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Wallabies 2020

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
It's probably Cheikas greatest shortfall. He never wanted the best possible support team, he wanted a support team that would be yes men.


It's hard to know without knowing what his budget was and whether any other stipulations were made on hires (such as being Australian).

Mick Byrne is the only assistant he's had who could be remotely considered world class.

Of course there's a reasonable chance that even with the right budget some of the right people wouldn't have wanted to work for Cheika.

Rugby Australia needs to think long and hard about this issue though. We're clearly not going to have the budget to recruit whoever we want as head coach and then meet their hiring preferences for the assistants. We've got to work out what we need to spend to be competitive though.
 

Viking

Mark Ella (57)
Of that group - 2 are currently signed, one is impending by all accounts - leaving JW (would certainly take it if he was offered something) and Fischer.

Use Folau's millions to hire those last two and a good shrink, and let them nurture this current pack/backline stars and all the one's going to hit the scene in a year or two.


Are you telling me both Jake White and Laurie Fisher are available? Now I'm excited!!!!!!!!!!
 

cyclopath

George Smith (75)
Staff member
Are you telling me both Jake White and Laurie Fisher are available? Now I'm excited!!!!!!!!!!

I don't think anyone here really knows if they are :-
a) Truly available
b) Interested
All else is speculation. I'd believe it if either openly stated they were available and interested.
 

Adam84

Nick Farr-Jones (63)
It's hard to know without knowing what his budget was and whether any other stipulations were made on hires (such as being Australian).

Mick Byrne is the only assistant he's had who could be remotely considered world class.

Of course there's a reasonable chance that even with the right budget some of the right people wouldn't have wanted to work for Cheika.

Rugby Australia needs to think long and hard about this issue though. We're clearly not going to have the budget to recruit whoever we want as head coach and then meet their hiring preferences for the assistants. We've got to work out what we need to spend to be competitive though.

I rate the Reds and Brumbies assistant coaches better then the Wallabies
 

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
I rate the Reds and Brumbies assistant coaches better then the Wallabies


Would they stand up at test level though?

I think Laurie Fisher would and perhaps he's not interested in a test role. Arguably Simon Rawalui is the best performed of the Wallabies assistant coaches though. Our forwards were generally good and our set piece was the best overall it has been for years.

Nathan Grey was the most maligned of our coaches over the last few years and he won a Super Rugby title as an assistant.

We seem to think lots of people at lower levels are superstars and would be the best person for the job at test level until we find out they absolutely would not.
 

Lorenzo

Colin Windon (37)
Would they stand up at test level though?

I think Laurie Fisher would and perhaps he's not interested in a test role. Arguably Simon Rawalui is the best performed of the Wallabies assistant coaches though. Our forwards were generally good and our set piece was the best overall it has been for years.

Nathan Grey was the most maligned of our coaches over the last few years and he won a Super Rugby title as an assistant.

We seem to think lots of people at lower levels are superstars and would be the best person for the job at test level until we find out they absolutely would not.

Its gonna be a leap of faith, for sure.

But that is pro sport. When the current guy(s) ain't getting it done, you get someone else. Rinse and repeat until you find the formula that works.
 

Brumbieman

Dick Tooth (41)
Would they stand up at test level though?

I think Laurie Fisher would and perhaps he's not interested in a test role. Arguably Simon Rawalui is the best performed of the Wallabies assistant coaches though. Our forwards were generally good and our set piece was the best overall it has been for years.

Nathan Grey was the most maligned of our coaches over the last few years and he won a Super Rugby title as an assistant.

We seem to think lots of people at lower levels are superstars and would be the best person for the job at test level until we find out they absolutely would not.

Agreed - and all that equally applies to Rennie as HC, precisely why I want him to be JW's attack coach for a couple of years. Realistically, JW would be able to essentially oversee Rennie's program and help/correct him when he needs it, as well as provide his rugby IQ, all in a role that both men would have a clear understanding of, both their roles and the whole point of why's it actually best for Rennie.


Agreed on other posters comments though that JW hasn't been around much for a while.
 

Derpus

George Gregan (70)
If Rennie does take the job he's a brave man. Taking the step up to test rugby with the Wallabies and the basket case that is RA. I'd think twice.
 

Lorenzo

Colin Windon (37)
If Rennie does take the job he's a brave man. Taking the step up to test rugby with the Wallabies and the basket case that is RA. I'd think twice.

Really? I think this is the best opportunity going around, simply because the current guy has underperformed so obviously.

You come in, get these guys following basic rugby principles and there's a 10% winning percentage uplift right there. Look like a bloody guru!
 

cyclopath

George Smith (75)
Staff member
Really? I think this is the best opportunity going around, simply because the current guy has underperformed so obviously.

You come in, get these guys following basic rugby principles and there's a 10% winning percentage uplift right there. Look like a bloody guru!

110% of 45% or whatever is still under 50%!! But I agree with you. Certainly an opportunity.
 

Adam84

Nick Farr-Jones (63)
Would they stand up at test level though?

Nathan Grey was the most maligned of our coaches over the last few years and he won a Super Rugby title as an assistant.

We seem to think lots of people at lower levels are superstars and would be the best person for the job at test level until we find out they absolutely would not.

It’s debatable whether Nathan Grey was ever up to it to start with, Nathan Gray was defensive coach of the Waratahs when they conceded 522 points in the 2017 season, 200 more points then the Brumbies and 4th worst in the competition overall.

Im sure there were plenty on here that questioned that appointment to start with...
 

RedsHappy

Tony Shaw (54)
It's hard to know without knowing what his budget was and whether any other stipulations were made on hires (such as being Australian).

Mick Byrne is the only assistant he's had who could be remotely considered world class.

Of course there's a reasonable chance that even with the right budget some of the right people wouldn't have wanted to work for Cheika.

Rugby Australia needs to think long and hard about this issue though. We're clearly not going to have the budget to recruit whoever we want as head coach and then meet their hiring preferences for the assistants. We've got to work out what we need to spend to be competitive though.

Yes.

Two things are for sure: One, RA, the Wallabies, Australian rugby as a whole, simply cannot afford a line of mediocre-to-awful Wallaby continuity from 2008 on that painfully inflects in 2019 and, best case, as trend, does not improve at all, or worst case, deteriorates further downward from 2018's and 2019's lows. There cannot be any more consistent performance down-trend lines and vast annual volatility in Wallaby w-l % terms, there simply must be some marked improvement in sustained Wallaby outcomes or the code here will be seriously imperilled and there may be no arriving saviour. (It's conceivable that it all maybe too late in any event, too many debacles and, for paying fans and media buyers and other sponsors, just too many now deadened hopes and broken promises.)

Two, all of the the available data from the last decade shows clearly, unambiguously, that the quality of elite coaching in pro rugby really, really, really matters in terms of delivering truly high performance, fan-building, and thus $ income building, team outcomes.

Accordingly RA had better find the funds from its not inconsiderable cash overheads to assemble the very best possible total new coaching team for the Wallabies as it clearly has only one more shot at getting this right, it has blown far too many chances to do so and we are at last chance saloon time, loud and fucking clear.

Finding, and not constraining, these funds - versus the strategically crazy model of 'who can we get for our badly constrained $ budget' - for the right coaching group is a thus a RA crucial priority, perhaps the crucial priority. The Rugby Foundation should wisely cease its quiet subsidisation of strategically ill-considered elite player salary packages and get its outlay priorities onto funding RA's ability to fund and support the very best possible elite rugby coaching group for the Wallabies.
 

RedsHappy

Tony Shaw (54)
If Rennie does take the job he's a brave man. Taking the step up to test rugby with the Wallabies and the basket case that is RA. I'd think twice.

I do agree Derpus that is certainly an issue for the best candidates. And we assuredly don't need new Wallaby coaches that 'just want a job'.

I also wonder just how inspiring would be a 3 hour interview with Clyne and Castles. (I suspect the uniquely qualified Dismal Pillock may have some appropriate GIFs and lurid descriptions for such an event.)

On second thoughts, I'm not sure I even want to think about such a moment in time, it is not an uplifting prospect.
 

Lost

Ted Fahey (11)
It's hard to know without knowing what his budget was and whether any other stipulations were made on hires (such as being Australian).

Mick Byrne is the only assistant he's had who could be remotely considered world class.

Of course there's a reasonable chance that even with the right budget some of the right people wouldn't have wanted to work for Cheika.

Rugby Australia needs to think long and hard about this issue though. We're clearly not going to have the budget to recruit whoever we want as head coach and then meet their hiring preferences for the assistants. We've got to work out what we need to spend to be competitive though.


The whole Mick Byrne thing is wearing a bit thin. Where is the evidence of this world class capability??
 

Lost

Ted Fahey (11)
In NZ he was polishing roughly cut diamonds - here he is polishing low fiber turds.

Hard to reconcile the supposed superior skill coaching available and see a team so poor at catch pass tackle kick

If thats what we need get the crew working with Japan, that is execution of skill under pressure

We are nowhere in comparative execution.
 
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