I've come very late to this party but that's not because I haven't been following the thread. I've been looking for an angle to write about but the last 24 hours have reinforced the realisation that Australian rugby is satire and absurdity made manifest leaving little opportunity for embellishment. So regrettably, I'll have to stick to serious commentary.
The key to interpreting what has transpired is recognition that McKenzie has been the puppet master but with a qualification. He is pulling the strings in Brisbane but crucially not at St Leonards, although he is certainly trying to. He would not have been happy about the appointment of Totality Tony McGahan as backstop to Robbie Deans because the logical inference is that it is an attempt to shore up Deans's position. That appointment seems inconsistent with speculation that McKenzie is being positioned by the ARU to take over from Deans. (JO'N doesn't exactly work in lock step with his franchises anyway.) Rather it can be seen as McKenzie positioning himself so that he is further entrenched as heir apparent if the Deans-McGahan experiment fails to deliver world supremacy, which must be accepted as a logical possibility.
Should the national Head Coach position not fall into his lap McKenzie has secured himself a nice cosy future which is next best option to going back to live in his beloved Randwick. Next year he is to be the Reds Director of Coaching with an offsider as Head Coach who is no threat (of which more later). Then in 2014 he becomes "Queensland Rugby's inaugural Director of Rugby" where, we are told, "some of [his] objectives will be to drive growth and development in the community game which includes over 200 clubs, the redevelopment of Ballymore into an elite and community sporting precinct while maintaining a high level role in setting the direction of the Reds, particularly around talent pathways and recruitment and retention strategies."
Somehow I can't see McKenzie clocking up tens of thousands of kilometres driving up to Cloncurry and Mt Isa so this looks very much like a head office desk job where he will sit uneasily between the CEO and the Reds Head Coach. But it's a nice cushy job which should allow plenty of time for relaxation and flying back to Sydney. Not quite semi-retirement but a good lead in.
I note that "In 2013, McKenzie will ensure Graham’s transition into Queensland Rugby next year by facilitating the new coach’s knowledge and understanding of the unique sporting landscape in Queensland ..." Given that Richard Graham was born in Charleville and represented Queensland between 1998 and 2002, it might be more a case of the pupil instructing the teacher about "the unique sporting landscape in Queensland".
So what of Richard Graham, shoe-horned into the head coaching role by McKenzie? Between 2002 and 2006 he was an assistant coach at Bath under Michael Foley, then under ex-Wallabies coach John Connolly, and finally under ex-England coach Brian Ashton. He then moved on to Saracens as assistant to ex-Wallabies coach Eddie Jones, followed by a short stint as head coach. In June 2009 he came back to Australia as skills coach under current Wallabies coach Robbie Deans. Simultaneously he was assistant at the Western Force to ex-All Blacks coach John Mitchell, before taking the head role in September 2010.
Richard Graham has been under so many national coaches he must be the ultimate rugby groupie.
And what now for the Force? At the time they appointed Graham they passed over the best rugby brain and developer of talent in Australia. They may now have an opportunity to rectify that mistake by immediately appointing Todd Louden.
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