The one and only Wallaby Coach thread

[Rob42]

He is the only choice. I mean, let's be realistic. Who would bother getting involved in this sh*tstorm?

Wamby, I think this has been discussed before, but - how many international coaching jobs aren't about walking into a sh*tstorm? Very few coaches get to walk into a high-functioning, successful program - coaches get appointed because the previous coach got the boot.

 

[Sir Arthur Higgins]

and how many coaches fail? Most
You need to pick the one with the most vast experience to draw from and the best track record of success. If you believe
most on this thread then the all blacks turned around because Joe got involved
The idea that larkham is the candidate it a bit silly. He’s still very early in his coaching career and has little coaching achievement to his record.
Mckellar moderately better.
Club rugby ain’t international rugby.

 

[Sir Arthur Higgins]

Greg Martin thinks we should’ve gone with Bernie because he’s an Australian who won a World Cup as a player 25 years ago..

Remember Greg Martin?

One of the dumbest blow hards going around
Fails to recall we just hired an Aussie who won a World Cup and it was as big a disaster as you could imagine.
The only bigger whiner than Martin is kearns

 

[noscrumnolife]

I think Waugh (and if you are inclined to see things this way, Dan Herbert also) deserves a fair bit of credit amidst all of this. To come out of the shit-show that was the RWC and the McLennan fiasco afterwards and lock down Horne, Nucifora and Joe Schmidt is pretty good stuff. Horne was sitting pretty at World Rugby and Nucifora and Schmidt would have been the most in-demand coach and sporting director on the market. To have both locked down speaks well to his character IMO, none of those three needed to take the job and wouldn't have done if they didn't have a base level faith in the people they are reporting to.

Another tick in his book for me. Hopefully more to come.

 

[Agent]

Gee I hope he has some success and surely we can't get any worse. Everyone seems to be pretty upbeat about JS signing - a bit like we were 14 months ago when Eddie signed. Good luck to you Joe - I hope you are the man to lead us out of the shiteshow that Aussie rugby has been for the past little while.

 

[LeCheese]

Gee I hope he has some success and surely we can't get any worse. Everyone seems to be pretty upbeat about JS signing - a bit like we were 14 months ago when Eddie signed. Good luck to you Joe - I hope you are the man to lead us out of the shiteshow that Aussie rugby has been for the past little while.

You have a different recollection of the mood surrounding the Eddie signing than what I do

 

[Agent]

You have a different recollection of the mood surrounding the Eddie signing than what I do

Yes fair call. There were certainly a lot of people that were not keen on Eddie being signed, but I think the majority of people were optimistic about his appointment (probably me included). Those people are probably to most shocked and wondering how the heck things went so went wrong!

 

[LeCheese]

Yes fair call. There were certainly a lot of people that were not keen on Eddie being signed, but I think the majority of people were optimistic about his appointment (probably me included). Those people are probably to most shocked and wondering how the heck things went so went wrong!

There were definitely people at both extremes, but I think there was a large group (myself included) who sat in the middle with a bit of cautious optimism off the back of Eddie talking the talk. The noise around Schmidt and the other recent signings have, understandably, been of overwhelming and genuine optimism imo.

 

[Ignoto]

Are any bookies offering odds for the Wallabies to win the Lions tour and the 2027 RWC yet?

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

I've seen one Kiwi being negative on it - seems to be against the prevailing view though. And I'm not sure if he's negative on the coach, or just Aus rugby fullstop.

View attachment 18073

Who the fuck is Martin Devlin?

 

[zer0]

I'd hoped Vern Cotter could've got Schmidt involved at the Blues, or at least see him retained in NZ in some capacity. But it seems being summoned to the rescue operation rekindled his desire to be a (test level) HC, which is fair enough.

He did well with Ireland, but it was his work with NZ that really gives me hope. He was so good he managed to cancel out the ineptitude of Ian Foster

Schmidt was invaluable but he wasn't the sole reason. Jason Ryan was the other equally significant contributor to the All Blacks salvage operation. Otherwise Schmidt would've had to try produce game plans behind a pack that couldn't stop a maul most of the time. That being the case, will be interesting to see who his assistants are. Greg Feek is part-time at the Blues for this season, so could be an option for scrum coach.

Should make the Bledisloe more interesting at the very least.

 

[zer0]

Who the fuck is Martin Devlin?

Irrelevant local NZ radio wounder. People at least know who Chris Rattue is. This is the first time I've heard Devlin's name for... idk, must be over a decade now.

EDIT: For e.g., I can remember Rattue's banging the Deans drum and subsequent colossal tantrums over Henry being (correctly) retained over Deans. I have no idea who's side Devlin was on.

 

[Crashy]

I think Waugh (and if you are inclined to see things this way, Dan Herbert also) deserves a fair bit of credit amidst all of this. To come out of the shit-show that was the RWC and the McLennan fiasco afterwards and lock down Horne, Nucifora and Joe Schmidt is pretty good stuff. Horne was sitting pretty at World Rugby and Nucifora and Schmidt would have been the most in-demand coach and sporting director on the market. To have both locked down speaks well to his character IMO, none of those three needed to take the job and wouldn't have done if they didn't have a base level faith in the people they are reporting to.

Another tick in his book for me. Hopefully more to come.

And don't forget RA has also signed the only female coach in this country to coach a national team. ( contact sport).
I hate this time of year - Its when I am the most positive about rugby in this country....
Hopefully the players in Supe lift after the JSS*.
* = Jones Shit Show.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

I think Waugh (and if you are inclined to see things this way, Dan Herbert also) deserves a fair bit of credit amidst all of this. To come out of the shit-show that was the RWC and the McLennan fiasco afterwards and lock down Horne, Nucifora and Joe Schmidt is pretty good stuff. Horne was sitting pretty at World Rugby and Nucifora and Schmidt would have been the most in-demand coach and sporting director on the market. To have both locked down speaks well to his character IMO, none of those three needed to take the job and wouldn't have done if they didn't have a base level faith in the people they are reporting to.

Another tick in his book for me. Hopefully more to come.

Yep, all big ticks for mine. I was skeptical about PWaugh as CEO but he's done well in the last few months.

 

[Yoda]

Righto Phil… great job on getting Joe. Next job an excellent media guy is needed that can create positivity about our great game. How about starting with promoting our fantastic women’s 7’s team! Does anyone in Australia know they exist apart from diehards? Hopefully Joe will insist on getting our stars out to schools so that kids know who are Rugby players are …female and male….then when games are on ‘free to air’, those same kids can watch them. That would help.

 

[Spamnoodle]

If true I suspect it will be seen in hindsight as a case of "be careful what you wish for". I'm not sure the current generation of Wobs & potential Wobs are ready for what JS will be bringing to the setup: ruffled some peacock feathers in Ireland & can see him doing the same with your blokes.

That's exactly what is required

 

[Lorenzo]

If true I suspect it will be seen in hindsight as a case of "be careful what you wish for". I'm not sure the current generation of Wobs & potential Wobs are ready for what JS will be bringing to the setup: ruffled some peacock feathers in Ireland & can see him doing the same with your blokes.

Yeah instead we should hire a nice guy in order to not upset the 1996 chicago bulls we have running around out there

 

[Slim 293]

If true I suspect it will be seen in hindsight as a case of "be careful what you wish for". I'm not sure the current generation of Wobs & potential Wobs are ready for what JS will be bringing to the setup: ruffled some peacock feathers in Ireland & can see him doing the same with your blokes.

I'm not sure what potential feathers there are to ruffle in any future Wallaby squad this year...

 

[Derpus]

Should make the Bledisloe more interesting at the very least.

Nope

I'm not sure what potential feathers there are to ruffle in any future Wallaby squad this year...

Honestly if any of the players still have the emotional energy to be 'ruffled' after experiencing EJ (Eddie Jones) then fair play. Be ruffled.

 

[NoName]

That's exactly what is required

Ok. It's required, but will it be accepted?

Oversharing mode on:

At what point in years of being repeatedly pumped by kiwi sides have the Australian players taken personal ownership of their own skill deficiencies and losing track records? When have they ever shown any individual improvement in obvious skill gaps? These players have been 100% satisfied to lose repeatedly against the kiwi sides over years and make no changes for themselves in any way shape or form through a multitude of coaches and multitude of ceos and boards. You may disagree, but all of the results and performances speak for themselves. The players are part of the problem and there is no incentive for them to change.

If they actually had a professional mindset they'd put their own money towards their own personal development and do the extras required to lift their own game up to an acceptable level and (in general) they haven't. Foreign based Australians faced with getting benched because of the 80 up and comers vying for their position on the field suddenly become stars, but when returning home they slowly revert to the most inept displays of incompetence.

Why does anyone think that JS will not be faced with the same as every other wallaby coach: where the players are lacking in basic skills - and 80% of the wallaby training is just to get them up to premier grade or shute shield level whilst all the other international teams are working towards 200 iq plays to bet that lart 2% in order to win.

Disband Rupa completely and we might be in with a shot, but as it stands now hard edged coaching demands will be met with unified industrial action from the players the levels of which haven't been seen since Big Kev ran out for the reds and got a red carded for deliberate infringements.

"We are up for this" comments from players mean nothing anymore. They've proven themselves to literally do nothing to improve themselves and just bargain for lower play time year after year. And the players are now in 100% of the power positions in RA.

JS has chosen 2 years. He knows.