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I don't see many here calling for Link's head. But a number of us are justifiably assessing what we see in actual, delivered terms re his coaching capability at Test level (5 Tests being a reasonable early database of coaching displays), choice of support staff, the good sense or otherwise of...

Bh81: a number of others have also advanced these perfectly legitimate arguments - somewhat counter to my own above - so I'll try and address them here. Link said upon his appointment as Wallaby coach, and with much bravado re taking on the ABs as his Test No 1, something like: '.........I've...

For me, I thought Link sounded all of anxious, addled, unclear and had his core thinking in a mess on that podcast. I said to parties after that interview that Link sounded not on top of his job, frankly. Just one example: his striking proposition that the Wallabies were/would be using a...

Gnostic It is always interesting to contrast the calibre of left and right footed free kicking in top AFL matches with that practiced by the Wallabies, who 'live next door' to the AFL so to speak. Ditto catching high balls in space under contesting pressure. It's both incredible and...

Can we identify any aspect of Wallaby play that has noticeably improved since - as a reference - the BIL matches? I see none.

The hard facts of the matter are that in recent years only two men in the whole of Australian rugby have demonstrated anything like the leadership competence and tenacity required to revive the spirit of fans and sponsors in important territories for Australian rugby - Link and White. One of...

Is this perhaps what you mean LG?

Here are the JH Wikipedia entries re his Wallaby period(s): International Debut: Saturday, 15/06/1968 v New Zealand (Sydney) lost 27-11 - (Aged: 20) Final Appearance: 02/01/1982 v England (Twickenham) lost 15-11 (Aged: 33) Wallaby Number: 519

Indeed. I only saw him a few days back where at the annual Churchie end-of-season rugby function for parents, boys and coaches John Hipwell presented the annual prize in his name for the best U15 player of the year (he was also Manager of the U15 year rugby group).

One of the greats has passed away. Some of you here will surely remember him, in his era and still, a truly outstanding rugby halfback. See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hipwell Rugby mourning John Hipwell By JAMES GARDINER Sept. 24, 2013, 2:15 p.m. The Newcastle Herald...

Surely at the very least he'll be given another Final Warning.

Can I commend to anyone interested in the power and impact that truly great coaching can have upon a team or sports code, the following excellent Harvard Business Review interview/discussion with the peerless Sir Alex Ferguson: http://hbr.org/2013/10/fergusons-formula/ar/1 Btw, I hope Link...

Muggleton would represent an improvement over Scrivener, surely. The latter's had well over a year with the Wallabies. Look at the results. I am no fan of R Graham, but it's incontestable that he did an excellent job right through 2013 as de facto Reds defence coach. Defensive skills and...

What is required urgently is an assistant coach under Link that has a proper track record and recently displayed competence in achieving excellence in defensive structures, realignment and execution. Link's biggest error to date without question is not effecting an immediate clean-out of all...

With Blades obviously failing badly - even disastrously - as Wallaby set piece coach, let's watch on Saturday and see if we can detect any tell-tale signs that Link has in effect taken over that role himself for scrums, as if so that would represent progress of a kind. The sooner Link realises...

Marto's 'inside': Genia benched, White to start, Mowen to captain, QC (Quade Cooper) maybe out: http://www.triplem.com.au/sydney/sport/rugby-union/news/2013/9/will-genia-stripped-of-wallaby-captaincy/

Remarkable that most posters here think a likely solution to the 2013 Wallaby woes lies in yet more selections and positional shuffling. Yet simultaneously hand-wringing over poor Wallaby attitudes, skill execution, mental robustness and so on. Yet the facts are so clearly that the sole...

Just a minor aside: Something must be done via Qld Stadiums to deal with the obvious seriously poor playing surface now in place at Suncorp. It was bad enough during the BIL series when the rainy June here was a vaguely plausible excuse. But then and now - and after a hot, dry August - the...

Yes. Chronic skill and mindset deficiencies that will NOT be cured by 'flavour of the week' selection shuffling on to the next 'much better' player. But the good news is that with the right improvement in the educational process via superior scrum and breakdown coaching, the Wallabies can...

There's no doubt Link brought major improvements to the Reds forwards play and scrum in 2010 and 2011 - but from a very low base of performance prior to that and nonetheless since the Reds have not been known as possessing anything other than an 'mostly adequate' scrum. Certainly not...