By Jon Geddes

NEWLY appointed Brumbies general manager Cameron Treloar has declared that club rugby is “vital” to the game in Australia in what will be music to the ears of the code’s grassroots.

Treloar’s CV makes him an ideal choice for the role given his vast experience and knowledge right across the board as player and coach.

A hardworking two metre tall second rower,  “Tree” played Shute Shield, in the old Australian Rugby Championship, at Super Rugby level with the Waratahs and Reds, as well as having stints in Italy and France.

He is currently head coach with the West Harbour Pirates in the Sydney premiership and was last year’s Shute Shield coach of the year.

He is well-qualified to provide his perspectives on the game and has done so in an in-depth interview with Rugby News.

THE LOVE OF THE CLUB  

 ASKED about the importance of club rugby, Treloar didn’t hesitation to reply: “vital”.

“It is still the purest form of the game,” Treloar said.

“You see guys at the professional level get to go and have a game for their clubs and they just love it because there is connection there.”

Treloar cited the example of champion All Black Beauden Barrett, who last week returned to play for his club in Taranaki. 

“He is running around on a Saturday arvo on a field without fences, but he loved it,” Treloar said.

“It just shows the place that it has in the game. 

“I am still in club rugby and you see the value in it.

“And they (representative players) are not coming back to a level that is well below them either.

“They are coming back into levels that still challenge them and they can still learn things.”

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS FOR AUSSIE RUGBY

TRELOAR said his new role offered the chance to be involved in the revitalisation of rugby over the next few years and do something meaningful around where the game is going.

He said Australian rugby has a fantastic opportunity with the British and Irish Lions tour Australia next year and then hosting the World Cup in 2027.

“It will be a period when there is a good feeling around rugby,” he said.

“It will open Australia up to 40,000 British and Irish Lions supporters coming in and that many people from all over the world for the World Cup.

“Being in France during the (2023) World Cup, there was a great feeling of what rugby can bring. 

“And it opens people’s eyes to the opportunities of rugby and the multi-cultural game we have.”

Treloar said rugby was a good product and it was a matter of regenerating the passion in it.

“That is at every level, from the coach of the under sixes to the CEO of Rugby Australia,” he said.

Treloar said the main challenges moving forward were changing the narrative around rugby and getting eyeballs back on it.

He said this year’s Super games were good, competitive and fierce.

“We have to start talking about the game rather than all the other stuff,” Treloar said.

A PROUD PIRATE

IN his new job with the Brumbies, Treloar is looking forward to working with good operators like Steve Larkham and Ben Mowen.

“The system down there has had a good run of success so I would love to learn how to replicate something like that,” he said.

But he admitted it was also bittersweet to be leaving the Pirates.    

“I have absolutely loved it, they are a great bunch of people and a great club,” he said.

The team is currently on the bottom of the ladder. Treloar and his players are determined to finish the second half of the season on a high.    

“We are really disappointed with where we are sitting, we didn’t envisage that at all,” he admitted.

“I am kicking myself over mistakes I have made over the year and I have learnt from mistakes and successes.

“But we have a really good group forming and they are starting to get the tight sort of feeling you need to win.”

On Saturday they take one competition leaders Warringah at Rat Park.   

THE TREE WILL GROW

TRELOAR starts in his new role on July 8 but will continue coaching the Pirates at the back end of the season.

“I will spend a couple of days down there and a couple of days up here, it will be very busy,” he said.

He takes over from Chris Thomson, who will become Wallabies team manager and is helping Treloar with the transition.

Treloar is the kind of person who would be perfectly suited to a role at Rugby Australia down the track.

“I’d never say no to that,” he said. “Rugby opens opportunities you don’t see coming. I didn’t even envisage becoming an assistant coach of a rugby team.”