Wayne Smith signs off as chief rugby writer at the Australian

[Pieman]

I noticed in yesterday's Australian that Wayne Smith finished off one of his stories by saying it was his last regular rugby piece for the paper. I know he's had both fans and critics in this forum, but I'll certainly miss his insightful and entertaining style. JON probably wouldn't agree.

 

[Brumby Jack]

Smith probably feels now that Gaddafi is dead, he's no longer required?

 

[Lee Grant]

Best rugby writer in Oz for many years IMO. It's sad to see him go.

 

[Pieman]

I think he may still do the occasional rugby story, but is moving onto "other assignments".

 

[Pieman]

Best rugby writer in Oz for many years IMO. It's sad to see him go.

Quite agree Lee. IMO nobody else has been close.

 

[kiap]

Sad to see him go. Here's the article, and it's a good one, split in three:

Part 1

WHAT Australian rugby needs in the wake of the so-called "semi-successful World Cup" is a Waratahs-style fan forum, some gathering at which John O'Neill, Robbie Deans and the ARU are put on the spot by the game's loyal followers.

That's not to say that the Waratahs' fan forum, held at the low point of their Super Rugby season, was a roaring success but at least it imposed a level of accountability on NSW players, coaches and officials and reminded them that what they were doing wasn't just about them. For every Waratahs squad member, there are tens of thousands of New South Welshmen who buy into the legends and realities of that sky blue jersey and want to feel that they belong, that they matter.

Now multiply that by a factor of 10 where Australians and the Wallabies are concerned. For a long time, the Wallabies were Australia's solitary national football team, mostly as a result of the fact that neither Australian rules nor rugby league was able to conjure up any credible foreign threats. Then the Socceroos began their rise and rugby and football took it in turns to share the spotlight at their respective World Cups.

One wonders whether Deans watched the Socceroos' 4-0 loss to Germany in last year's FIFA World Cup. If so, did he not detect that the Socceroos' Dutch coach Pim Verbeek was totally out of step with the Australian mindset, that his tactics and selections reeked of damage limitation?

For mostly better but sometimes worse, Australian teams have a go. The more daunting the opposition, the more aggressively they attack it. Small wonder Verbeek lost his players and lost the Australian public by playing for a meek, submissive draw.

Against the Springboks and the All Blacks, Deans had the Wallabies playing similarly risk-averse rugby. You could almost see the looks of relief on the faces of the South African and NZ players when they realised the Wallabies weren't going to have a real crack at them.

Instead, against the All Blacks in particular, the Australians adopted a box-kicking strategy, evidently believing Graham Henry and his coaches wouldn't have learned the lessons of their side's defeat in the Tri-Nations final in Brisbane.

 

[kiap]

Part 2

Let's look, too, at the experienced players jettisoned or marginalised by Deans along the way. Stirling Mortlock - Wallabies captain, Rebels captain. Phil Waugh - Wallabies captain, Waratahs captain. George Smith - Wallabies captain, part-time Brumbies captain. Matt Giteau - Brumbies captain. Nathan Sharpe - Wallabies captain, Western Force captain.

Is there a pattern establishing itself here? One by one, independent thinkers in the Wallabies were either pushed aside or eased out, until the Australian side was being led by two youngsters, James Horwill and Will Genia, one 26, the other 23. Now look at all the leaders in the All Blacks, aside from Richie McCaw - Dan Carter, Brad Thorn, Mils Muliaina, Keven Mealamu, Piri Weepu, Tony Woodcock.

And so Australia was bundled out of the World Cup, save for the bronze medal playoff against Wales when the Wallabies finally said "to hell with it" and gave it a go. As it happened, they won and for that Australians were grateful but I suspect they were grateful merely to see their side play the Australian way, win or lose.

Now comes the inevitable post-disappointment review in which, according to O'Neill, high performance director David Nucifora and the four former Wallabies on the ARU board, John Eales, Brett Robinson, Michael Hawker and Mark Connors, will play important roles.

I have many times before attacked the arrogance of the ARU but perhaps this takes the cake. Nucifora and the ARU directors - all of them, not just the ex-Wallabies - are not the people to go to searching for answers since they are part of the problem.

Nucifora, as the Wallabies coaching co-ordinator, national under-20 coach and one of three national selectors, is one of the game's key decision-makers and should have been Deans' right-hand man. If he wasn't - and Deans is as aware as anyone that O'Neill is manoeuvring Nucifora into position to be the next Wallabies coach and hence would be extremely wary of him - then the Australian coaching set-up was fatally flawed.

Now Deans is saying he would be happy to have the other, stronger contender for his position, Reds coach Ewen McKenzie, come on board. I hope so, but I have my doubts. McKenzie, too, is an independent thinker, just as Waratahs coach Michael Foley is, and Foley basically felt he had no alternative but to quit the Wallabies after only one season working with Deans.

 

[kiap]

Part 3

As for the four former Wallabies on the board, they were part of the decision-making process that led to Deans being re-appointed as Australia coach before he had even taken the team to the World Cup. Anyone who dared to suggest at the time that it wasn't a board decision, that it was O'Neill driving the whole plan to reappoint Deans, was reminded in the sternest possible way that they were wrong.

The ARU board insists it is speaking with one voice. So be it! If that's the case, then the decision to appoint four directors to basically sit in review on their own decision-making is laughable and holds the Australian public in contempt. Australian rugby is not the ARU's plaything. It belongs to the Australian people. ARU officials are merely the guardians of the game.

They are poor guardians, in my opinion. Yet they are barely held to account. The states mutter and complain about how out of touch the national body is, yet they lack the courage to bring it to heel. They speak boldly in the shadows but cower in the corners when the moment comes to step into the spotlight and challenge the decisions that are shrinking the game.

It's time for Australian rugby supporters to take the Waratahs route and to mount such a din that eventually O'Neill and Deans and the rest of the ARU are left with no alternative but to explain themselves to the disillusioned people who are keeping the game alive.

This is my last regular rugby column. I've been re-assigned to other duties. I'm sorry to be leaving at a time such as this, with so much still to be done.

 

[Juan Cote]

Smithy will be doing the odd rugby story (hopefully putting the boot into the ARU where required) but is going to spend the summer as the Oz's chief cricket scribe.

Without question the premier rugby writer in Aust and one of the best in the world.

 

[Pauly]

Let's just hope Bret Harris maintains the rage! I do appreciate Harris' honesty and good judgement, as well as his willingness to say what he believes - actually the exact attributes that defined Smith's articles.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Smithy will be doing the odd rugby story (hopefully putting the boot into the ARU where required) but is going to spend the summer as the Oz's chief cricket scribe.

Without question the premier rugby writer in Aust and one of the best in the world.

You say "where required" as if there are issues and times when the ARU do not need the boot put into them. (joke)

I bought the Oz on Saturdays so i could read Smith.

There is no one to write what needs to be written now he is gone.

This quote should be writ large:
Australian rugby is not the ARU's plaything. It belongs to the Australian people. ARU officials are merely the guardians of the game. They are poor guardians,

 

[Lance Free]

The best rugby writer in the land by a long shot writing in the only quality newspaper around. Frequently on the button and just so prolific.

Can't say I totally agree with the JO'N chip on his shoulder but I guess he tells it how he sees it.

I've gone off cricket over the past few years - too many players, in too many teams, playing crap forms of the game, by players you've never heard of - but I look forward to reading some of Smithy's tomes.

Best of luck to him. Shame he missed his daughter's wedding though....

 

[Slim 293]

It's just a shame that they work for such a rubbish newspaper...

 

[daz]

I noticed in yesterday's Australian that Wayne Smith finished off one of his stories by saying it was his last regular rugby piece for the paper.

After watching the trash the Wallabies have given us over the last few years, and listening to increasingly PdV-like crap from the ARU and her employees (read: coaching staff), and finally that piss poor excuse for a RWC tournament (so we came "3rd". Big deal. We didn't even try to win in the finals and should have gone out in the groups) who the fuck can blame Wayne for not wanting to write about the current team.

Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke, right Wayne?

 

[Jnor]

Doesn't sound like he's particularly happy to not be covering the rugby fully any more. I guess that's newspapers for you at the moment.

I enjoy his pieces and have only started reading them in the last year or so, pretty disappointed I won't be able to keep doing so well into the future

PS welcome back daz!

 

[daz]

Cheers Jnor.

I'm sulking right now, but I'll get over it soon. Or not....

 

[Patto.]

I appreciated Smith but would love him to detour via the Herald and take Crowden with him.

 

[Hawko]

That might have been his last report, but by gum he made it a doosey!! That has to be one of the best and most courageous pieces of rugby writing I have read. Totally committed to the game, totally accurate in exposing our masters' hypocrisies, beautifully written. Sad to see him go. All we are left for quality now is G&GR. Can anyone imagine Growden writing anything one-tenth as good as this?

 

[Tangawizi]

Maybe someone here can offer him a spot writing under a fake name?

Must all be part of Murdoch's repackaging of the Australian with paid online content etc.

 

[Lindommer]

Smithy will be doing the odd rugby story (hopefully putting the boot into the ARU where required) but is going to spend the summer as the Oz's chief cricket scribe.

Going from rugby to cricket! What'd this bloke do to get those two gigs? Someone decent to read so's I don't have to put up with Roebuck's drivel.