Brumbies back Matt Toomua says the players are keeping their jobs simple, amid backroom turmoil at the club.
Toomua and the Brumbies arrived back from a South African tour earlier this week, in the country for the first time since CEO Michael Jones was stood down by the board, kick starting an ongoing court battle.
The Brumbies governance issues took another turn on Wednesday, with Canberra’s local clubs, who hold 14 of the 23 board votes, calling an extraordinary general meeting to urge the board to explain a decision to stand Jones down.
The 26-year-old inside back, speaking at the launch of Skins’ Rainbow Laces round, said the players were obviously aware of what was going on but wouldn’t let it affect them day-to-day.
“Rugby’s a big business at the moment there’s a lot of moving parts and this is one of them,” he said.
“Obviously the guys are interested, it’s our work, it’s our place you’re going to be interested in what’s happening.
“In saying that, we're trying to simplify our job in the sense that we’re the athletes and our job’s to perform and hopefully get the Brumbies known for what we’re good at and that’s playing rugby.”
With three weeks out of Canberra, Toomua said the players had been able to remove themselves from the goings on, a task that might prove more difficult now that they are back.
“I think we’re quite fortunate that we’ve been overseas...there’s a fair bit going on now and it might be a different challenge now that we’re actually in Australia, in Canberra," he said.
“For us it’s something that we put aside, it doesn’t affect us too much.
“It’s just about that Rugby stuff. We’ve actually got a pretty simple job passing and kicking the balls, so hopefully we can just worry about that.”
The Brumbies players have more pressing issues to focus on this week, namely the ladder-leading Chiefs, who they face on Saturday night.
Toomua said the side had plenty to improve on, despite winning four of their five opening games, ahead of the trans-Tasman affair.
“Results wise it’s been pretty good,” he said.
“We still have a lot of areas we need to work on, particularly our attack has dropped in the last couple of weeks.
“I think the Chiefs are playing an amazing brand of rugby at the moment and to keep up with it, I think it will be a pretty exciting game to watch."
The Brumbies host the Chiefs in Canberra on Saturday night, kicking off at 7:40pm AEDT.
