The Brumbies' bid to make rugby Super again and a prop in his budgies

Take a second to imagine rugby in Canberra without the ACT Brumbies.

The John I Dent Cup would be a glorified subbies competition. Local clubs would suffer with any player boasting Super Rugby aspirations packing their bags for Sydney, Brisbane or even Perth.

As bleak as it sounds, is it so hard to imagine?

That's why buses plastered with Brumbies logos are swinging through Canberra roundabouts and signs are jammed into the ground along roads from Gungahlin to Belconnen and Woden.

The Brumbies are trying to make rugby Super again - now they just need people to take notice before they host Nic White and the Western Force on Saturday afternoon.

Brumbies officials are adamant reports suggesting the club would no longer exist by the start of next year's Super Rugby season aren't worth the paper they're printed on.

But while club bosses are careful to avoid painting pictures which could scare off sponsors and fuel the doomsayers, the reality is the Brumbies need support or they could find themselves on the chopping block.

The Brumbies will open the gates to any registered junior players for the entire season. Registered senior players can cash in on freebies at four home games.

Local clubs have been asked to encourage their own players, coaches and officials to turn up to Canberra Stadium this weekend, while the sponsorship deals will see the Brumbies promoted on the Nine Network and Canberra's FM radio stations.

The Brumbies are desperate for a spike in crowd figures after being granted their wish for more afternoon timeslots, with dwindling attendances despite on-field success having a major impact on the club's bottom line.

Rugby Australia has made a handful of their own staff redundant and the governing body is facing pressure to keep a tight rein on its spending in the wake of a World Cup disaster and the Melbourne Rebels going $22 million into debt and in administration.

And while RA is committed to supporting the Brumbies, chair Justin Herbert stopped short of guaranteeing their long-term future in Canberra.

A preferred candidate to replace Matt Nobbs as the Brumbies chair is set to emerge but the club will delay its annual general meeting due to ongoing talks with RA over financial documentation.

Nobbs played a crucial role in guiding the Brumbies through the COVID-19 pandemic but is set to reach the end of his extended stint as chair.

The Brumbies are expected to report a significant financial loss at the looming AGM but it pales in comparisons to the situation unfolding at the Melbourne Rebels.

Melbourne's hopes of playing Super Rugby beyond 2024 appear thinner by the day after the club spiralled into a $22 million hole, with rival clubs already circling some of the Rebels' biggest stars.

Training camps were spread from California to Nevada as four NRL clubs gave themselves almost two weeks to prepare for a landmark season opener in Las Vegas.

One NRL club's high performance training theory suggests every time zone you travel across equals one day of recovery. That suggests players wouldn't be pushed to full training loads until they'd spent almost a week in the United States, given they'd have crossed six time zones between Australia and Las Vegas.

South Sydney left on February 19, Manly and the Sydney Roosters on February 21, and the Brisbane Broncos on February 22. Upon their return to Australia, they had almost almost two weeks to prepare for their next game on home soil.

Anyone remember Super Rugby's Bulls travelling almost 20 hours to Buenos Aires to play the Argentina Jaguares before returning to Pretoria to play against the Brumbies a week later?

Sam Eden would be lying if he said he wasn't nervous about stepping onto AAMI Park in front of thousands of strangers wearing nothing but his budgies.

"But that quickly got drowned out in the cat calling, whistling, screaming and cheering as we left the tunnel," the Queanbeyan Whites prop laughed.

Eden was in Melbourne as part of a 50-odd Whites contingent on a pre-season trip before this year's John I Dent Cup campaign begins on April 6.

He was plucked out of the crowd by Budgy Smuggler officials to compete in a race to find Victoria's fastest prop.

After downing a chocolate milk on the try-line, Eden sprinted to halfway and finished dry Weet-Bix before kicking clear. Sensing his finest moment was still to come, Eden lifted his finger in the air with a nod to the Whites crowd before nailing a drop goal from the 22 metre line.

The Queanbeyan crowd erupted, and Victoria had found its fastest prop.

"To enter a budgy smuggler half time race is a rare opportunity and one I never thought I'd get, especially not in front of all my clubmates at Queanbeyan," Eden said.

"It felt so surreal looking into the stand seeing people cheering for us as we took our marks under the goal posts. I'll be the first to admit I am not too good at downing a drink in one hit but an OAK choccy milk seemed like it might be the first.

"As soon as the race started one of the boys dunked himself in the milk and bolted for the Weet-Bix, then another left before I was able to finish my milk. Being third out of the blocks I was anxious about making up time in the Weet-Bix portion of the race where I had planned ahead by leaving some milk in my mouth. After a lot of nervous chewing and getting the Weet-Bix finished first I suddenly felt like I was going to win.

"Starting to smile and urging the crowd to make some noise as I approached the kick, I was lapping up my final seconds at centre stage. I made it to the ball lined up in the middle, took a breath and thought how ironic it was the fastest prop challenge ended with a field goal.

"Nerves started to set in again about slipping on the swing and ending up in my back side or just shanking it far off into the sideline. I lined the ball up and struck it pretty well to seal the deal and that's when it really set in that I had done it.

"In front of 50 of my club mates and a few thousand total strangers I had drunk a choccy OAK, eaten a dry Weet-Bix, run 80m and slotted a field goal. Having the camera pointed in my face and getting interviewed was surreal, especially seeing all my mates you going crazy in the background. Truly a great way to top off what had been an awesome two days of mateship, footy and a few beers."

But that wasn't enough. A day later, four Whites players - Lewis Bozzato, Billy Brisbane, Luke Tudulu and Jack Gordon - competed against each other in the same race, with Brisbane coming out on top.

Will Patty Mills' arrival at the Miami Heat reignite the Boomers star on the road to the Paris Olympic Games? Or should we expect more of the same as he joins an NBA playoff push.

Mills was waived by the Atlanta Hawks last week - having struggled for minutes all season after being traded between four teams in 10 days last year - before the NBA's March 1 buyout deadline.

The Canberra product's season marks his lowest output since his rookie year with Portland in 2009-10. Miami added Mills to cover for injured guards Tyler Herro and Josh Richardson - but minutes won't be easy to come by in a rotation featuring Terry Rozier and Delon Wright.