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Rebecca Wilson From: The Daily Telegraph July 09, 2011 12:00AM
WHEN the Queensland Reds run out in front of more than 50,000 fans at Suncorp Stadium tonight, every single administrator, coach and player involved with the Waratahs should hang their heads in shame.
The cringing and lip biting cannot stop there. The blazer wearers, in particular, must spend the best part of the next six months writing out a very long list of crimes they have committed against their sport in a state that should have a pulsating elite rugby culture.
The Queensland Reds were in much worse shape than their NSW counterparts three seasons ago. They were stony broke, their team lost just about every week and the administration had squandered so many opportunities that pulling down the shutters became a distinct possibility.
In two seasons they have rebuilt their sport to the point that Queensland is now the shining light of the code - and its only genuine hope of remaining a top-tier sport in a nation that shows no mercy to weakness or failure in its four football codes.
The Reds did it all the right way. The formula was simple but brutally effective.
They let the team speak for itself and gave a new coach the licence to stamp his winning ways on some superb homegrown talent.
Unlike so many sporting franchises, who draw up a marketing plan before they find a winning team, Queensland rugby bosses saw a chance to get themselves out of a financial quagmire by going back to basics.
A winning team puts bums on seats. By employing discarded NSW coach Ewen McKenzie, the Reds rebuilt the culture with a bloke from enemy territory who should never have been handed his marching orders.
This is the point where every NSW fan reading this should scream out loud. McKenzie was handed his pink slip as he was on the verge of fixing the Waratahs.
Australia's most infuriating team (in any code) had finally started to learn how to win big matches. McKenzie refused to yield to the desires of his "star" players or the bosses who believed the player was always right.
The former Wallaby spoke passionately about his task to supporters who had spent too many seasons turning up to watch a team that had no spunk, no fight and no winning culture.
Those who met McKenzie were amazed at the level of the man's commitment and determination. The former Wallaby might have been a big, ugly prop during his playing days but he understood very clearly the beauty that is rugby when it is executed in style by all fifteen men in the team.
McKenzie is no longer a fan of the "10-man" game.
That is the kind of rugby Waratahs fans have been forced to endure for too long, the style of play that sees million-dollar backs left freezing on the wing as the forwards decide not to pass them the ball.
Contrary to his looks and prop's pedigree, McKenzie was a deep thinker who recognised that the truly great rugby sides use every single player in the team to win matches. He has done for the Reds what he was denied at the Waratahs.
With the total confidence of his bosses, McKenzie introduced running rugby to a Queensland side that had not seen such stuff for decades.
It has not harmed his cause that he has arguably the best player in world rugby in Quade Cooper.
To watch this young man with the ball is a joy in itself. The chemistry he has with Wil Genia makes the diehard rugby fan's heart sing.
And hearts are singing at rugby headquarters in Brisbane. The coffers are filling up again and crowds regularly tip over 30,000. If the ground is filled to capacity tonight (and we are told it will be), all previous records will be smashed. Waratahs fans (the few who are left) have every right to feel miffed as they watch this unfold. NSW rugby administrators run for cover whenever they are placed under scrutiny.
The bottom line, however, is that decades of blazer wearers protecting their patch is to blame for the mess.
Rugby in NSW has a burgeoning club competition, a rich talent pool of schoolboys and a bunch of bosses with absolutely no clue about converting that into success at the elite level.
Yet another season of promising much and delivering little should have led to a serious cull of coach and senior players.
One day this lot will realise that winning is actually important. You can wheel out Tah-man and put yourself on the back of buses, but if you can't find a coach or 15 players who know how to win big matches, you have nothing.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/spo...-1226090995373