ARU culls Coaching Staff

Looks like The Innforcer got his wish - the coaching staff will be cheaper

ARU culls Wallabies support staff

Greg Growden Chief Rugby Correspondent | February 12, 2008

The once-ballooning Wallabies off-field entourage has been deflated, with at least six positions - including three coaching spots - being cut for this season.

When the Australian Rugby Union yesterday announced that the new Wallabies coach, Robbie Deans, would have former Test forwards Jim Williams and Michael Foley as his assistants, it also revealed the national side's management staff would be cut to the bone.

The Wallabies boasted a team-management staff as large as 19 at last year's World Cup but the ARU will shed three coaches, a trainer, a massage therapist and a manager. The major coaching casualties are Wallabies backs coach Scott Johnson and defence coach John Muggleton, while skills coach Scott Wisemantel has left. Skills coach Alex Evans has also not been reappointed.

The only coaching survivor from 2007 is Foley, who over the past two years developed a strong rapport with the Wallabies forwards. Johnson, who has been connected with coaching positions in Europe and the US, will be paid out by the ARU, while Muggleton is in discussions with the ARU over taking up another position in the organisation.

Along with the cull, the ARU has demanded a change in the way the Wallabies coaching staff operates. ARU officials were not happy that Deans's predecessor, John Connolly, chose to act more as overseer than coach, delegating many of his responsibilities.

Now the ARU wants the head coach to be completely focused on coaching the national team. The union has been concerned that the large number of coaching staff last year led to some high-profile Wallabies losing confidence in at least two members of the World Cup coaching staff, while rifts developed between some coaches.

The ARU believes that a "hands-on" coach such as Deans will alleviate that problem, and immediately improve the Wallabies culture.

And to make it an even tighter ship, some passengers had to be guided to the exit. The ARU's chief executive, John O'Neill, last night said that large management teams were "a disease affecting all of rugby, especially the wealthy nations".

"The staff numbers kept creeping up, until you just had to say, 'Hang on' and 'How effective is all this?'," said O'Neill. "Robbie Deans has come on board, and with the Crusaders, having such a hands-on role, he had made it clear that he doesn't like a lot of people being involved. He believes that if you have too many around you, you worry about the resources rather than allowing the resources to do their thing.

"Like Robbie, I just think it is time for rugby to have coaches coaching. And I think 11 members of staff is a far more manageable group and far more effective than a large entourage."

O'Neill added that he was hopeful Foley and Williams would also be heavily involved in coaching the Australian Super 14 provinces.

"With Michael and Jim, we would like to find ways to have them fully integrated in the Super 14 franchises," he said. "In an ideal world, it would be good if they could be assistant coaches for one of the Australian provinces for the first six months, and then move on to the Wallabies.

"Deans agrees with us … coaches should spend 12 months coaching."

Deans will take on the Wallabies' attacking and defensive coaching responsibilities. Foley will be involved in set-piece work while Williams will be devoted to general forward play.