Brumbies 2018

[Inside Shoulder]

I saw Mayhew on Sunday.
I felt he was not too bad - I gathered from the commentators he is WB eligible.
Have others seen more of him and have a view?
As I understand no non-wallaby can be signed at the moment.

 

[Brumby Runner]

Mayhew has been strong at scrum time, more so in earlier games than against the Blues who were surprisingly strong in the scrum. His play around the park has been very good. Tackles well and can truck the ball up or act as a link to others in better position. Seems to have good vision. I think he is one to keep.

Hooker looks to be a bit sparse. Get a contract in front of Connal McInerney asap.

I posted before that I think Jordan Smiler needs to be retained for the back row. I would add Blake Enever to that list and one or both of Butler/Alcock. Fakosolea will probably be very good in time but still needs to be brought on a bit slowly I believe. Valetini also needs to be retained. If he had the promise to get a one year contract, then he needs to be kept on until that promise is realised.

I was under the impression that overseas test players could only be contracted for 2 years maximum. If so, that would rule Cubelli out, but I believe Roos will be a very good backup to Powell.

I'd also be content to see Hawera re-signed but hopefully Christian comes back as first pick No 10 by next year.

In the outside backs, TK is a must, and I'd like to see Dargaville, Taliauli and Banks kept here.

Others might depend on just who is available on the market, when that becomes clearer.

From o/s I'd like to see To'omua, Tomane, White and Kimlin return, but I don't know what their respective contract situations are.

 

[Brumby Jack]

From o/s I'd like to see To'omua, Tomane, White and Kimlin return, but I don't know what their respective contract situations are.

To'omua signed for Leciester for 3 years.

White has just signed for Exeter for 2 years.

Not sure where the other 2 stand.

 

[Slim 293]

Payto & Panda running with McKellar likely to be announced as the new coach in the coming week, with the possibility of Simon Cron coming on board as an assistant.........

 

[mst]

IMHO it won't be welcomed and will potentially become very nasty as soon as performances don't improve. He will not have the same protections or leniency Larkham is afforded.

On top of that will be the scathing views around the whole process and continued nepotism of the Brumbies and how out of touch the management is.

It will certainly also add fuel to the fire around the team to be cut debate as McKellar's appointment won't fix the Brumbies performance woes which is a key part of what's impacting on the ratings and attendances.

It's also great way to piss off those supporters who are not already disenfranchised and agitate some in the local rugby community with the Vikings link.

 

[Micheal]

IMHO it won't be welcomed and will potentially become very nasty as soon as performances don't improve. He will not have the same protections or leniency Larkham is afforded.

On top of that will be the scathing views around the whole process and continued nepotism of the Brumbies and how out of touch the management is.

It will certainly also add fuel to the fire around the team to be cut debate as McKellar's appointment won't fix the Brumbies performance woes which is a key part of what's impacting on the ratings and attendances.

It's also great way to piss off those supporters who are not already disenfranchised and agitate some in the local rugby community with the Vikings link.

The death of Australian Rugby one poor coach appointment at a time.

Realistically, in the last ~7 years only the Brumbies under Jake White, the Reds under Ewen McKenzie and the Waratahs under Cheika can be considered teams that were "well" coached.

The rest has been a shambles. Its a real shame.

 

[RoffsChoice]

Australian rugby is too content to simply search the carpark for its coaches. We don't want McKellar because he's a continuity of Larkham and that isn't working. If you can convince Cron to come and be the assistant, why not have him as head coach? We need a new approach here.

Six months ago, I know a few Brumbies fans who were excited by potential coaches: Vern Cotter coming away from Scotland, Colin Cooper out of contract with Taranaki, Leon MacDonald at Tasman, Rory Duncan with Free State. Now they've all been picked up by top sides and I'm willing to bet the Brumbies never even tried to get them.

If someone told you that Beauden Barrett was available, wouldn't you go for him? Why don't we have the same approach to top coaches?

 

[amirite]

Why are Australians so anti-Australian coaches?

The fact is, we have little to no perspective to what's happening behind closed doors at Brumbies HQ. For mine, McKellar comes across well in interviews and that's our only touch point.

Lets remember everybody was very unhappy with Wessels' appointment.

 

[Strewthcobber]

For the salary our teams are offering, do we really think top coaches are going to be even applying?

Sent from my D5833 using Tapatalk

 

[Brumby Jack]

Assistant coaches in Europe can easily get more than head coaches here. If coaches don't want to apply or rebuff approaches, then you can't begrudge them.

 

[RoffsChoice]

There's no bregrudging going on, it's more a question of if the Brumbies even tried to get them. Nor is it an anti-Australian thing: if Ewen McKenzie or Eddie Jones or Michael Cheika was available, wouldn't you say we should go for them?

It's a proven talent question. The head coach plays a massive role in player development, and when we could be building a squad around Ala'alatoa, Staniforth, Fakaosilea, Valetini, Powell, Hawera, Dargaville, Taliauli, Godwin, and Banks, shouldn't we be doing the best by them in these key years?

 

[Killer]

Why are Australians so anti-Australian coaches?

The fact is, we have little to no perspective to what's happening behind closed doors at Brumbies HQ. For mine, McKellar comes across well in interviews and that's our only touch point.

Lets remember everybody was very unhappy with Wessels' appointment.

imo the only key head coach talent is leadership, someone people will work for and respect over extended periods. Technical aspects can be got from specialist assistants.
The problem with hiring an assistant as a head coach is that a 2ic position easily hides poor leadership attributes.
I think the search should start with ex successful team captains or lower level head coaches, any level within reason, then their coaching experience.
Coming across well in interviews is a good sign I think.

Edit: I haven't seen McKellar interviewed, we may have opposite views?

BTW I don't think Cheika comes across well in interviews, I don't think the playing group has great respect for him as a leader. From watching body language on the Fox Rugby show last year there seems to be problem between Cheika and Byrne, I put this down to Cheika's insecurity with Byrne being given so much kudos after his time with the all Blacks. Thus he seems a bit immature from a good leadership perspective?
As a result I think the Wallabies performances will be average at best.
Could be wrong, no inside info, time will tell.

 

[Braveheart81]

imo the only key head coach talent is leadership, someone people will work for and respect over extended periods. Technical aspects can be got from specialist assistants.
The problem with hiring an assistant as a head coach is that a 2ic position easily hides poor leadership attributes.
I think the search should start with ex successful team captains or lower level head coaches, any level within reason, then their coaching experience.
Coming across well in interviews is a good sign I think.

I don't think that works though because then you have nowhere near the required pulling power to attract the quality assistants that you need, particularly if the head coach isn't great in terms of their overall coaching ability. I don't think the person being a great natural leader is enough.

 

[mst]

Why are Australians so anti-Australian coaches?

The fact is, we have little to no perspective to what's happening behind closed doors at Brumbies HQ. For mine, McKellar comes across well in interviews and that's our only touch point.

Lets remember everybody was very unhappy with Wessels' appointment.

IIRC the last team McKellar was at the helm of was the UC Vikings NRC team of 2014. The team was ridiculously forwards orientated, getting just 2 wins suffering with a poor game plan (we assume there was one) and poor selections. Oddly the following years the local Vikings coaches took the helm and got better results.

He is a forwards coach but Dan Palmer does most of the scrum & set piece. He was signed as skills and defensive coach (Lord Laurie was still there at that point) originally but Rhino Ryan was brought in for 2015 as defence coach. The single season of NRC is his highest level of coaching as HC. So really McKellar roles at the Brumbies have been given to others and he appears to be just a floating spare part with little responsibility

 

[Brumby Runner]

Cron, oth has coached successfully at both SS and NRC level. Although I think he is still to be proven at a higher level, Cron would appear to be more experienced and more successful to date than McKellar.

 

[RoffsChoice]

I'd be excited to have Cron come in. He plays a different style to the one we're seeing from Larkham and could reasonably expect from McKellar, if NRC is any indication. But he's ruled himself out of contention, sadly.

Earlier this year, an article (I believe it was Canberra Times) "leaked" that the options were Simon Cron, Matt O'Connor, Dan McKellar, and Laurie Fisher. The first two have ruled themselves out one way or another, and I'll be extremely nervous if either McKellar or Fisher get the job.

 

[Slim 293]

He'd ruled out the head coach role and hadn't applied, but seems open to an assistant position.........

From that March Crimes article:

Cron confirmed he had chatted to potential candidate Dan McKellar about helping out in some capacity but was happy for the time being in his new role as national U20s coach.

"I don't know where that's come from. I haven't applied for the Brumbies job at all," Cron said. "I have talked to Dan McKellar because he is going for the head coach role and I've had a chat to him about potentially being involved but I haven't been contacted or applied for either of those roles.

 

[RedsHappy]

Assistant coaches in Europe can easily get more than head coaches here. If coaches don't want to apply or rebuff approaches, then you can't begrudge them.

How sad a statement and state of affairs is this. How could it ever have been allowed to evolve into this.

It's totally insane if it is like this.

There is nothing more important to player and team development in rugby than top quality generalist and (as appropriate) specialist coaching. It's just that type of game.

It's Q.E.D'd everywhere and all the time, there is no doubting this simple truth. Yet scandalously our clueless ARU is only just, barely now, discovering this core fact. So one single lonely figure of M Byrne is hired. And is expected to rapidly transform Australia's rugby skills after 10-15 years of systemic neglect.

Think about this:

- if we took the $15-$18,000,000 ARU cash that has been totally wasted on the creation of the Rebels (just look at the coaching situation there and its results and weep for the players and fans), add the approx. (at least) $2-3,000,000 cash pa waste in ARU 'corporate' overheads (that consistently yields zero benefit), add in the (at least) c.$4,000,000 cash pa that is totally wasted in unnecessarily duplicated State RUs overheads.......

- and then turn that money into a perpetual fund for the global recruiting and retention of say 30+ international class specialist rugby coaches, cut back the reckless over-quantity of rugby 'footprint quantity' we have ('reckless' because we can't and don't afford the requisite coaching quality to accompany it and ensure high quality rugby is nurtured and delivered in it), and the result would be

- major uplift in player, team and general rugby code quality and system-wide morale within 3 years.

The resources were there, and in many ways still are.

They're just directed into entirely the wrong people, places and priorities.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

I'd be excited to have Cron come in. He plays a different style to the one we're seeing from Larkham and could reasonably expect from McKellar, if NRC is any indication. But he's ruled himself out of contention, sadly.

Earlier this year, an article (I believe it was Canberra Times) "leaked" that the options were Simon Cron, Matt O'Connor, Dan McKellar, and Laurie Fisher. The first two have ruled themselves out one way or another, and I'll be extremely nervous if either McKellar or Fisher get the job.

did the article say why cron ruled himself out?

 

[mst]

IIRC I believe I read that Cron wants to focus on the U20's.

So part of the reason we are looking for a head coach is Larkham is only available part time and if Cron came on board even as an assistant would he also only be part time?

The biggest concern with McKeller is he is already seeking help from Cron already so what happens when he can't phone a friend to help? 50/50 or ask the audience?