Ewen McKenzie: Wallaby Coach

[MrTimms]

Link used to be prolific on Twitter. He suddenly stopped. Anyone know why ? Anyway, stoked he is our new leader.

He says time. He liked the interaction he got with it, but he didn't feel he could dedicate the time needed to properly interact.

 

[gel]

Great news.

 

[BarneySF]

Still no announcement from ARU. They may still be in talks with Eddie Jones.

 

[Langthorne]

It was definitely time for a change, and McKenzie seems to be the right guy for the job. If he can make the most of his resources with the Walllabies in the same way he did with the Reds, I'll be very happy indeed. Although he should be given plenty of time to 'turn things around', I believe that his management skills will bring about positive changes pretty quickly.

Bring on the All Blacks.

 

[Cassius88]

Are you sure that's how it will work? I thought he'd be straight into the ARU headquarters starting to sort out the absolute mess he has inherited.

I think "mess" is a bit strong. Deans definitely inherited the Wallabies in a much worse place than he leaves them. The forward pack is about as strong as it could be and looked great throughout the Lions series apart from the scrum in the 3rd test. The back line doesn't need that much work. There wasn't really anyone else Deans could pick at 5/8 considering his issues with QC (Quade Cooper) (his fault or otherwise). Basically, all Link has to do is put QC (Quade Cooper) at 10 and blood To'omua as his backup and I think he inherits the Wallabies in as good a place as can be expected following the early sacking of a previous coach.

As for expectations, I don't think it's a huge leap to think we could win the Bledisloe this year, as long as McCaw doesn't come back early from his sabbatical. The NZ teams have looked a bit off this year in Super rugby, with a lot of side to side movement in the backs and a lack of ferocity in the forwards. Deans has got a bit over a month before the first test to figure out what he wants to do and I think the recent Lions series can only serve to improve our chances against the ABs.

 

[Tangawizi]

Interesting to read the tweets from Gits & Lote over the last few days. No love lost for Deans there.

Lets hope Link wins another World Cup in England!

 

[Ignoto]

As for expectations, I don't think it's a huge leap to think we could win the Bledisloe this year, as long as McCaw doesn't come back early from his sabbatical.

Without getting too far off topic, an overweight, match needing black 7 would be more than welcome sight to take on our battle hardened Hooper or Gill!

 

[Train Without a Station]

I think "mess" is a bit strong. Deans definitely inherited the Wallabies in a much worse place than he leaves them. The forward pack is about as strong as it could be and looked great throughout the Lions series apart from the scrum in the 3rd test. The back line doesn't need that much work. There wasn't really anyone else Deans could pick at 5/8 considering his issues with QC (Quade Cooper) (his fault or otherwise). Basically, all Link has to do is put QC (Quade Cooper) at 10 and blood To'omua as his backup and I think he inherits the Wallabies in as good a place as can be expected following the early sacking of a previous coach.

As for expectations, I don't think it's a huge leap to think we could win the Bledisloe this year, as long as McCaw doesn't come back early from his sabbatical. The NZ teams have looked a bit off this year in Super rugby, with a lot of side to side movement in the backs and a lack of ferocity in the forwards. Deans has got a bit over a month before the first test to figure out what he wants to do and I think the recent Lions series can only serve to improve our chances against the ABs.

Well said. For all Deans failings to say he left an absolute mess does him an injustice. There were clear errors in his ways but these were mostly down to selections and tactics, reasonably simple things to fix really.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Well said. For all Deans failings to say he left an absolute mess does him an injustice. There were clear errors in his ways but these were mostly down to selections and tactics, reasonably simple things to fix really.

I agree with the sentiment but i would not leave out "team culture" as an area that needs to be addressed - i happen to think the mere appointment of Link (first ex wallaby coach since Brock, i think) will go a long way in this area.

 

[Gnostic]

The idea that Deans inherited the Wallabies as a shambles is just wrong. Yes the Connolly pack was destroyed by England but those flaws were left overs from the Jones era and the two years Connolly had were a hard ask to find and train new front rowers. What Connolly didn't do effectively enough obviously, was correct the woeful scrum & maul technique.

At the end of Connolly's reign was a time of generational change in the Wallabies with the retirement of Gregan, Larkham, Vickerman etc and even their immediate back-ups retired such as Whitaker. It wasn't so much a mess as a time of great flux, but it can also be said that most of those who retired were well and truly at the end of their careers. Deans got to rebuild from an almost clean slate.

The major difference is that Link is taking charge of a pretty young and stable playing roster, both capped Wallabies and other players available for selection. I think the oldest Wallabies are now Moore and Mowen, and both these appear to be at their peak and the other old head in Palu has ready replacement in Higgers. Is that a factor of Deans being national coach or the expansion of Super Rugby since the time of Jones with the Force and Rebels and hence having an additional (at least) 50 Australian eligible players exposed to top level Rugby.

 

[Cassius88]

The major difference is that Link is taking charge of a pretty young and stable playing roster, both capped Wallabies and other players available for selection. I think the oldest Wallabies are now Moore and Mowen, and both these appear to be at their peak and the other old head in Palu has ready replacement in Higgers. Is that a factor of Deans being national coach or the expansion of Super Rugby since the time of Jones with the Force and Rebels and hence having an additional (at least) 50 Australian eligible players exposed to top level Rugby.

So is it safe to say that Link has inherited the Wallabies in a better position than Deans or Connolly did, regardless of why?

 

[BarneySF]

Well said. For all Deans failings to say he left an absolute mess does him an injustice. There were clear errors in his ways but these were mostly down to selections and tactics, reasonably simple things to fix really.

Agreed, in fact I thought the general consensus was that whoever takes over the reins is coming in at a good time with a bulk of players to be hitting the peak 27-ish age group, rather than an out and out rebuilding task being required. Hopefully that now age old idea of the "scrum -school" is revisited. (Ironically, wasn't that idea championed by Eddie during his tenure????)

 

[lewisr]

Cassius88 Train Without a Station Just to be clear, by absolute mess I was talking about what appears to be massive issues with younger players and the team culture at the moment. I didn't mean that we are in a rebuilding phase where we needed to blood new players etc. etc. Don't get me wrong there. Deans has set up a very good player base to work with, it's just a matter of sorting out the pillocks and bringing the lot of them together so they play for each other and in doing so reignite a really good team culture.

 

[Mr Doug]

I asked this question on another forum, got no answer so I'll try again:
Was Robbie Deans the only Wallabies selector?

 

[Gnostic]

So is it safe to say that Link has inherited the Wallabies in a better position than Deans or Connolly did, regardless of why?

I think Link is inheriting a deeper pool of talent than Connolly did or indeed Greg Smith did back in 1996 who faced the same generational change as Connolly, with perhaps even less options in depth.

Yes its a better position and that has always been the point IMO of the expansion of Rugby to 5 teams in Oz.

Deans has in the last few years had a wider selection choice than E. Jones or even Connolly. Australian Rugby has improved its depth markedly in the last few years and while many will debate the quality of that depth at least the debate can now take place, prior to the Force and Rebels that debate couldn't even occur.

 

[lewisr]

I asked this question on another forum, got no answer so I'll try again:
Was Robbie Deans the only Wallabies selector?

The impression I got was that the coaching panel made the selections and Dingo had the final say. So in Dingo land that means he was the only selector.... Because if anyone disagreed they were outta there!!

By the way, is there a press conference being held by the ARU or something today? Really keen to have it all confirmed. I feel as though we are relying on the 'quality' Australian media reporting at the moment.

 

[daz]

All good, the Lions test series defeat is just a distant memory now!

Really? I'm scarred for life on that one.

 

[Braveheart81]

The impression I got was that the coaching panel made the selections and Dingo had the final say. So in Dingo land that means he was the only selector.. Because if anyone disagreed they were outta there!!.

Realistically, I think this is exactly how the selection process works for any test or Super Rugby team.

The coaching panel will give their opinion but at the end of the day it isn't a democracy and the coach will have the final say on who plays.

Sent from my HTC One XL using Tapatalk 2

 

[Gnostic]

The impression I got was that the coaching panel made the selections and Dingo had the final say. So in Dingo land that means he was the only selector.. Because if anyone disagreed they were outta there!!

By the way, is there a press conference being held by the ARU or something today? Really keen to have it all confirmed. I feel as though we are relying on the 'quality' Australian media reporting at the moment.

2pm in Brisvaegas

 

[lewisr]

http://www.theroar.com.au/2013/07/09/official-robbie-deans-stepping-down-from-wallabies-coach/
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