Reflecting on both tonight and seasons past, the Waratahs have always had a squad littered with talent but they seem to be perpetually lacking in any sort of professional attitude or intent.
Cheika turned up in 2013 and got working on it straight away, but even then, it took an entire season of failure and a squad clean out to turn it around. But he did turn it around, and what ensued? Badda bing badda boom - we wont the whole fuckin' thing playing some amazing, exciting football.
Gibson, like many of his predecessors, hasn't been as successful in addressing this core, underlying rot and it has swept throughout the squad once again.
So where does this attitude problem come from?
Well, where do the players come from? Off the top of my head alone:
Sandell, Ryan, Latu, Robertson, Mumm, Skelton, Phipps, Gordon and Foley all came from the Sydney University pathway. Many of them were lauded schoolboy or u20 talents. A few notables weren't, and really had to fight to break into the scene. Foley is one of these players.
From Randwick we have Kepu, Horwitz, Hanigan, Kellaway, Deegan, Beale (soon anyway) and R. Robinon.
From Manly we have Lucas and Hooper.
From Norths we have Hegarty, Clark, Simone, Ta'avao and Wells.
As evident, the vast majority of our squad, past and present, comes from four dominant sides within the Shute Shield, with the largest concentration being from Randwick and Sydney University (historically the two strongest sides).
What does this mean? I personally think it has two main implications:
1. Average players look great in great sides. Perhaps we aren't recruiting the best talent, but simply recruiting those with the best highlight reels.
2. How many trials and tribulations have our squad really been through?
Imagine you're Andrew Kellaway (perhaps it is a bit unfair of me to single out a player, especially considering he didn't play tonight, but bear with me):
In high school you played three seasons for an amazingly dominant Scots 1st XV. This earned you multiple years of selection in GPS XVs, who dominated their CAS / CHS counterparts. In turn, this earned you selection in the NSW XVs, who again dominated all other state teams, and this earned you selection in the Australian schoolboys side for two years running.
As an outside back you're absolutely stoked as all the go-forward in the world has netted you 100s of tries.
A couple of years down the line and you're now in club-land, playing 1st grade for Randwick against Parramatta. The half back puts up a box kick, and you're exhausted from a linebreak you made earlier. Do you chase it hard until your lungs feel like their about to burst?
Probably not. Why? Because the guy fielding the kick will simply end up running into a line of ex-Australian schoolboys who, even if they are walking, will likely make the tackle. Its someone else's problem.
Even if he does manage to break the line and score a try, does it really matter? Your team is likely to put 50+ on them and therefore the odd piece of brilliance from the opposition really doesn't affect you too much.
Instead you lazily jog into place to regain enough energy so that next time you get the ball you can turn on the after burners once more to ensure you score a try scintillating enough to be included in the highlight reel that will eventually win you a pro-contract.
You've now got that pro-contract, and you're playing the Kings. The halfback puts up a box kick, and again you're faced with the decision to chase, or not chase. What do you do?
Same thing you've always done - lazily jog after the ball. Why? Partly because its what you've done your whole life, and partly because at the back of your mind you want to make a mean linebreak later in the game to get Cheika's attention and a call-up to the Wallabies squad.
Now, as I said, its very harsh for me to pick on Kellaway, given that he didn't play tonight, but he simply provides a very good example of a much-lauded schoolboy talent who really hasn't amounted to much since then.
For me, it seems that the players with the best attitudes come from non-Schoolboy, non-"Big 4 club" backgrounds, although there are exceptions to these rules.
Perhaps we need a systematic overhaul of the pathways that feed into the Tahs, because tonight simply wasn't fucking good enough. Would a draft for graduating schoolboys into Shute Shield clubs work? I'm sick of the talent being hoarded at certain clubs - it's not good for anyone.
