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SYDNEY - New South Wales Waratahs players and officials have declared there will be no excuses in their 2008 Super 14 rugby campaign after throwing open the doors of a new headquarters they're comparing to Europe's soccer club set-ups.
The Waratahs' A$7 million ($8.17 million) facility sits at the top end of professional football set-ups in Australia and 2007 captain Adam Freier knows that means another 13th-placed finish in the Super 14 won't be good enough.
"Last year sure enough we played poorly but there was always talk of other things like injuries," Freier said.
"This year everything's just laid out on a platter for us and we just need to put it in place."
The upgrade of Waratahs central goes hand-in-hand with a 10-year deal the franchise has with the Sydney Cricket Ground Trust to play out of the Sydney Football Stadium.
That agreement has another seven years to run, with NSW also able to play a Super 14 finals match at Telstra Stadium if they earn a home appearance in the season's business end.
But they will be hoping to put 2007's injury-plagued campaign, which also included the major distraction of Lote Tuqiri's contract negotiations, behind them.
"We have just got no excuses now," Freier said.
"We've recruited one of the best talents going around in Timana Tahu.
"We've got Kurtley Beale who was the ARC's (national championship's) best player so there's just so many positives for us.
"We've got Todd Louden on board (as) attacking coach, we've got this new complex.
"We are absolutely steaming to go now here."
The new headquarters, adjacent to the SFS, boasts a state of the art gym and video room integrated with the NSWRU's administration.
"We obviously tried to look more at Europe and what the European soccer teams are doing, we even had a little look at what we could in America but they're so far ahead," NSWRU chief executive Jim L'Estrange said.
"We think from an Australian perspective we're in the top tier.
"It's a professional sport and there's a lot of investment behind the team and so we've got to give them the infrastructure to perform.
"So no excuses now."
- AAP