.

Just so you can throw their name into a sideline conversation first, good judges say to keep an eye out for outstanding Victorian centre Sione Tuipulotu, WA's kicking five-eighth Nick Jooste and the Victorian backrowers Robert Loeta-Lu and Robert Valentini.

The Rebels and Force have their men in respective junior programs and tell us they don't intend on letting their next-gen talent go. League's financial lure — though mostly tiny — is a danger at this age but WA and Victoria being non-league states will help hold onto the promising teens, we're told.

***

The drums are beating from Europe that Digby Ioane is heading back to Australia next season. The question remains where?

The obvious destinations appear Melbourne or Queensland, but the mail from Mexico is the Rebels aren't interested.

Digby Ioane could be heading home to Australia. Source: News Limited

Ioane seemed to burn bridges at the Reds on his way out last year over a money dispute, although we're told relations have been mended and the door isn't closed.

With the Waratahs and Brumbies well-stocked for wingers, could Ioane even return to Perth, where he debuted for the Force in 2006?

***

Former Wallabies winger Damian Smith is lending his profile to a "Time to Move" campaign aimed at reducing the debilitating effects of arthritis that affects large numbers of Australia's huge sporting population.

Smith, who was diagnosed with osteo-arthritis after retiring from rugby, is encouraging the implementation of "neuro muscular" training for young kids as they begin to play sport. The techniques help youngsters develop muscular structures that help them avoid serious problems such as knee injuries later in their sporting pursuits.

Neuro-muscular training is used successfully overseas, and the rates of people developing knee injuries after major knee reconstructions (which numbers in the tens of thousands in Australia) were slashed by up to 60% in Norway.

''Time to Move'' is a national collaborative policy white paper spearheaded by Arthritis Australia.

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