With the Super Rugby set to kick off in just under a month, the Western Force are hopeful this year at making a push for finals.

Coach Simon Cron joined Sports Breakfast this morning to chat the development of the players leading into the 2026 season.

A large part in growing their squad has seen international recruitment add depth and reliability to the team.

“To have a successful super rugby season you really need to know in every position who your fourth string player is,” he said.

“We’ve created a good relationship with Argentina and they love the way we play, there’s a lot of Argentinians in Perth.

“We’ve had two of the Argentinian tight five forwards come over and that will help create positional pressure and allow us to go deep this year.”

Being an international competition, travel has always played a huge factor in the Force’s ability to compete to their best level week in, week out.

This year’s fixture will see home and away games grouped together into blocks to allow for ample opportunity to train before games while still travelling fairly.

“I think last year’s draw was just not smart, we didn’t have two home games in a row so we were home, away, home, away,” he said.

“We’re still the highest travelling team but we’re 45 per cent less than last year and what that allows for us with our players is to have a genuine opportunity to train that week and get themselves prepared and ready.

“Those blocks will definitely help us, whether we’re away or at home we’ll be able to train them fully and get prepared for the games.”

Two preseason matches are scheduled for the Force against the Reds and Brumbies on the 23rd and 30th of this month.

Those matches will take place at Scotch College to give supporters an opportunity to get down and meet the squad.

With the Wallabies camp wrapping up, the Force see nine players return to the side.

“We had one or two [Wallabies] originally and now we’re up to nine so that’s a tribute to those players and their drive to wear that gold jersey,” said Cron.

“One of our jobs is to make sure we produce Wallabies and that gives us a great pathway for aspirational players coming to Perth to go, you know what I can make it through the Western Force.”

A key component to developing Wallabies talent is brewing it from a young age within the under 16’s and 19’s programs.

“We’ve planted a lot of seeds in our 16’s and our 19’s and making sure that those programs are as professional as possible, and the reason for that is we need to make sure from a young age that they’re getting the training, the expertise, the coaching and also the physical development required so when they do come up to that 20, 21, 22, 23 age category, they’re physically capable of handling the speed and contact levels.”

“We’ve got an open door policy here where they can come at any time and watch, learn, question, and ask.”

The expectations are high within the squad this year, with Wallabies talent at the helm to uphold standards. 

One player in particular who is responsible for driving the players is Nick Champion de Crespigny, who captained the Wallabies last year.

“If you’re talking about culture, standards and expectations of what you want within our team, he lives and breathes it daily,” he said.

“The push for this year is to be coach led player driven, and I think we’ve got enough players now who’ve got high standards and high expectations and they can drive the ship.”

The Western Force have pushed themselves harder than the Wallabies this preseason and are looking a genuine chance at taking the competition by storm.

“The Wallabies boys when they came back in got a bit of a shock at the level at which these guys can play.”

“This year we’ve been able to exponentially push them harder because they’ve had enough training age with us to be at the level where they’re able to handle 130 per cent of the game load and what that looks like on the field is harder, bigger contacts. It’ll allow us in the last 20 minutes to roll over other teams”

The 2026 Super Rugby season kicks off on the 13th of February, with the Force beginning their campaign at HBF Park on the 14th against the Brumbies.

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