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By Rebecca Wilson
October 13, 2007 12:00am
OF all the sporting teams in Australia, there is none more pampered than the Wallabies.
Their shameful performance against England last week in the Rugby World Cup will have huge long-term ramifications for the sport - and should herald the end of the outrageous salaries, molly-coddling and hype that surrounds this rugby union team.
Rugby fans are still shaking their heads in disbelief that the Wallabies failed to make the semi-finals of the tournament.
No one in their right minds really expected the team to go beyond a semi to the final, but we had every right to expect to be in the top four rugby nations of the world.
The Wallabies now sit at No. 5 in the world rankings. The rot has set in and Australian rugby will be feeling the aftershock for many seasons to come.
For those who have been living in a black hole these past few years, the Wallabies have been transformed by television rights money and sponsorship agreements into a football team that is treated like royalty.
This is not a team that just has a coach and a couple of assistants. It has a staff of about 30 just looking after about 21 players - right down to having its very own personal assistant.
They have "high-performance co-ordinators", three assistant coaches, advisers, physiotherapists, doctors, psychologists. You name it - this mob of under-achievers has been handed it all on a silver platter.
They have done their training for the most part out of the semi-tropical luxury of a five-star Coffs Harbour resort. They have been allowed to have their families there, too, which sounds fine in principle, but leaves the words "struggle" and "hardship" out of their vocabulary.
The Australian Rugby Union team smacks of arrogance. The core group of senior players in the side - George Gregan, Stephen Larkham and Stirling Mortlock - play for the ACT Brumbies in the Super 14.
This mob were the ones who drove their head coach, David Nucifora, out of town because they didn't have enough say in the decision-making process. That was straight after Nucifora coached them to a Super 12 title.
The coach's credentials were proved when he turned up at the Auckland Blues and coached the house down for several seasons.
You see, these blokes don't like being told what to do. They have spent most of their professional footy lives telling their coaches what to do. They have managers who demand - and get - ridiculous salaries for playing about four Tests a year and half a season of footy in the Super 14 competition.
They are being paid about 150 per cent above what they were getting three years ago (when they could still win a big game), yet they have been asked for nothing in return for the cash.
Even when their form hit a slump several seasons ago, nobody took the lot of them by the scruff of the neck and told them to lift their games. Instead, the status quo remained - more money for the likes of Lote Tuqiri and Matt Giteau.
When a fourth Super 14 team was introduced to Australia, young blokes who would not normally be offered a game in the local first-grade competition were suddenly vying for contracts.
Let's give the Wallabies forwards a special mention here. If the backs looked like they had just been introduced during the England game, what about the shocking performance of the tight five?
England do not exactly have the most mobile bunch of forwards. And they aren't young or pretty either. But these ageing, cauliflower-eared Poms carved our allegedly "greatly improved" forward pack to shreds.
They were dreadful. They looked fat and unfit. There are better forwards playing in the Australian Schoolboys side that beat New Zealand this week.
The time for change is obviously here. The coach will mercifully go. Nucifora should be given the gig and tell the current Wallabies that not a single one of them will be an automatic selection ever again.
He should also be told that he has the absolute and unconditional support of the ARU, so there can be no more back-biting, internal bickering and carry-on from assistant coaches who have bigger egos than half the players.
Ditch Coffs Harbour. Cut player salaries. Stop poaching league players because that obviously doesn't work. Put incentive clauses into contracts, so that players have to actually win a game to earn a bonus.
Until the Wallabies start performing again, sponsors should demand that not a single extra cent goes into their coffers.
And while we're at it, put the team back in the traditional gold Wallabies strip. It is simple but it makes a statement. The jersey should reflect what this team will be about - back to basics, tough, durable and proud.
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegrap...006067,00.html
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