Seems to lend credence to speculation around abysmal comms, senior players challenging ‘the vision’, and diabolical strategy decisions.
As someone else mentioned yesterday, one individual doesn’t make or break an organisation’s performance; however, in this instance, it seems like Supreme Leader Jones well and truly was the architect for failure. Should never have been allowed to happen, and should never happen again.
Settle down Ricky Bobby.A loss is a loss.
He'll weather this storm I reckon - the media aren't going that hard at him, as they're too busy rightfully dunking on Eddie. Next time it goes tits up could be another story, howeverSerious question- how long can Maclennan stick around? Another 4 weeks? The media aren’t going to let this go.
“I chose to take on a difficult job, a difficult job with certain conditions,” Jones said. “When those conditions haven’t been met, I’ve chosen not to continue with the job.
- Quotes from EJ (Eddie Jones) in the article. At least someone's happy.“If people want to blame me for everything, that’s OK. I can’t control that. The only thing I know is what I’ve done, and I’m happy with what I’ve done. I’m not happy with the results, but I’m happy with what I’ve done.”
Ultimately it just seems to confirms all the worst things everyone assumed was happening...
- Prior to that press conference at Coogee where he told everyone that he was 100% committed maaaaaaaate, he had basically already indicated to players and Rugby Australia that he wasn't sticking around.
- The board wasn't entirely sold on sacking Rennie, particularly Marino who later quit.
- McKellar, the only assistant Jones wanted to keep saw that Jones' support staff was going to be shit, and wasn't keen to stick around
- Jones held regular zoom calls with the leadership group throughout the year emphasising the importance of experience and leadership, and then after they lost a couple of games went for youth.
- Hooper regularly stood up for players and challenged Jones, and ultimately paid the price.
- Jones emphasised on a kicking heavy game plan, and then suddenly changed to a completely unstructured plan.
- Players who missed out on the RWC squad weren't contacted the night before the announcement, except for Hooper
- Players who did make the squad were contacted by the team's manager the night before, with one player, which has got to be Jorgensen, not having any hint beforehand he'd have to cancel his holiday plans to make a flight to Darwin the next day
- Jones appeared to indicate to the players at the World Cup that this one wasn't important because of 2027.
I think Squidge was just completely wrong about Eddie and a 'total football' typed approach.Squidge has done a couple of videos on it in depth. Theoretically (and currently, solely theoretically) its a good idea.Personally I don't think it worked with English players because culturally they are a very un-thinking Rugby nation which is not good at playing eyes up footy. But there have been times with England and Australia (think opening to Bledisloe II) where it clicks and they absolutely tear their way up the pitch.
Its not really the absence of structure so much as it is adapting your structure in different phases of play to the picture the defense gives you. The obvious point is that its something that takes a lot of cohesion and comfortability with your teammates to get used to. As well as a lot of time on the training paddock. Which makes it all the more odd you would do it for a job you weren't fully committed to and picking a team that had played very little with each other.
There is also a certain irony/ego in the fact that Eddie has done more than any other coach in history to introduce structured & repetitive attacking patterns to rugby. And now wants to be the coach to unwind all of that and show a different path for the game.
‘It was bizarre’: The inside story of Eddie Jones’ chaotic second coming
The second coming of Eddie Jones began with high hopes, and ended with Australian rugby in its deepest ever hole. How did it go so wrong?www.theage.com.au
The game plan changes are the most interesting to me. Would love a whole article on that. Looked like we had no discernable plan, and sure enough it seems we didn't.
It's an odd contradiction to deliberately pick an inexperienced squad and then give them no structure in which to play. Surely that just sets them up to fail.
Just about anyone would keep up the Eddie win rate and and you'd get free RM's and Wallaby merch. All you gotta do is crap on about being sure you are making the right decisions and tell journo's to give themselves upper cuts.........the upper cut thing still gets me, it is the type if thing you'd hear on Ray Hadley. Difference is he's a shock jock paid to say that type of thing to connect with the common person while Eddie was the coach of the National Rugby Union team going into a Wolrd Cup.Look, Rugby Australia should hire a couple of Aussie dads.
We've retained our winning streak against the outgoing coach and have a better percentage than him and Rennie.
I mean I think he might be wrong about whether it can win a World Cup, or whether it would have won England a World Cup. I have no idea tbh. Could see a world where it works. Equally, it might just be a bridge too far for international rugby where you dont have lots of time with the players.I think Squidge was just completely wrong about Eddie and a 'total football' typed approach.
Click escape before the paywall loads.anyone wanna post it for the non subscribers, my 12 ft ladder is busted