The Western Force still have a finals path with two rounds of Super Rugby Pacific to go, and Stan Sport's Rugby Heaven panel believe the side has built the kind of momentum that makes the final stretch genuinely dangerous. Justin Harrison and Shep — Hugh Sheppard — used Thursday's preview to walk through the Force's run home, the milestones lining up around it, and the reasons last weekend's victory over the Reds was more than a one-off.
"The Western Force hosts the Fijian Drua. There's been some absolutely outstanding battles between these sides in the competition's history," Harrison said. "The Force, as we've mentioned, we've dissected, still a chance of making the finals. They need to win their last two games and need results to go their way. But they look settled and even with a few changes last week, Shep, they were really good against the Reds."
Shep agreed and credited the form of replacement fly-half Max Burey, who has stepped into the Ben Donaldson void at short notice. "Last three games of the season for the Force were at home, and we said it was going to be really tough for teams to go over there and win," he said. "They've got a lot to play for. I was really impressed with Max Burey on the weekend. You come into the shoes of someone like Ben Donaldson — it's been arguably the form 10 in Australian rugby this year, with Carter Gordon and probably Declan Meredith — but big shoes to fill. Burey was brilliant after not playing a lot of rugby this year."
The Force's wider backline picture also drew praise. Dylan Pietsch, back in Perth after a stint elsewhere, has become a fixture on the wing. "Dylan Pietsch, I think, has been one of the best players in Australian rugby since his return to the Force," Shep said. He also flagged Brandon Paenga-Amosa off the bench as a momentum shifter against the Reds: "Few of his carries may not have looked important on their own, but just that little bit of extra leg drive and getting the Force over the gain line, that extra five or so metres, was huge in the game on the weekend. It changed the momentum and forced the Reds to retreat just that little bit more, which opened up space."
The Force will play this weekend without Donaldson again, which makes Burey's continued form non-negotiable, but Shep believes the bonus point becomes its own target. "Yeah, the Force is looking really, really good — and despite still being without Donaldson this weekend, I think they're going to give it a real shake-up. Again, that bonus point might become a big thing that they play for."
The night's emotional pull, though, sits with Kurtley Beale. If the veteran takes the field against the Drua, he plays his 186th Super Rugby game — moving outright third on the all-time appearance list. Harrison framed the milestone as part of a broader story about Western Force's willingness to back a player coming off a difficult return. "You're right, there's a lot of long milestones, which makes you start to think — we are having a bit of player retention at the top end," he said. "Kurtley Beale's one of those players who will change the way that players come into a change room and train, their work ethic, the way that he's carrying himself, and how he's dealt with personal adversity and come out of that is testament to his character — but also the Western Force's willingness to continue to engage him in a professional program. Because, you know, the first return to play wasn't great, he got injured, and they've backed him and supported him."
That backing, Harrison added, is the cultural change the squad needed. "I think that's most what you're seeing in that squad — a Western Force that's built around the players who carry the program."
The 2026 season has become a year of long-service milestones — James Slipper's run of caps, Allan Alaalatoa's 150th for the Brumbies this weekend, and now Beale's 186th — and the Force are betting that experience, paired with home-ground familiarity for the closing three weeks, is enough to put themselves into a play-off they were not supposed to reach.
