News

Sharpe denies Force rift

September 30 2008

Western Force skipper Nathan Sharpe has squashed reports regarding any kind of player revolt against coach John Mitchell.

According to Australia's Sunday Telegraph, a number of players compiled a dossier of complaints regarding their New Zealand-born coach, to be heard by the Western Force board.

However, while Sharpe has admitted that a group of players met Force chief executive Greg Harris, he denied it had anything to do with Mitchell's coaching.

"There was a bunch of players and the CEO and the players' representative on the board (John Welborn) who got together just to discuss things, ranging from the administration to the playing," Sharpe told the Australian newspaper.

"It was certainly nothing to do with Mitch. It was just the performance of the team going forward was what the boys wanted to talk about.

"You can always get better in different areas as an organisation and that's what we are looking to do. That goes from the way we hold ourselves as a club, the way we run our marketing, the way we do our public appearances.

"To be honest, it was very early stages of planning for next year and the guys just wanted to make sure we got on top of things."

The Wallabies veteran lock was one of the Force's foundation players in 2006 when the Perth franchise took off, and said he had no problems with Mitchell.

"I get along really well with Mitch," Sharpe said.

"He's a great guy and a very good coach. He's an intense fella. That's the way he is. He is competitive.

"That's what you want in a coach. A guy who works very, very hard."

Meanwhile, Sharpe was less sceptical about rumours floating around that Force players such as fly-half Matt Giteau and utility back Drew Mitchell were looking to leave Western Australia.

Sharpe, who has signed with the Force until 2011, conceded it would be a challenge for the club to retain a large number of players, who are coming off contract.

"Next year is going to be a great litmus test for us to see how many guys want to re-sign and get on board with a team that is certainly on the improve," said Sharpe.

"That was always going to be the case when the club came into conception.

"You get players on one or two-year contracts and all of a sudden everyone is coming off contract at the same time."