Ewen McKenzie Resignation

[Ulrich]

Will be interesting to read Ewen's book when it's published.

 

[No4918]

Your wrong.. Jake has no loyalty and perceptions say boring but he is not easily beat.

He'd put a fucking rocket up em and deservedly so. Can't handle Link, take a cope of this guy, I can tell you know, short term success.. No nonsense.. His the man for the job. Setting up for an Ozzie after the cup. Really its the only sensible answer.

I think this is the way to go. Whether you like his style or not, he doesn't cop shit and is very successful. Give him to the RWC and ask for offers and he can reapply for his position.

 

[Tomikin]

I think this is the way to go. Whether you like his style or not he doesn't cop shit and is very successful. Give him to the RWC and ask forboffers and he can reapply for his position.

And bring in Fast Eddie as his team manager. You know they may hate him we may lose every game. But the press conference with Eddie sticking right up them and telling us all how it is be worth it.

Could you imagine Beale having the balls to answer back to Fast Eddie

 

[oztimmay]

Apparently Greg Growden will be on channel 7 after 8pm to give us his insight into the resignation. Just enough to get my pitchfork sharpened.

 

[Marcelo]

Dwyer
MacQueen
Larkham

Is Rob Macqueen a former rugby coach?

 

[Ulrich]

No offence but that's because you're not part of the bubble here. I agree with you but rugby has to be in the entertainment business here to compete with our other codes. I guarantee even if the Wallabies were #1 but winning 9-6 the public were turn away and call it boring.

I understand that I don't fully understand. Given the clear obsession with competing with othere codes may be the very problem with the ARU in recent years. Yes, I know, the ARU are in a bit of a financial predicament and the logical answer would be to win some fans / viewership from the competing codes.

Herein lies the problem. The focus is too much on business. The players know they are valued and because of this they can threaten to leave for other codes much like Folau has done to air his support for Kurtley Beale.

The sooner the focus is on the game and results the sooner I believe the financial situation will start taking care of itself. A RWC victory is a big boost for the union that wins it financially and this can be achieved on the back of ugly victories, opening up some breathing space financially to improve the gamee with specialist programmes and coaches to then make it more attractive while still remaining successful.

Right now the message from top-down is "crap, we're competing with code x or y, we need marquee players to drive revenue".

Let me tell you one thing, Australia don't need these brats. If Jake could take a team of relatively unknowns at the time and take them to the finals in two years (while barely missing out the first year) then I'm pretty sure someone like him could do more with the talent available across 5 Super Rugby unions.

For those insisting the Wallabies can't play a kicking game for example are mistaken. A good coaching team picks the players to execute their strategy and help those to hone the skills required in order to fill requirements for selection. Morne was an average 12 and a more attacking type 10 but he was never going to make the national side. Given his limitations the coaching team advised him to improve his kicking to an immaculate level so he'd stand a chance. The rest is history.

Who the hell were Mogg and Leali'ifano (among others) before the best were brought out of them?

I'm not saying they should or that they should play boring rugby, I'm simply saying the Wallabies need to win big games more frequently.

I agree with those lobbying for a cleanup. Throw out the rot or force them to change by someone with enough balls to do it.

This is not true. I enjoyed last nights loss more then our boring win against Argentina.

If more games are played like last night we will win back fans.

You also almost won last night's game though and I agree, watching teams run others ragged is fun to watch, but unless you can back it up with results you'll end up bankrupt anyway. Sponsors don't like losing teams. The Cheetahs run and the Lions run but they struggle most of the time in Super Rugby because that's all they focus on.

First win, then modify your game after you've instilled a winning habit. The team can evolve as they go along. That's the way I see it anyway.

A team that is successful, no matter whether it being by playing ugly or pretty is likely to have better cohesion and morale and more respect for the coach.

EDIT: More on coaching and respect

After 2007 Jake had a business conference drawing parallels from his Rugby experience to business. The first thing he mentioned was that he had to earn the respect of his players, who he had told were too small and they'd need to be conditioned to get bigger (go figure telling a Saffa rugger he's too small). He also told them they'd win the RWC in 2007. They won the cup and they were the biggest team at the tournament.

He then proceeded to tell Bakkies he should stand off the blindside and pretend that he is unaware of Peter Stringer who will run down the blindside.

As it happens, Peter Stringer ran down the blindside, Bakkies made a huge tackle on him and told him "If you ever go down the blindside again I'll moer you!" Visibly annoyed Stringer asked the ref if he had heard that to which the ref replied "Yes, so I'll advise you to not do that again." That's how the coach won some respect.

Jake also won the Tri-Nations in his first season in charge, sure the Boks withered a bit in the years after, but the important thing at the time was to start winning again.

 

[NFL]

The players know they are valued and because of this they can threaten to leave for other codes much like Folau has done to air his support for Kurtley Beale.

Bench him - get in first.
To be honest, this Wallabies star mentality is all wrong and needs a serious correction.
No one player on a Union team is really the star are they ?
The other 22 must be doing their bit for Folau to look good in his role, no matter how talented he his.

I wonder how the guys on the team who don't get the attention or money, yet still do the work, feel when they see all this maybe I will, maybe I won't ARU crap.

Fire anyone who publicly mentions the ARU, or code switching.
Enough.

 

[fatprop]

what a shower of shit

 

[No4918]

FP, your signature is rather apt at the moment.

 

[I like to watch]

Bench him - get in first.
To be honest, this Wallabies star mentality is all wrong and needs a serious correction.
No one player on a Union team is really the star are they ?
The other 22 must be doing their bit for Folau to look good in his role, no matter how talented he his.

I wonder how the guys on the team who don't get the attention or money, yet still do the work, feel when they see all this maybe I will, maybe I won't ARU crap.

Fire anyone who publicly mentions the ARU, or code switching.
Enough.

Yeah,sack him for what a journo says is a straight quote,without any context.
If that's going to be the standard,then either no Wallaby aspirant will ever give another interview,or we will end up fielding 3rd graders from the SS.

People might not like to hear it,but Ewan came by the job in the same way he lost the job.
Playing the media game is a tricky exercise,the old saying holds true.
Live by the sword,die by the sword.

 

[Train Without a Station]

Yeah,sack him for what a journo says is a straight quote,without any context.
If that's going to be the standard,then either no Wallaby aspirant will ever give another interview,or we will end up fielding 3rd graders from the SS.

People might not like to hear it,but Ewan came by the job in the same way he lost the job.
Playing the media game is a tricky exercise,the old saying holds true.
Live by the sword,die by the sword.

I thought it was his success at the Reds which included taking a lot of average players to a title?

How foolish of me.

 

[Gnostic]

People still worrying about style

I just want to win. I don't care if we play saffa Jakeball and win 3-0.

That's interesting as I was talking to a couple of ex-GPS schoolboys who went onto to lower rep level, and they no longer watch the game. Both stated the reason being the lack of well executed skills on display.

Last night was brilliant but lets face it, an aberration in terms of skill execution and intent from Australian sides since Eddie Jones took over, certainly post 2003.

One comment that stuck with me was they watched the game and attended religiously in the 70s and 80s when the Wallabies lost even more regularly than today because of the intent and the skill execution on display.

As I said that can't be said for the game last night or a few others this year, but the damage done to the fringe supporters from games like the French second test cannot be understated, and they won that game.

 

[NFL]

Playing the media game is a tricky exercise,the old saying holds true.
Live by the sword,die by the sword.

My favourite media quote -
"if it bleeds, it leads "


Yes, I understand how the media works (or doesn't ) as well as anyone, and don't think the team should function based on media speculation.
But -
These problems have been around for a while now and no matter how the media beats it up, it's still a problem.

If theres's a cancer, cut it out before it spreads.

 

[Kate Elizabeth]

All three of those would have been controversial as none of them are guaranteed starters - and none of them have featured regularly since then.

Comes back to the "do you pick your captain first and then your team, or your team first and then your captain" question I guess.

Would've been interesting to see if any of this would have unfolded if Ewen had reappointed Kev as captain.

Agree that none of them were guaranteed starters, but I have to question why: Carter has never really rated above a 6, and neither was Horwill. So why not start someone with captaincy experience if the results of their play isn't going to be that different.

 

[maxdacat]

Bench him - get in first.
To be honest, this Wallabies star mentality is all wrong and needs a serious correction.
No one player on a Union team is really the star are they ?
The other 22 must be doing their bit for Folau to look good in his role, no matter how talented he his.

And with Foley a solid 10, QC (Quade Cooper) might be the fullback we need.....he spent half his time there under Deans anyway

 

[Quick Hands]

Someone who's judgment I respect said to me that Australian rugby needed to go backwards before it could go forwards. I think he's right. It went backwards for 2 weeks and we looked more like beating the AB's last night than for some time - including in Sydney in the draw.
Well now it's gone further backwards and it may be a good thing.
Folau's threat of leaving the game if KB (Kurtley Beale) isn't treated the way he thinks he should be ought to be taken up and he should be offered the door. Comments like that, from various sources, are eroding the fabric of the game. Folau is not paid his large salary because of his ability to analyse moral or legal dilemmas. The ARU may think he is the key to getting bums on seats but no player can be bigger than the team or the game. As ever I look to NZ for rugby guidance: McCaw, Carter et al never given the appearance of having forgotten what the game has given them and nor do they play what must be their considerable influence in order to achieve off field outcomes that happen to suit them. In other words they are not bigger than the team or the game. neither would ever utter a threat like IF did.
The management have clearly been leaking their side of what seems like a massive rift between them and the players. The players and their managers have been leaking their side.
The whole show is dysfunctional.
You have to ask why Link felt he could not command the respect of the dressing room. We won't have to wait for his book - the answer will emerge fairly soon I think.
He can take heart in the fact that he did the honourable thing.
We, the rusted on rugby die hards, need to know who knew what and when.

But did Folau actually threaten to leave or is this just journo speculation and/or manager fed garbage?

 

[No4918]

Georgina Robinson had the nerve to publish wild speculation without qualification on Patston and Link. And in her article about Link today she mentions Beale's texts to Patston as 'alleged'. Give me a fucking break.

 

[Train Without a Station]

And with Foley a solid 10, QC (Quade Cooper) might be the fullback we need...he spent half his time there under Deans anyway

God that's retarded.

You want to keep Foley at 10 despite him having plenty of aspects lacking as he converted from 15 18 months ago.

THEN you want to play our best 10 at 15?

 

[Quick Hands]

The more you think about it and the more things are discussed - I'd be chasing Eddie Jones or Scott Johnson.

 

[Gnostic]

What has Pulver done wrong?

• He hired the guy you are all in love with when there was another candidate knocking on the door (White);
• he allowed that guy to select his own staff;
• He made the NRC happen, which you are all hard for;
• He actually seems to be concerned about the financial side - chopping out some of the wasted $$.

It's fucking Ewen's fault that the tour/business manager that he selected wasn't cut out for the work. In no way do I condone workplace harrassment through nasty text messages (or any other kind), but she appears to have been out of her depth (raising the hotel bill during the game??).
This falls on Beale (for being a dickhead) and Mckenzie (for not getting the results we expect). There's no evidence that its Pulver's doing at all.

Lets have a review of that shall we? Maybe an inquiry? Maybe form a committee to examine the findings.

Leadership?

Don't stop at Pulver. Hawker and the the rubberstamp board that have been there largely since JON gave himself a payout for successfully sending the ARU broke should also go. If Pulver has at least attempted to reform aspect of the game the fact remains the board has overseen the demise of the game. Bankrupt financially, managerially and morally.