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Melbourne Rebels sign World Cup coach Rod Macqueen
- Wayne Smith, Rugby union editor
- From: The Australian
- January 12, 2010 12:00AM
THE Melbourne Rebels are set to follow up their stunning coup of signing the Melbourne Storm's Brian Waldron as their new CEO with a second major announcement tomorrow, confirming Rod Macqueen as their head coach and director of rugby.
Macqueen, the architect of Australia's 1999 World Cup triumph, has turned down a host of lucrative offers from around the world since bringing down the curtain on his coaching career the night the Wallabies clinched an historic series victory over the British and Irish Lions in 2001.
That he has now chosen to return to the international arena with the Rebels is an extraordinary endorsement of the Harold Mitchell-led Melbourne consortium. He will meet Mitchell and other senior Rebels figures today in Melbourne where he is expected to formalise his dual roles as the club's head coach and director of coaching.
It will be the second time in his career that Macqueen has signed on to build a Super rugby team from the ground up, having served as the ACT Brumbies' foundation coach in 1996 and 1997 before being elevated to the Wallabies.
Within a week of belatedly being handed the Melbourne licence by the Australian Rugby Union, the Rebels are confident of filling the two critical positions of CEO and head coach with men whose resumes stack up against the best in the world.
Indeed, so highly regarded is Waldron that the Storm's major backer, News Limited (publisher of The Australian), is understood to have made an 11th-hour attempt to persuade him to remain with the reigning rugby league premiers.
But after six years with the Storm, during which time the club emerged as Australia's most successful rugby league franchise, Waldron was convinced it was time to move on.
"At 46 years of age as a sports administrator, you need to take advantage of opportunities as they come along," said Waldron, who will be moving into his third major football code, having earlier had successful stints in the AFL as St Kilda chief executive and general manager of football operations at Richmond. "This is a rare opportunity to start from scratch with a major new club in the biggest sporting market in the country."
Mitchell couldn't contain his delight at having recruited Waldron, who he described as "one of the best three sporting administrators in the country".
"It was all done very quickly, starting with a meeting with him in South Melbourne last Thursday," Mitchell said.
Waldron committed to weigh up his decision over the weekend and informed the Storm's board yesterday morning of his intention to switch to the other side of the rugby divide in the same city. Although many observers believe the Rebels and Storm will be competing for basically the same fans, Waldron is adamant there is enough room for both codes to run top-level professional teams in the Victorian market.
"Melbourne is a bit different," Waldron said. "The market is big enough to sustain not only the AFL but other codes as well.
"We at the Storm were devastated when the Rebels lost their bid to join Super rugby in 2005 because we felt they would add to the exposure of the Storm.
"A lot of fans will go to both. I don't see it as competitive but rather complementary.
"I'm a quintessential Victorian. We love our AFL team and that passion lasts a lifetime but we also love to watch and support other high-class sports."
Although the Rebels have allocated four spots in their 2011 playing roster to rugby league converts, Waldron has done them no favours by signing such likely targets as Greg Inglis and Billy Slater to long-term contracts with the Storm. Not that he has any intention of raiding the club where he will continue to work for the next four weeks.
"I'd never do anything detrimental to the Storm," he said.
Indeed, while there have been suggestions the Rebels are interested in Johnathan Thurston, the league player starting to excite most interest is Israel Folau, the former Melbourne winger and centre who moved last year to the Brisbane Broncos.
Although it is widely believed he is committed to the Broncos for another three seasons, in fact Folau signed only a two-year contract with a two-year option, meaning he could well become a target of the new Super 15 club.
Meanwhile, Wallabies prop Ben Alexander will learn tomorrow whether he will require surgery on his left hand, injured in a training mishap last week. He could miss the first four rounds.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1225818221346
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