The one and only Wallaby Coach thread

[Sir Arthur Higgins]

List revised
Turnaround Specialists
1) Cheika
2) Jake White
3) Rassie
4) Lancaster

Aussies
1) Mckellar
2) Larkham
3) Friend

Other
1) Simon Cron
2) Ian Foster
3) Shag Hansen
4) Ogara

Out/Unlikely
Deans
Crowley
Gatland (contracted to 2027)

Best of the bunch would be Rassie, Fos and Hansen surely.

 

[Linerunner2023]

Well in the end Eddie is done and I predicted this pre RWC - he won’t be here in 4 years time to see his so called future wallabies side improve
To call out players who didn’t make it saying they are not leaders and role models says a lot about the arrogance and entitlement of the man! Who were the role models? Donaldson? Jorgo??
look at the SA who had 18 players over 30. NZ had 12 while the wallabies took 3 - oh maybe experience does work or don’t replace them if you can’t find a better candidate! 2 most experienced sides made the final!
Gorden and Donaldson were light years of test level
Jorgo has played 10 super games and had not played or trained in 5 months but got a squad spot

 

[Linerunner2023]

I can see Eddie losing his rag if Quade’s answer as to why he dropped the ball vs NZ was: “it’s ok coach, I prepared well” haha

So when Quade came on the wallabies had gone from 17 to 3 up to down 20 to 17 when he came on and he made a good kick to tigh it up!
In that 65 min gorden missed simple conversions, missed 4 tackles letting in tries and made 4-5 errors, missed kicks to touch for penalaties and kicked out on the full in play
But apparently gorden is let off ?
quade gets hammered for one dropped ball
Did he pack the scrum that gave the penalty away?
take off your hater goggles and review all performances not the ones you want to

 

[Tomthumb]

So when Quade came on the wallabies had gone from 17 to 3 up to down 20 to 17 when he came on and he made a good kick to tigh it up!
In that 65 min gorden missed simple conversions, missed 4 tackles letting in tries and made 4-5 errors, missed kicks to touch for penalaties and kicked out on the full in play
But apparently gorden is let off ?
quade gets hammered for one dropped ball
Did he pack the scrum that gave the penalty away?
take off your hater goggles and review all performances not the ones you want to

I don't know how you got all this from my comment

 

[Highlander35]

Oh right because 20-year-olds Carter Gordon and Donaldson showed international standards in super rugby! It's the same shitty logic that Eddie used and tried to justify but did nothing but blow up in his face.

There's no argument that Gordon and Donaldson alone wasn't the way to go. But if Quade had been selected it would have been based on him being the "least shit" option, rather than the clearly best one. That's an embarrassing situation for RA in general, but Quade himself moreso.

 

[Tomthumb]

Whoever the next coach ends up being, what are the requirements for them to be viewed as a success? Are we ok with losing most of our games if they are close, or is there an expectation of winning?

 

[Drew]

No matter if Rennie was the answer. We fired Rennie for the gibbering maniac arguing with drunken hecklers at the SCG.

 

[Slim 293]

Rennie was a flop, also this is meant to be about future coaching appointments. The constant fan girling over Rennie adds nothing to that conversation

Again, no one is "fan girling" over Rennie...

This is not a binary argument.

 

[Sir Arthur Higgins]

For me my conclusions are:
1) Firing Rennie was a big mistake (in hindsight surely and in my mind it was the time it happened)
2) Hiring Jones was a bigger mistake. You didn't need to look far to find people saying "this is going to be a disaster like it always is with eddie....."
3) next coach needs to be able to work with his staff to a) up skills b) up fitness d) mentor younger players
4) select whoever is available for lions and world cup
5) know that he has at least S&C and skills centralisation / high performance to ensure that players come into wallaby camp skilled up and fit
6) needs to have a gun kicking coach to work with young flyhalves, fullbacks and 12s.

Right now - i want a coach that gets us competitive with everyone including lions and hopefully pinch a game or the series and then is building off that for 2027 to put us in a position to get into the semis or finals.

we definitely have good cattle but their skills and execution are sometimes poor (and needn't be) and fitness / smarts aren't where they need to be.

 

[shanky]

If he’d stuck with the regular team and we’d gone out meekly, then many fans would’ve shrugged their shoulders and said, “well, there’s always next time”.

But Eddie doubled down on his gamble by calling everyone out..before, during and after his experiment failed.

We were all clowns and he knew best.

Well mate, schadenfreude’s a bitch, mate

 

[Sir Arthur Higgins]

as of today i'd settle for three close losses against the lions based off what we saw this year.....BUT...while we lost with rennie we were definitely a better team so i do have hope we can improve quickly but super rugby needs to start doing its job.
get the players fitter, keep the skills up, and find a way to get more games in.

 

[shanky]

I’d be interested to know (by the way) if anyone can recall another sporting example of a ‘going for youth’ strategy has paid off in the short term?

(and no, The Mighty Ducks doesn’t count)

It’s a rebuilding strategy, not a short term strategy.

IMO it was a gross dereliction of duty for RA management to have allowed this self-indulgent claptrap

This is a national sporting organisation FFS, at the biggest event in our public calender. It’s not a pub team where we’re doing it for shits and giggles and we’ve got Dave’s teenage son bowling googlies to ’see what happens’.

 

[Pfitzy]

keep on topic.

 

[Braveheart81]

QC (Quade Cooper) (Quade Cooper) with a bit of a receipt - reads like something from a snake oil merchant on LinkedIn, but he's not too far off

This is the sort of stuff every experienced professional athlete will say.

It's about processes and preparation because that's what you have direct control of, not about outcomes.

This is why the Eddie Jones comments about wanting young players who were obsessed with winning were so stupid. What does that even mean? It showed pretty clearly that being obsessed with winning doesn't help your results on the sporting field. If anything it left them absolutely clueless when things weren't going their way.

 

[barbarian]

I want us to move away from our messiah complex when it comes to coaches. No one person is going to save us and there's no shortcut to success here.

Hire Dan McKeller and surround him with steady experienced heads. I'd love to see Joe Schmidt in there. Simon Raiwalui lives in Brisbane and you'd be mad not to call him. Laurie Fisher is another one, as is Andy Friend.

Don't give me an individual, give me a team of coaches.

 

[RugbyReg]

I’d be interested to know (by the way) if anyone can recall another sporting example of a ‘going for youth’ strategy has paid off in the short term?

Reds ditching QC (Quade Cooper), Frisby, Slipper and Hunt (Speight, Douglas, Higgers, Lucas, Ready) and then winning Super Rugby (co-AU-ugh)?

 

[RugbyReg]

I want us to move away from our messiah complex when it comes to coaches. No one person is going to save us and there's no shortcut to success here.

Hire Dan McKeller and surround him with steady experienced heads. I'd love to see Joe Schmidt in there. Simon Raiwalui lives in Brisbane and you'd be mad not to call him. Laurie Fisher is another one, as is Andy Friend.

Don't give me an individual, give me a team of coaches.

Perhaps post 2024 Olympics can we consider Tim Walsh and John Manetti? Both coaches who have a clear focus on superb fitness, precise skills, getting the very best out of players, tactical astuteness, team building. Just as part of the program.

 

[Derpus]

I want us to move away from our messiah complex when it comes to coaches. No one person is going to save us and there's no shortcut to success here.

Hire Dan McKeller and surround him with steady experienced heads. I'd love to see Joe Schmidt in there. Simon Raiwalui lives in Brisbane and you'd be mad not to call him. Laurie Fisher is another one, as is Andy Friend.

Don't give me an individual, give me a team of coaches.

Rennie had that at the start of his tenure IMO.

 

[shanky]

Reds ditching QC (Quade Cooper) (Quade Cooper), Frisby, Slipper and Hunt (Speight, Douglas, Higgers, Lucas, Ready) and then winning Super Rugby (co-AU-ugh)?

Good call. I'll pay that

 

[John S]

View attachment 17853