They're tradies and labourers on job sites you drive past on your morning commute. They're the landscapers maintaining parks and backyard across Canberra.
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This is the team behind the ACT Brumbies as the Super Rugby AU powerhouse sets its sights on grand final glory against the Queensland Reds at Canberra Stadium on Saturday.
You see them around club headquarters in polos or training shirts working as high performance staff, in the offices or planning community rugby events.
But the financial blow caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has forced Brumbies staff members to take on odd jobs in a fight to secure the club's long-term future.
Brumbies chief executive Phil Thomson said putting the majority of staff on reduced hours was "the hardest decision" he and the club had ever had to make amid concerns about the viability of Australia's Super Rugby teams.
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But the federal government's "JobKeeper" package has been a major boost for clubs walking a financial tightrope, allowing the majority of staff to work on reduced hours - for some that meant one to two days per week - and receive government payments.
"We're still going through that. The great majority of our staff are still on Jobkeeper," Thomson said.
"Whether it be the high performance staff, office staff, community staff, they've had to take other jobs as labourers, landscapers, trades, to supplement their wage.
"We were severely hit as an organisation and as a sport, sport has been hit globally. It's been a fight for survival, we've had to work very closely with Rugby Australia and the other Super clubs to keep the organisations viable.
"There have had to be some tough decisions made for the good of the organisation, the future of the game. Jobkeeper has been a big saver for us, we're still eligible for it for the next six months.
"That'll be a big part of our strategy to keep the organisations viable."
Thomson concedes the Brumbies' back pocket will take a hit this year, but a turnaround in fortunes over the past three years will offset the blow to a small degree.
However the inability to welcome big crowds to games has been a major blow, with this weekend's cap of 6000 the biggest attendance the Brumbies have been allowed to host since the initial season shut down.
The club was flying on the field before Super Rugby came to a halt in March, sitting second overall with hopes fans would jump on the bandwagon to boost the average crowd figure of 7492.
But restrictions designed to lower chances of a coronavirus outbreak meant the club could only welcome a maximum of 1500 fans to the majority of their games in the revamped domestic competition.
That number eventually rose to 3000, with the 6000 tickets sold for this week's final set to mark the biggest crowd Canberra Stadium has hosted since March.
"Everyone has taken significant pay cuts throughout the year, there is a whole lot of stress off-field that we have never ever had to deal with," Brumbies coach Dan McKellar said.
"Everyone has just adapted and got on with every challenge we've been faced with."
SUPER RUGBY AU GRAND FINAL
Saturday: ACT Brumbies v Queensland Reds at Canberra Stadium, 7.15pm.
Caden Helmers
Caden Helmers is a sports writer for The Canberra Times.
Caden Helmers is a sports writer for The Canberra Times.
