Inside Shoulder:
Maybe it does make sense grammatically but it is devoid of factual accuracy. Scandalously so.
All the mungoes were signed before Flowers started- they all played the 2003 RWC.
The ARC was an O'Neill idea from which he fled for the lucre offered by Lowy: it was a good idea, the abandonment of which leaves us wallowing in the amateur era in terms of player production.
Gitt's salary was sponsor driven, partly by firepower and was never fully paid.
If you have any more hollow assertions I'd be happy to set you straight on them too.
Flowers negotiated an astounding tv rights deal - something I don't think O'Neill has ever done- with no super league to threaten tv rights they got 600m I think.....
The only thing flowers couldn't deal with was QLD v NSW in the boardroom and the latters insolvency- a perennial issue!
O'Neill is a narcissist he happened along with McQueen, picked Eddie and bailed
Let's see how he goes with the next TV deal
You make many good and telling points IS. One of the characteristics of the recent JO'N era is how manipulative and intellectually dishonest the ARU's culture has become. No one ever, ever takes personal responsibility for any form of setback or negative outcome, especially ones that relate to previous major KPIs that the ARU has declared for, say, the Wallabies, and then not even remotely delivered upon.
Such deviances and outcomes are always the fault of some external event or difficulty, or the prior ARU KPI promises are quietly dropped for new ones that are much further out in future, and thus yet to be met. No one ever seems accountable for anything directly. It is though the large salaries paid to say Deans and JO'N are more for administrative contributions than for accountable, results-driven leadership to drive the success of rugby in Australia, commercially and otherwise.
And so it can be guaranteed: if the Wallabies under perform this RWC, we shall not witness the courage of error-admission and genuine responsibility-taking and resignations to reflect the foregoing. What we will see is cleverly packaged excuses and get-outs designed to evade personal responsibility. These will be disseminated by an organ of the ARU that far exceeds the achievements of the Wallabies: the fear-mongering ARU media relations group and its organisers that have seen to it that Australian rugby journalists understand the 'core deal' - namely, you criticise the ARU and its officers too much, you pay a price in terms of access to leaks, players, coaches, useful inside material, etc.
I expect the package of RWC excuses required for any post-RWC evasions are already being loosely formulated, thus: Category A: 'Terrible misfortune with injuries, we were affected worse that any other team, and our already lean national player depth was badly exposed and causes compromises within the team that the coaches had to work with.' Category B: 'Unfortunately, we now realise that this young, talented, but not fully experienced team was not quite ready for the type of rugby or the special mental pressures that are uniquely WC rugby. The team is developing really well as this year's 3N triumph showed, but it will be a couple of years before the development investments we've made are reflected in a team that can win consistently, and win at RWCs. The team has learnt huge amounts in this WC and will gain hugely from it. The learning in NZ these last weeks has been outstanding and will set this team in excellent stead for 2012, and especially for the BIL tour in 2013, to which coach Deans will now turn his full attention and feels sure is a tour that will deliver good results for Australian rugby.'
Let's hope these excuse packages aren't needed, and our team wins well (btw, if it does, the inverse of the above will occur and the result will be positioned as a complete triumph of ARU foresight and coaching brilliance). But, if not, just watch.
