Australian Rugby / RA
- Thread starter Dave Beat
- Start date
KOB1987
John Eales (66)
Better late than never. Without knowing the details it seems like a positive step at first glance, will be interesting to see what becomes of the assistants.
Slim 293
Stirling Mortlock (74)
KOB1987
John Eales (66)
Finally got through the paywall via Twitter:
Michael Cheika will coach the Wallabies through to next year’s World Cup. Picture: AP
Scott Johnson (L) is set to oversee Cheika in a director of rugby of role.
Cheika’s powers will be heavily reduced. Picture: Getty
Michael Cheika will remain as Wallabies coach through to next year’s World Cup but his powers will likely be reduced with Rugby Australia set to appoint Scott Johnson above him as director of rugby.
Rugby Australia is yet to confirm the decision to appoint Johnson in the new role while retaining the under-fire Cheika as coach but The Daily Telegraph understands an announcement will be made as early as next week.
Johnson, who worked as the Wallabies attack coach under John Connolly during the 2007 World Cup, is among several men who have been linked as possible replacements for Cheika.
Rugby Australia secretly met with Johnson, who is currently working as Scotland’s director of rugby and has been credited for turning their on-field fortunes around, during the Wallabies recent Spring Tour of Europe, and have been working out a deal for his return home.
The 56-year-old former Waratah has been coaching overseas for the last decade but is widely understood to want to return home.
The arrangement is seen as the best compromise to Rugby Australia’s dilemma about whether to fire Cheika and pay him out or stick with him despite mounting criticism of the team’s rapid slide down the world rankings.
Cheika fronted the Rugby Australia board on Monday and chairman Cameron Clyne said a decision on his future would be made before Christmas but offered no insight into what was going on behind the scenes during a press conference that lasted less than a minute.
Clyne was heavily criticised for refusing to answer questions from journalists, though he did offer some cryptic clues.
“We obviously received a presentation from Michael Cheika and we're going through a process, so I'm not really in a position to elaborate,” he said.
Significantly, Clyne did not provide an assurance that things would remain unchanged after the board had previously declared Cheika’s job was safe even though the code’s leaders were coming under intense pressure to try something different after the Wallabies lost nine of their 13 Tests in 2018 and fell from second to sixth in the world.
Cheika has not made any public comments since he returned home and did not attend Tuesday’s annual players association awards ceremony in Sydney though his name was on the tip of everyone’s tongue.
Strewthcobber
Simon Poidevin (60)
Johnson's Scotland, are, of course, currently ranked below Cheika's Australia in the World Rugby Rankings
Quick Hands
David Wilson (68)
Can the Cheika personality handle direction from a DOR? Particularly when he's had 4 years of being unchallenged by anyone.
Quick Hands
David Wilson (68)
Assuming that the story is correct, let's wait to see what the job description is for the DOR.
KOB1987
John Eales (66)
The fact that he is staying suggests that he is on board with the appointment, perhaps even involved with it. He may realise he's had too much autonomy and this reduces his workload at the executive level and allows him to concentrate on coaching.
Joe Blow
John Hipwell (52)
Problem is that it will not change much for the Wallabies unless there are other major alterations. Support staff, selections, game plan etc. What chance is there of that if Cheika remains head coach?
Almost seems like with another layer of management that they are in fact trying to performance manage him out of the organisation.
A mutterer
Chilla Wilson (44)
well, shag will now be available after the rwc 
KOB1987
John Eales (66)
I agree with that but as I've stated in the absence of someone of suitably high standard we may as well stick with Cheika till after the RWC as he's always referred back to 'the plan'. I suspect we will see 'the plan' unfold as we head into the RWC campaign and a lot of the last 3 years' head scratches will make more sense. Said suitably high standard candidates aren't going to appear until after the RWC.
There was a murmer from someone on Twitter about an independent selector also being appointed, but I can't find it now to acetone it's relevance.
Rebels3
Jim Lenehan (48)
The DOR role is definitely the way to go, but the issue we have here is that unlike similar roles in other countries our DOR will have little control over the club sides. In Scotland Johnson had the ability to maneuver players between his two club sides to benefit the national team.
In all fairness, Scotland were an absolute laughing stock prior to Johnson arriving. Arguably this is the best team they have had in around 20 years and are considerably better than any team in the past 15. Lets not forget he's playing with limited numbers. If it was just a coincidence the upturn in performances coincided his arrival, i guess we will find out
Derpus
Nathan Sharpe (72)
I think there will be an opportunity to implement a system like this in the near future. There is very clearly going to be a major shake up of the domestic comp arrangement soon. Super Rugby is fucken cooked, South Africa want out and no one here wants to watch it.
Opportunity to really grab the clubs by the throat.
Quick Hands
David Wilson (68)
As this thread is about RA and not just the Wallaby coaching mess, your post provides a nice segue to talk about administration and structure.
The whole structure of rugby in Australia is based on 19th century colonial boundaries, with little bits and layers added on over the years followed by some tinkering around board appointments.
It's the structure which needs to be brought into the 21st century in order to allow clubs, coaches, players, referees and anyone else involved the opportunity to perform either at the elite level or at community level. (This doesn't mean corporatisation, which is the model we've adopted.
1. Get rid of State RUs - retain them as a some sort of historical entity, but completely depower them in terms of RA
2. All rugby clubs in Australia affiliate directly to RA
3. There is an RA council which represents clubs at all levels and all geographic regions
4. Board appointed to and answerablle to the council
5. Council is elected by clubs on a regional basis
6. RA supports regions financially and with resources (coaching, development etc)
This is why England and Scotland and Ireland have improved while we have wallowed and stagnated.
Anyone interested should go and have a look at the RFU, SRU, IRFU websites and see how the administration is structured, see the obvious benefits it brings at all levels of the game. Note how clubs - all clubs not only the elite professional ones - have a say in things and thus buy into the operation. It's the ordinary clubs who are reaping rewards from this type of structure, not just the elite.
In closing, I'll note that FFA have just admitted at team from Macarthur/Cambelltown into the A League from 2020.
And a quote highly relevant to RA:
The twentieth century has been characterized by three developments of great political importance: the growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power, and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy.
Alex Carey
Rebels3
Jim Lenehan (48)
From what i have heard RA is making slight and slow changes behind the scenes towards that model, starting with the central contracting of coaches, of which Jim McKay is the first. The issue is that the state unions are rather sensitive about losing control, so it will be a very slow take over. The McKay situation was the perfect scenario with the QRU struggling for funds, RA saw an opportunity to step in and offer the QRU some financial relief in the form of paying the guys wages, essentially making him an employee of RA and not QRU. The more our clubs are struggling for a few dollars, i think we will find more appointments like this
Derpus
Nathan Sharpe (72)
You could say this about just about any kind of organization in Australia right now............ Cricket Australia, The Banks, the Government.
Time to crack out one of these bad boys?
