The optimists – of which coach Jake White is one – will class the ACT Brumbies as the enigma of the 2012 Super Rugby competition.
But it’s an easier sell for the doomsayers, who see the Brumbies in the harshest light as a team forced to rebuild from the bottom up after a mass exodus of a whopping 13 of their starting players.
World Cup-winning coach White has a completely new challenge on his hands for the upcoming season, tasked with milking success out of a squad with a dearth of Test experience and an average age of just 22.
But White is looking on the bright side.
“It’s very difficult for me to give a number or to say what the benchmark is,” he told AAP.
“It’s like saying this team could come x in the league, but that’s unfair because I can only say after the third or fourth game and see how we gel as a group and how good the other teams are.
“We’ve never really played together and that’s why it’s so exciting.
“Who knows? We might click and be one of the best teams we’ve had in a long time. Or it might take a while.”
The departure of big names such as Adam Ashley-Cooper, Matt Giteau, Stephen Hoiles and Rocky Elsom has dulled expectations for 2012, but White will press the case to his young team that they have a club history to live up to.
“One major pressure that we have is that they’ve won two championships this team, so the pressure is not just where we are, it’s who we are.
“Our motto is back to the future – last year is irrelevant.
“The only relevance is we don’t want to go there again.”
White has already been set his first hurdle with Test hooker Stephen Moore likely to miss several games after tearing the AC joint in his right shoulder in the Brumbies’ second trial against Queensland.
Fellow front rower Ben Alexander, Pat McCabe and Siliva Siliva are also under injury clouds at the onset of the season.
But even before the injury to his star No.2, White spoke of the need for his international youngsters to step up and take some of the burden off his more experienced players.
The ACT franchise has a healthy number of international juniors on its lists, including new recruits, and captain, Ben Mowen and Zack Holmes that White says should be pressing the case to become international seniors.
