Australia's new coach?

[Jehna]

Was this the article you were talking about Skiz?
__________________________________________
Jones: I can save Australia

By Jon Geddes
October 25, 2007

ALAN Jones has revealed his masterplan to save Australia - declaring he would make the legendary Mark Ella a member of his coaching team, overhaul the side's style of play and send some current coaches to the dole queue.

The man who guided Australia to its historic 1984 Grand Slam victory said bringing back Ella would be part of a massive team shake-up.

"If my candidature came to pass it would involve a lot of things," Jones said. "It would involve the composition of what is called 'the coaching team' and unfortunately that would consign a lot of people to Centrelink."

The push for the king of Sydney radio to return to the top coaching job in Australian rugby gained momentum on Wednesday, a day after his name was thrown into the mix by Queensland chairman Peter Lewis.

Lewis was previously a vocal advocate for the reinstatement of John O'Neill to the role of ARU chairman.

"If Queensland have gone public the matter is very serious, this is not flippancy," Jones said.

"If Peter Lewis and the Queensland Rugby Union - who have played a major role in Australian rugby for many years - are of the view I am the person who can make that contribution then I am obligated to put my hand up and say, 'Well if that is the case, I'm available'," he said.

"Australian rugby is now looking to rebuild and it wants an urgent renaissance - therefore experimentation is most probably a risk.

"If people think I'm not the person I don't have a problem with any of that at all. There is no ego here, there is no problem for me at all. That is for others to decide."

ARU CEO John O'Neill said the coaching position had been advertised nationally and internationally.

"If Alan wants to apply for the job he is welcome to do so," O'Neill said.
If Jones was appointed, it would be an extraordinary comeback. He last directed the Wallabies around the training paddock in 1987.

"I haven't missed it because my life is full," Jones said.

The first he knew about the campaign to have him appointed was when Lewis rang him at Brisbane Airport to say he had thrown his name forward.

"I said I am not uninterested," Jones said. "But I hadn't thought about it before. I don't know what the next step is."

The coach's job
Jones said the first obligation of a head coach was simply to coach. "He has to be in charge, he has to accept responsibility and he has to deliver," he said.

Jones said when he got the Australian job back in 1984 that was his first commitment. "I said my role was to win, there is no other role, that is why you are appointed," he said.

"You don't need three-year plans in any of this. We are not short of talent, we are short of method."

The coaching team
Jones made it clear the size of his coaching panel would be dramatically cut from its present levels.

"You don't need all these people to coach Australia," Jones said. "Mark Ella is a person I would want to bring into the team."

Jones would also like to recruit Alec Evans, his assistant on the 1984 Grand Slam tour. "That would be it," he said.

The style of play
Jones said the crux of the problem in the Wallabies side was how they play the game. He said the fundamental failure had been the persistence with the tactics to pick and drive.

Jones said the team had to play the ball in the air, which is what the Wallabies did in the period he was in charge from 1984.

"Only then can we pull forwards back to where they ought to be and release the backs to play one on one - and we have the best backs in the world. You can do that in a month because these are intelligent people who know how to play."

Jones said Stephen Larkham had been bashed for years, and his brilliance curtailed, because he had been sent inside to be confronted by a pack of forwards. "It's a miracle he is alive."

Jones said anyone could win ball and the first role of the forwards was to get the opposition forwards out of the backline. "It's a methodology thing, it's an attitude thing, it's a structural thing," Jones said.

Player welfare
Jones is concerned about what happens to the players away for football.

"While we pay Australian players we don't own them," Jones said. "It is possible to get results in Australian rugby and still minister to the well-being of the player."

Jones said there were many players who would never represent Australia again after the World Cup in France, and yet had nowhere to go.

"They are untrained for everything except rugby and we can't do that to people. Young people need a balance in their lives and that balance involves rugby and the world beyond rugby."

John Connolly
Jones said he had always supported outgoing Wallabies coach John Connolly, who he believes is a "a good man".

"John's greatest weakness was that he didn't dismantle the system," Jones said. "Had he done that and gone back to his nickname, Knuckles, he may be holding the World Cup," Jones said.

The Daily Telegraph

[frontrow]

I for one can actually see some merit to bringing alan jones back, as much as i don't like him as a journo/social commentator, as a coach he did get results and has a no nonsense approach to coaching and a good idea how to get the best out of those he utilises....Better choice than a few of the other candidates...

One other thing he has in spades is passion for rugby, which rubs off on those around him...If we were to get back the mongrel, i reckon he could show us the way...

[Seldom]

One other thing he has in spades is passion for rugby, which rubs off on those around him...If we were to get back the mongrel, i reckon he could show us the way...

Rugby as a whole needs to bring back the mongrel! no rucking rule sucks, it your Fault if you are on that side and on top of the ball, they are all turning into poofters!!!!

[Skiza]

Yep that's the one Jehna

[The Lone Hydrangea]

Jones is a arsehole, but was a good coach non the less. Also he had a group of players you would die for. His ideas on what is needed to get our Wallabies back on track are basically what all of us here want. It is pretty basic stuff really. Nucifora is the man for me and i believe he has never been arrested for conduct unbecoming in a public lavatory in London.....alledgedly

[Harry]

For me, what Jones had to say makes a lot of sense. It's about getting back to the basics and keeping it simple. Maybe Australian rugby needs a bit of a shake up?

[GIGS20]

Alan Jones would probably have a system to make the Wallabies win a lot more rugby that they do at the moment. I'd only oppose him on the grounds that his press conferences would be worse than having Eddie back!

No thanks, surely someone else can ring up Mark Ella (Probably the best suggestion of the bloody lot)

[Harry]

They certainly wouldn't need a Press Office would they?

[no.8]

Does a single head coach system actually works? There is some merit but it's not 100%. Having Eddie Jones employed as a consultant seemed to have helped Jake White and the Springbok cause.

Why don't we try a consultancy system. A Coaching Manager, a selection panel and world class rugby consultants experts in their field brought in as required?

HPU Manager Pat Howard would be the ideal candidate as Coaching Manager?

[The InnFORCEr]

HPU Manager Pat Howard would be the ideal candidate as Coaching Manager?

and he is at 34 to 1 with the bookies (the real ones not TG) to take out the top job.....

[travelling_gerry]

Who says I'm not real???

[frontrow]

Oh, you're real, verrrry real....

[Burgs]

Mitchell willing to play second fiddle

By Wayne Smith
October 27, 2007

WESTERN Force coach John Mitchell has introduced a dramatic element to the search for a new Australia coach by announcing that he is prepared to work as an assistant coach on the Wallabies team.

Mitchell, whose otherwise spectacularly successful two-year reign as New Zealand coach came to an abrupt end when the All Blacks were eliminated by Australia in the 2003 Rugby World Cup semi-final, has shied away from Test coaching since joining Force in 2005.

But he gave his first serious indication of a possible return to the international arena when he said yesterday that he would be prepared to work as a Wallabies assistant coach on the condition that it did not require him to give up his present job.

Mitchell did not nominate which of the half-dozen candidates he would be prepared to support, but it is a given he will make himself available if fellow New Zealander Robbie Deans is appointed.

Deans served as Mitchell's assistant coach on the All Blacks, and the two close friends have always felt, with good reason, that they were shabbily treated after the 2003 World Cup.

Mitchell's public announcement that he is ready to return to Test coaching might well prompt Deans to look at the Wallabies job in a new light.

At present, indications are that, for personal and professional reasons, he would rather coach the All Blacks, but it still is unclear just where he stands politically with New Zealand Rugby Union chief executive Steve Tew, an unabashed supporter of Steve Hansen as the next All Blacks mentor.

Even if Deans wins the New Zealand coaching job, Mitchell's offer to act as a Wallabies assistant coach will stand, providing he believes he can work with whoever the Australian Rugby Union selects.

"It might be helpful for a younger coach to have an assistant who has had experience at the top level before," Mitchell said.

"Just as long as I'm not required to give up my position at the Force, I believe I could offer something to the Wallabies."

There is no doubt about that whatsoever.

Under Mitchell, the All Blacks played some of the most entertaining rugby the game has witnessed. And, although the grim lesson of this year's World Cup is that the spoils ultimately go to the teams that make the fewest mistakes, Mitchell could well take the Wallabies' attacking game to a level that might challenge the safety-first mantra.

Certainly Mitchell would have much to offer to a less-experienced coaching candidate such as the Blues' David Nucifora or the Brumbies' Laurie Fisher.

Both are regarded as fine young coaches but their inexperience could have counted heavily against them.

But in partnership with Mitchell, they could well become more than the sum of their parts.

[jazza93]

that would be great, mitchell for assistant.


i think alan jones should spend a season in s14 coaching i would not be happy if someone who hasnt coached for 10 years just takes over the wallabies.

[James]

Having Eddie Jones employed as a consultant seemed to have helped Jake White and the Springbok cause.

Did it really though? Its not something thats that easy to judge. With or without Eddie the Springboks would have won the world cup playing Fiji, Argentina then England in the finals.

I don't know about anyone else, but I am really touched that Mitch would only be interested in another coaching role as long as he didn't have to leave the Force. That kind of loyalty is pretty special.