Wallaby Coaching Staff

[Scrubber2050]

Maybe after a whitewash by the English it is time to reflect on the Wallaby Coaches.

Most of us have had a dig / crack at some of the players, rightfully or wrongly.

Would be interested in other views about Chek, Larkham, Grey and Mario.

After RWC 2015 I think everyone lauded them and rightfully so.

What has gone wrong since then, if anything ?

IMO
Chek - Pass - it appears that Chek is certainly open to some criticism NOW - the Honeymoon is over ?
Larkham - Pass - we scored plenty of tries but ?
Grey - Pass - but just
Mario - Pass - scrum was pretty good overall except for the perceived period in the first test. Lineout OK but certainly not a weapon

 

[Sully]

We leaked 44 points and the defence coach gets a pass?

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[The torpedo]

Need to add the following:

Jonny Wilkinson - kicking & skills coach
Laurie Fisher - forwards coach
Richie McCaw - breakdown coach (just for the banter )

 

[Scrubber2050]

We leaked 44 points and the defence coach gets a pass?

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Jeez thought we scored more tries than them.

Suppose the Defence Coach should have issued a long handled butterfly net to catch the kicks as they sailed between the uprights.....

 

[Viking]

ummm we lost 3 in a row and they all get a pass....

So you guys are happy to keep losing as long as it's only by a small margin and we score some tries in-between?

I think the high score has created a false sense of security.

You know England's game-plan isn't involved around beating us by 20+ points, game plans rarely are, It was simply designed to win. They did this CONSISTENTLY!

If their were 2 more games in the series, I bet they'd be close games too - but England would win them too.

I bet NZ will be a close game too - that NZ will win.

But it's cool, you know, as long as the score it close and we score a try or two.

 

[Scrubber2050]

ummm we lost 3 in a row and they all get a pass..

So you guys are happy to keep losing as long as it's only by a small margin and we score some tries in-between?

I think the high score has created a false sense of security.

You know England's game-plan isn't involved around beating us by 20+ points, game plans rarely are, It was simply designed to win. They did this CONSISTENTLY!

If their were 2 more games in the series, I bet they'd be close games too - but England would win them too.

I bet NZ will be a close game too - that NZ will win.

But it's cool, you know, as long as the score it close and we score a try or two.

But what is the answer Seb

I fucking hate losing - period.

Are the coaches shit - I don't think so. I don't believe in throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Maybe a tweak here and there with players. A couple are "teflon" it would seem. A message needs to be sent methinks

 

[Lee Enfield]

Overall the Wallaby coaching staff are going along ok, but there might be some cracks starting to show. The Rugby Championship will be the litmus test to see if they can evolve the game plan and tactics.

I think Larkham is possibly the only coach who may be under performing. That might be more to do with perception then reality, as it is "Larkham", so the expectations might be too high because it is him.

The Wallabies definitely need some more skills coaches/consultants:
Goal Kicking (Bourke, Lynagh)
General Kicking (An ex-AFL player or maybe Latham)
Forwards (Stiles, Thorne or Fischer)
Breakdown (George Smith)
Scrum Half (Farr-Jones)

A big problem with Rugby in Aus is the state and national teams not necessarily operating off the same base.

I couldn't believe that Cheika was bemoaning the lack of fitness of the players to execute his game plan. Surely this stuff was talked about at the start of the off season among all the head coaches, as well as the core skills.

 

[RugbyReg]

I reckon you need a pseudo modern player to coach, so no point Noddy or NFJ (not a chance in the world they forgo their current occupations for such a position).

Latham would be an interesting proposition but I guess ideally you'd look at a combined kicking coach. And of course so much of coaching is more than just who used to be good at it, but analysis and communication. Someone like Elton Flatley would be a consideration, although I am not sure if he has actually coached - he seems fairly studious and always put a lot of time into his kicking practice.

Of course Benny Perkins would be an option, if he hasn't completely lost his mind.

Mick Byrne is the obvious target from a general skills perspective.

 

[Lee Enfield]

If the Wallabies could snag Mick Byrne, that would be a huge shot in the arm!

 

[Scrubber2050]

Being an old forward I would have thought kicking was like all other shills including throwing the ball in at lineouts.

Shit Foley is a good kicker - he has proved that often and in pressure situations
Moore has thrown a thousand lineouts and generally good.

It seems to me that practice practice and practice is the key. Am I missing something?

 

[Sully]

Jeez thought we scored more tries than them.

Suppose the Defence Coach should have issued a long handled butterfly net to catch the kicks as they sailed between the uprights...

What's defence have to do with us scoring tries? Do you think letting in four tries is acceptable?

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[Lee Enfield]

Practice is great, as long as you are practicing the right way.......So say Foley is practicing by taking 100 shots at goal and technically he is doing something wrong.....all practicing is doing is ingraining the technical flaw.

 

[Braveheart81]

Being an old forward I would have thought kicking was like all other shills including throwing the ball in at lineouts.

Too many shills and not enough skills.

Scrubber has hit the nail on the head.

 

[cyclopath]

Being an old forward I would have thought kicking was like all other shills including throwing the ball in at lineouts.

Shit Foley is a good kicker - he has proved that often and in pressure situations
Moore has thrown a thousand lineouts and generally good.

It seems to me that practice practice and practice is the key. Am I missing something?

I won't comment on lineout throwing, only ever doing it when I was 10 and the winger used to chuck it in!
Kicking is, as Redshappy noted in another thread, biomechanically a lot like a golf-swing, admittedly this applies more to place kicking. There are guys with funky golf swings who are consistent, and those with seemingly mechanical ones who aren't, which seems a little counter-intuitive. Point is, the ability to execute it repeatedly, under pressure comes down to lots of practice, and mental focus. You need drills which are punitive to a point - a sequence of kicks that must be made, miss one, start again. Out of hand kicking under pressure with ugly, hatey forwards trying to kill you.
OK, that all sounds bloody obvious, but I suspect Foley, if anything, struggles with maintaining rhythm in his kicking style, which may be down to mental focus. He certainly gets a bit quick on the downstroke with the place kicks at times, and drags his foot "over the top" sometimes in golfing parlance, which pulls the ball sort of straight left, or fades / slices it right depending on the swing path.

 

[qaz]

Is Chris Malone still part of the coaching team (kicking)?
I think i saw him in the coaches box once on tv..
He'd be under a bit of pressure

 

[KevinO]

IMO
Chek - Pass - it appears that Chek is certainly open to some criticism NOW - the Honeymoon is over ?
Larkham - Pass - we scored plenty of tries but ?
Grey - Pass - but just
Mario - Pass - scrum was pretty good overall except for the perceived period in the first test. Lineout OK but certainly not a weapon

Gray - Fail

Marlo - Fail, scrum was average most of the time. The AAMI park test showed how poor the scrum was, the turf only ripped up on the Wallabies side of the scrum.

And does not matter if the Wallabies scored more try's, they gave away to many penalties in kick able positions. England may be going back towards the style of play seen in 2003, but it's working for them. Have not lost a test since the World Cup, keeping the score board ticking away is important in close games.

 

[Viking]

But what is the answer Seb

I fucking hate losing - period.

Are the coaches shit - I don't think so. I don't believe in throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Maybe a tweak here and there with players. A couple are "teflon" it would seem. A message needs to be sent methinks

You just gave the answer. A tweak here and there with players, a tweak here and there with strategies.

Simple and small changes -(that I expected to naturally evolve over the series) can be implement but they weren't so it was a complete fail.

Going forward it can be easily fixed. Eg. Exist strategies from our own half. So don't take failure as a sign of completely losing hope.

but I'm a realist. I accept failure and I recognise it for what it is.

 

[RugbyReg]

Look, going on from cyclo's post, despite the fact I have never mastered the art of place kicking (or indeed mastered the art of getting the ball in the air). I ask you, who are the three best place kickers at the moment? And the answer is clearly Damian McKenzie, Dan Biggar and Owen Farrell.

What do these three have it common? Let's look:

Pretty simple hey? Foley just needs to develop some sort of quirky act in his run up.

Perhaps a quick salute to the posts and a lick of the lips or something?

That'll be $1000 plus GST

 

[Brumby Runner]

Ben Batger had a quirky ideosynchrasy (aren't they all?) where he would trail a line of dirt from the ball towards the goal posts. He was a pretty good goal kicker as well. Maybe a coach if he's still around?

I think the responsibility for the lack of discipline must lie with the head coach, so a mark down for Cheika there. Also, he should take the major share of responsibility for selection errors. viz picking players who weren't fit and then complaining about their lack of fitness to carry out his game plan.

Both Larkham and Grey should shoulder some blame (responsibility) for lack of individual ball skills for the former and some defensive errors for the latter.

 

[Quick Hands]

I won't comment on lineout throwing, only ever doing it when I was 10 and the winger used to chuck it in!
Kicking is, as Redshappy noted in another thread, biomechanically a lot like a golf-swing, admittedly this applies more to place kicking. There are guys with funky golf swings who are consistent, and those with seemingly mechanical ones who aren't, which seems a little counter-intuitive. Point is, the ability to execute it repeatedly, under pressure comes down to lots of practice, and mental focus. You need drills which are punitive to a point - a sequence of kicks that must be made, miss one, start again. Out of hand kicking under pressure with ugly, hatey forwards trying to kill you.
OK, that all sounds bloody obvious, but I suspect Foley, if anything, struggles with maintaining rhythm in his kicking style, which may be down to mental focus. He certainly gets a bit quick on the downstroke with the place kicks at times, and drags his foot "over the top" sometimes in golfing parlance, which pulls the ball sort of straight left, or fades / slices it right depending on the swing path.

I suspect that punt kicking is just as biomechanical as place kicking. When we see penalties not finding touch or even going dead/touch in goal, more often than not it's because the kicker has rushed things. Kicks in general play are more problematic as you won't have the same set up time and routine in most cases. But if you've practiced well and your style is biomechanically sound, you'll probably execute this skill well more times than not. The Americans have broken the action of punt kicking down to about 8-10 parts for coaching purposes.