Rugby Australia’s plan for star players was no secret to Rebels, court hears

The directors of failed Super Rugby club the Melbourne Rebels knew Rugby Australia planned to reshape the competition by concentrating top players into just three teams, leaving the Victorian franchise out in the cold, a court has heard.

In a searing opening address for Rugby Australia, Tony Bannon, SC, told the Federal Court of Australia that RA’s plan to place the competition’s best players in the NSW, ACT, and Queensland franchises to boost the performance of the Wallabies squad was well known to the club’s directors.

The Winning Rugby plan also included merging the club with struggling New Zealand team Moana Pasifika.

Bannon said minutes from the Rebels’ board meeting in December 2023 showed the directors not only knew of the plan, but also supported it.

“On December 13, 2023, the board of the Rebels passed a resolution … that the board request that Rugby Australia accelerate the commencement of the process of restructuring the Rebels through Moana Pasifika – the Melbourne Pasifika Rebels – to ensure it meets the requirements of World Rugby and Rugby Australia, and the plans for realignment,” Bannon said.

“So not only will the evidence demonstrate that they were apprised of it, they actually warmly embraced it and asked for the process to be accelerated.”

The court was also shown a forward roster of games for the British and Irish Lions tour in 2025 that showed the tour would include a game between the Lions and the “Rebels Pasifika” and was told former Melbourne Rebels president Paul Docherty was aware of the fixture. The game was wiped from the schedule after the club’s collapse.

“There was no response from Mr Docherty to say, ‘Where did that come from? This is crazy. We don’t know anything about that.’”

The Winning Rugby document is a key part of the Rebels’ case, which alleges the plan was kept from them and was the reason why RA decided to bail out the financially troubled NSW Waratahs and the ACT Brumbies and not the Rebels.

The Rebels collapsed into administration in January 2024 under the weight of $23 million in debt, including an $11.5 million tax bill and $6 million owing to its directors. Rugby Australia stripped the club of its licence in May that year.

The club launched the lawsuit last year, alleging RA acted unfairly in removing its licence and by not providing further funding to the club despite bailing out other clubs.

It says the decision was driven by Rugby Australia’s parlous financial position at the time. (RA returned to profitability in 2025.)

On Tuesday, the judge hearing the case, Justice Cameron Moore, urged both sides to settle the dispute before reputations were ruined and costs blew out.

The case is expected to offer a glimpse of the inner workings of one of the most powerful sporting bodies in the country.

A who’s who of witnesses are expected to be grilled over their recollection of events, including Docherty and forensic accountant and Rebels director Owain Stone. Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh and former chief Andy Marinos will also be called to provide evidence.

During his opening address, Bannon argued the case was actually about a tax debt the directors accrued after the club failed to pass on tax payments that had been deducted from staff and player wages to the Tax Office.

“The Rebels director’s case is that Rugby Australia ought to have saved them from their own financial mismanagement,” Bannon said.

“The obligation to remit amounts so withheld is a fundamental obligation of any employer, an obligation well understood by the least distinguished of business persons.”

Bannon said that the Rebels’ board consisted of experienced business people who should have known better.

“It ought to have been second nature to the directors of the Rebels, credentialled as they were, are,” Bannon said.

He said the board had included several experienced business people including lawyers and accountants.

“It is a plain, clear obligation which every other member of the community has to comply with, and they would be alarmed if they’re following this case, in the unlikely event, to see the Rebels seem to assume somehow that because they’re a football club, because they’re representing rugby in Victoria and had the support of the Victorian government, they are in a different position,” he said.

Bannon also told the court the directors shifted the blame for their tax issues to Rugby Autsralia only after first approaching the state government for funding to clear out their tax bill.

Instead, the Rebels then turned to RA and asked it to take over the club and assume all of its liabilities, Bannon said.

Rugby Australia also hit back at claims that the club’s financial demise was sparked by a decision by RA during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to reduce funding to each of the clubs by $1.7 million a year.

“Two or three million dollars was not going to save the Rebels,” Bannon told the court.

“On the contrary, it would have been a gross breach of duty of directors by Rugby Australia to have done any of the things our learned friends suggest they ought to have done.”