Alan has been hitting the peach schnapps ;)
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Alan has been hitting the peach schnapps ;)
Geez, that's quite a corrupted hierarchy over there in NSW
Jobs for the boys.
Just because they are mates of Andrew Hore and Daryl Gibson, that doesn't make Chris Whitaker, Simon Cron and Steve Tandy bad coaches.
Simon Cron coached the Sydney Rays to their best ever season (2016)
Chris Whitaker coached the Sydney Rays to their worst ever season (2018)
Steve Tandy coached Ospreys for a few years, with some success, and helped develop their stars.
So, jobs for the boys it might be, but they might be the right boys.
What we should be more angry about is the number of assistant coaches the Waratahs have; the Force were never allowed to have more than a couple, as I recall.
Whitaker’s coaching record is a lot less than Raiwalui’s. At least Raiwalui coached in the Top 14.
Fixed. Your lack of gender-neutrality was so non-inclusive.
I'm so PC these days, I have like, no soul.
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/01...jpg_medium.jpg
Diehards, former players lose faith in their code - Alan Jones, The Australian.
It is almost impossible to encapsulate the sentiments that are being expressed to me in relation to Australian rugby.
One leading Australian sporting figure regaled me with a story sent to him by his nephew, who is a good player, he tells me, who lives in England and knows the game.
The young bloke wrote to his distinguished uncle: “At least we finished the season the way we started. Yesterday was a total shambles.”
He’s talking about the Australia v England game. “It cost me almost $800 for four tickets. I very nearly decided to invoice Rugby Australia.
“These players are meant to be professional. They are meant to have composure. They are expected to understand how to win a game of rugby. I just don’t understand. England are not even a great side and our guys just seem to think it is their God-given right to play for Australia and get paid a lot of money …
“My point is, I am a diehard fan and I will not be going to watch them again for a very long time … it is an uphill battle if the powers-that-be expect people to part with good money to watch this team …
“Last night at 7pm, two hours after the game, I got an alert that David Pocock had commented on a Twitter story. I assumed it was about the game and consoling the Wallabies. Rather, it was about the election result in Victoria. I mean, where do priorities really lie?”
The other part of the anger is people representing to me over who is to blame.
Indeed, some of my readers are so displeased, they are demanding I name all board members of Rugby Australia, New South Wales Rugby and Queensland Rugby.
The fact is, if Rugby Australia is dysfunctional and the board is unaccountable, that is simply because Queensland and New South Wales, who exercise majority power, are doing nothing about it.
The board of Rugby Australia and the chief executive should go.
In the corporate world, what else would happen?
In 2015, the Wallabies beat England 33-13 at Twickenham. Three years later, at Twickenham, England beat Australia 37-18. The decline is clear. They have beaten us six times from six since our win in the World Cup in 2015.
In her 12 months as chief executive, Raelene Castle hasn’t done enough to improve Australian rugby. She seems way out of her depth.
RA chairman Cameron Clyne left the National Australia Bank with a year remaining on his contract. Yet Clyne and Castle are set to review the performance of Michael Cheika.
I don’t think either of them is fit to do that job.
Word is they will insist on coaching changes. Word has it that Rod Kafer and Ben Whitaker are putting together two lists of coaches for the board to look at.
The first is a list of interim coaches, headed up by Jake White.
And the second is a list of long-term coaches to take us through to 2023. That list is headed by Scott Johnson.
But how are Kafer, Whitaker, Clyne or Castle fit to judge Michael Cheika or his replacement?
It beggars belief.
Kafer lasted less than a year when he was once a coach. Whitaker heads up our low-performing High Performance Unit.
If Australian rugby is to be saved from a quagmire of mediocrity, they are going to have to call on people who have had success in the game.
I am certainly not advocating for myself. But there are many people who have had success in the game who are ignored.
Simon Poidevin is one of the toughest people ever to play for Australia. He has captained Australia.
Mark Ella, also a former captain, is one of the greatest players ever to wear green and gold.
Why are we racing off to consult foreigners?
Rod Macqueen developed an outstanding and successful culture when he coached Australia. Has someone tried to check what his recipe was? There are people of this ilk qualified to hold a review and make recommendations.
Dick Marks, a former brilliant Wallaby centre at 19 years of age, is one of the finest thinkers the game has ever seen.
These people are ignored.
I would argue the incumbent administration has less credibility than any governing body in the country. Rugby Australia is the laughing stock of Australian sport and world rugby.
Even the Kiwis believe we are fast becoming a banana republic, in rugby terms. They are blaming us for their defeat by Ireland, arguing that playing Australia too often is a preparation too soft to take on the powerhouses of the northern hemisphere.
A former Wallaby, among many who have written to me, has asked this week: “Can we get whoever did the Cricket Australia review to do the same job for Rugby Australia? …
“You and I and anyone with half a brain know that this half-arsed story about Beale and Ashley-Cooper and a sister-in-law in a hotel room at 10.30pm and a minor internal breach of protocol is rubbish. So where does this culture and behaviour in Australian rugby come from?
“I bumped into a more recent former Wallaby than myself in an airport earlier this week and was told, prior to any press and prior to this week’s Test selections, that Ashley-Cooper and Beale had (breached team rules) and this was creating internal issues in the team and management. Fast forward to today and suddenly I’m reading about a scandal …
“I very much enjoyed your article in The Australian as it was based on what should be driving the show — the rugby, and an analysis of how rugby is being affected by the politics of poor governance. Rugby is failing in this country and the cause is not just Cheika or the players …
“It is the brain dead morons who turn down a $50 million cheque and continue to ignore that opportunity.”
This is a former Wallaby who is a Western Force supporter.
“And where would we find them right now? On the corporate alickadoo teat, winging their way, first class, to London for the autumn series and lunch at the Ritz. Compromise begets compromise. We expect the players on the field to be tough and uncompromising and courageous and upstanding and honest and wonder why we are not successful. Yet the directors are weak and passive in the face of challenge. Deception has become the Wallaby way. This comes from the top.
“Should we give the whole gig to the Kiwis to run? Rugby Australia, proudly brought to you by New Zealand. Oh, hang on. That’s what we tried with Robbie Deans and now Raelene Castle. Perhaps we should go the whole hog and just ask the real New Zealand Rugby to run the whole show. Certainly the Kiwis must be desperately worried about how a collapsing Wallaby side and a shrinking Rugby landscape in Australia will affect the All Blacks, both commercially and in high performance. Merge Australia with the Pacific Islands and put the whole administration under the NZRFU.”
Well!!
When you have Raelene Castle being asked about Australia missing out on hosting the 2021 Women’s Rugby World Cup and she says “I think there’s always learnings as to what’s important to people in the focus areas for these types of bids”, you wonder whether someone who is hideously mangling the language is not also mangling the game.
So, there is going to be a review on December 10. By whom?
The vast majority of the people on the board are not fit, in a success sense, to judge anybody, let alone the coaching team. Only three of the nine board members have any understanding of winning at the elite level of sport.
There is a fair chance that Rugby Australia will demand changes to the coaching team.
Make no mistake, the knives are being sharpened and Castle will be keen to prolong her tenure in the Moore Park ivory tower.
It is attacking the symptom, not the disease, to worry about the coaching. We need a root and branch review of Rugby Australia.
Shift all the deck chairs before the rugby ship sinks.
Sadly, right now, the Wallabies may be the least of our concerns.
Unless we massively overhaul who is running the game, don’t believe it can’t get worse.
Alan Jones is a former coach of the Wallabies and hosts The Alan Jones Breakfast Show on 2GB and the Macquarie radio network and is host of Jones & Co on Sky News at 8pm on Tuesdays
Nail meet head.
His point about the bullshit speak that continually comes from Rat's Arse officials is also on the mark.
What the hell does that even mean?? Who is she trying to talk to with that kind of dribble. Certainly not most Rugby supportersQuote:
Originally Posted by Raelene Castle
There are times when I think that Alan Jones is too harsh on Raelene Castle - I mean she's only been in the role less than a year and wasn't responsible for the cutting of the Force, nor the long-term institutional issues with rugby in Australia.
Then she comes out with rubbish like this and I fully argee with him!
So the recent ex-wallaby who is a Force supporter?
Until I heard the recent bit, I was thinking Mayor John Welborn, who could it be?