May 21, 2026 — 6:16pmFormer Melbourne Rebels president Paul Docherty never expected rugby’s governing body to take over the financially troubled club until it had reduced its debts, a court has heard.Docherty also confirmed under cross-examination he had warned Rugby Australia against centralising the club under its 2023 revamp of the ailing Super Rugby competition before its balance sheet had been fixed up.Former Melbourne Rebels president Paul Docherty appears at the Federal Court.Eddie JimInstead, the court heard, the Rebels believed their survival was contingent on the Victorian government providing funding to the club. Once the funding was received, the Rebels believed Rugby Australia would take over the franchise.The former club president, who was declared bankrupt last year, was called to provide evidence on behalf of the Rebels, which is suing Rugby Australia, alleging the club was treated unfairly when it stripped the club of its licence in 2024 shortly after bailing out two other financially stricken clubs in the competition.Docherty spent his first day in the witness box being asked by counsel for Rugby Australia (RA) Tony Bannon, SC, about his recollection of events in 2023. He largely kept his answers short throughout.“You say [in court documents] we do not, did not and have never expected RA to take on the liabilities on our MRRU [Melbourne Rebels Rugby Union] balance sheet. That was a true, wasn’t it?” Bannon asked.Docherty replied: “Yes.”Bannon then asked: “And you then say, nor is it legally possible to do so, unless you brought the shares out of the business while that liability was still there, something I wouldn’t personally advise any director to do, and that was your view at the time.”“Yes,” Docherty replied.A key part of the Rebels’ case is that Rugby Australia financially supported the troubled NSW Waratahs and the ACT Brumbies through a centralisation process under which RA took over the clubs.The court has already heard that RA’s centralisation process was underpinned by a strategy called “Winning Rugby”. Winning Rugby was designed to boost the performance of the Wallabies squad by placing all the best players in three clubs – the Waratahs, the Brumbies and the Queensland Reds.The Rebels allege RA never told the club about the Winning Rugby plan, which involved merging the Rebels team with financially struggling New Zealand team Moana Pasifika.During Thursday’s hearing, Docherty hit back at suggestions from Bannon that he knew of the plan to merge the Rebels with the Kiwi franchise before December 2023.The court heard this was because RA had published the roster of games for the British and Irish Lions tour in June 2023 that listed a game between the Lions and a team called “Melbourne Pasifika”.The Rebels players at the end of their final Super Rugby game in June 2024.Getty ImagesBut Docherty told the court he was surprised when he saw the fixture in July 2023 that seemed to change the club’s name and immediately contacted then-Rugby Australia chair Hamish McLennan.“I called Hamish to say, ‘Why have we got Pasifika in there?’” Docherty said.He added that if the fixture had been indicating a merger – which he believed it wasn’t – then the name of the combined clubs was wrong.“Why wouldn’t it have been called Rebels Moana?” Docherty asked.Bannon said: “The beauty of my position is that I don’t have to answer your questions.”Docherty said he came to believe the reference to “Melbourne Pasifika” in the fixture was because of the Rebels’ strong Pasifika ties and the game would involve players from Tonga, Samoa and Fiji playing with the Rebels for one game to boost the team’s chances against the Lions.Docherty told the court that the first he had heard about the merger of the two teams was in late November 2023, when he was first told by RA chief executive Phil Waugh in Melbourne.He then took the idea of the merger to the board of the club’s directors at the next meeting on December 13.Docherty was also grilled over the Victorian government’s interest in hosting finals matches for the 2027 Rugby World Cup.Victoria had asked to host four finals, the court heard, but ultimately withdrew its bid for any games after RA stripped the Melbourne Rebels of its licence, souring the relationship between state government and the sports government body.“The fourth final seems like a bit of a stretch. I appreciate that Melbourne is very popular for sport, but four finals would be a bit of a stretch, didn’t you think that?” Bannon asked, appearing to suppress a laugh.Docherty responded: “Not at the time because World Rugby had been out and had done a tour with Craig Tiley [then president] of Tennis Australia, and had looked at establishing that vicinity as the vicinity where you hold those games.“Because you could set up once, and this ‘having games played at one venue’ was the new format of World Cups if you follow them through the journey.“That made more sense economically. Everyone gets more money out of that: World Rugby, Rugby Australia and ultimately the clubs that sit underneath it. So, a good result for everyone.”Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.From our partners