Where are all the good coaches? Somewhere else

Columnist

By Andrew Logan, 21 Apr 2009 Andrew Logan is a Roar Expert

Tagged:: Andy Friend, Brumbies, Rugby Union, Super Rugby

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NSW Waratahs coach Ewen McKenzie. AAP Image/Dean Lewins

Any CEO will tell you that a major risk factor for an organization or industry is the loss of talent. Talent costs money to find and develop, and if you lose it, you not only lose the original investment, but also the knowledge and experience.

It’s a concept that Australian rugby is finding out about the hard way with the standard of coaching in the Super 14.

If you were to rank the provinces by coaching experience, you’d have the Force first with former All Blacks mentor John Mitchell, the only senior national coach of the four.

Next would be the Brumbies, led by Andy Friend, who has three years as head coach with English club Harlequins as well as stints as an assistant with the Brumbies and Waratahs under his belt.

The Waratahs would probably be third, coached by successful club and age-group coach, but first-time pro, Chris Hickey.

And last would be the Reds, with Phil Mooney, whose career consists almost entirely of U/19’s and Academy appointments, less his one year as Reds backs coach under Jeff Miller in 2004, and his first year as Reds coach in 2008.

Looking forward to the end of the regular Super 14 rounds, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the teams finish up exactly this way.

Although the Waratahs lead the pack (one spot in front of the Brumbies), they have played 10 games to the Force and the Brumbies 9.

They also have yet to tour South Africa, whereas the Brumbies have done their trip, and the Force have the lowly Lions and the Highlanders at Subiaco to bookend their South Africa tour. The remaining games don’t matter for the Reds will easily be last out of the four Australian sides anyway.

The most likely two best sides are coached by a New Zealander and a returning Australian respectively.

The most likely two worst are coached homegrown talent with limited professional experience.

What this indicates is that unless we can find a way to develop and retain Australian coaching talent, and bring some back from overseas, Australian rugby will suffer tremendously in coming years.

The number of highly experienced, professional, Australian coaches plying their trade overseas is staggering.

Successful Waratahs and Bulls backs coach Todd Louden is coaching Ricoh in Japan after being royally screwed by the Waratahs rugby committee last year. Ricoh won the Top League Challenge and are now back in the Japanese premier competition after scoring 135 points in two matches against the other challengers for the Top League spot.

Aussies Tony McGahan and Laurie Fisher are extremely successful at Munster, leading both the Magners League and the Europe-wide Heineken Cup.

They will come up against another Aussie pairing on May 2 when Munster clash with Leinster in what will be a massive match at Croke Park in the Heineken Cup semi final. Michael Cheika and Alan Gaffney are leading the Leinster lads, and in addition to their Heineken Cup success, they are third in the Magners league.

Queenslander Steve Meehan has been coaching Bath since 2006, but cut his European teeth at Stade Francais as a skills and backs coach under Nick Mallett and then Fabien Galthie. During this time, Stade reached the final of the French Championship three years running.

Meehan’s forwards coach is former Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) coach Mark Bakewell, who took over at Bath from Michael Foley, and who has also spent time with Brive and Beziers in France.

Under Meehan and Bakewell, Bath are currently fifth in the Guinness Premiership and won their Heineken Cup pool.

Former Waratahs coach Ewen McKenzie is coaching a Stade Francais side which includes Mark Gasnier and is running fourth in the French Top 14.

Saracens had former Wallabies coach Eddie Jones in charge until recently. Jones has now returned to Suntory in Japan. His Saracens offsider Richard Graham, a former Australian Sevens captain, is one of the few to return to Australia, having just joined Robbie Deans in the national setup as Skills Coach for the Wallabies.

Speaking of Sevens, former Sydney University, Melbourne Rebels and Australia Sevens coach Bill Millard is now Backs Coach at Cardiff. Cardiff have booked themselves into a Heineken Cup semi-final against Leicester Tigers this week, and recently put 50 points on Gloucester to outclass them and win the EDF Energy Cup.

Consider the following comments from former England international Paul Ackford after Cardiff’s drubbing of Gloucester:

“Most teams would have been happy enough just with the work of their forwards on Saturday. Not Cardiff. Their backs were almost as good. They were inventive, gutsy, pacey and threatened on almost each occasion they had the ball which was often.

“It was a pleasure watching them operate at Twickenham. They were direct, forceful and imaginative. More importantly, they showed in a season where some of the big games have been dire, that important rugby occasions can still be marvellously entertaining.”

Try to remember the last time that the Waratahs were described as being “inventive, gutsy, pacey” or the last time they “threatened on almost each occasion they had the ball.”

It has to be sometime in the 1990’s, and yet Millard didn’t even get a phone call when the Waratahs job became vacant.

Millard’s Cardiff side confronts Leicester Tigers in their Heineken Cup semi next week, and he will be pitting his backs coaching nous against the “sumo with the silky skills”, former Wallaby centre and Brumbies backs coach Matt O’Connor.

So what’s the point?

That most of our best coaches are developing their talent overseas, along with the talent of Irish, English and French players.

And, by contrast, our two biggest provinces struggle to create a try, or hold a ball. Not to mention the fact that the Force and the Wallabies are both coached by Kiwis.

Who’d be a rugby coach in Australia?

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The Crowd Says (35) | Page 1 of Comments

Knives Out said | April 21st 2009 @ 2:04am | Report comment

Andrew, I would say that McGahan is the best coach, and by quite a long way too. Under Meehan Bath has played some truly outstanding football, however they have fallen at the biggest hurdles. One could argue that the woeful place kicking of butch James is to blame but Meehan has rarely looked beyond the ‘Bath way’ and failed to develop a ‘Plan B’. This analysis could also apply to the tenure of Michael Cheika at Leinster. A victory against Munster in the HC semi-final would undoubtedly rectify that stereotype of style without substance. Eddie Jones was steadily building a solid side, and his emphasis upon intergrating the Saracens youth was admirable. It is genuinely a shame to see him leave after having witnessed the improvments he had overseen.

It is hard to suggest that Millard has helped the Blues simply because they have been so, so poor in the ML – in stark contrast to McGahan’s Munster. At times the backs have looked outstanding, but on more occasions they have looked completely rudderless and bereft of ideas. Likewise, if McKenzie does not guide Stade into a top three placing his first year will have been a disaster. Failing to ease out of the group stages of the HC and finishing fourth in the Top 14 would constitute disaster for the Parisians. I also have reservations about Friend. I recall thinking that Harlequins would struggle without him but they have improved drastically since his departure and the credit seems to be given directly to John Kingston, which leads me to my point: it is easy to say that there are good Australian coaches plying their trade in Europe, however closer inspection might not reveal that to be the case. Friend deserves a season to plant his ideas, but the Brumbies have some world class players. Success should be a natural adjunct. If Friend doesn’t deliver the wins the logical conclusion is that just because success happens to find some Australian coaches in Europe this does not automatically mean that they are the sole reason for that success. The key therefore – as obvious as this sounds – is correct and thorough identification of coaches, which leads us back to the original problem: Mitchell, Hickey and Mooney. Who exactly keeps on making the same mistakes?

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James Mortimer said | April 21st 2009 @ 3:48am | Report comment

Great article Andrew, Millhard and Meehan especially are massive losses to Australian Rugby.

The worm may turn however. We could see these fantastic coaches return to Australia one day. I think that top level coaches taking their skills overseas is a trend that applies to any job or position.

Speaking from personal experience, it is easy to feel bitter towards a country, even if it is your birth place, when foreign lands offer you an opportunity and security that your own backyard neglects to give.

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pothale said | April 21st 2009 @ 7:20am | Report comment

The worm may turn”, James. Who’s the worm that is being attacked, then? The overseas coaches?

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Gordo said | April 21st 2009 @ 8:11am | Report comment

Good article. A little prematurely harsh on Hickey and Mooney though. Hickey hasn’t even had a full season yet and was handed a team by a coach that seemed to have a ban on developing flair for four years. Mooney is trying to turn around a team that was ridden into the ground by possibly the two worst coaches (coach being a title that probably isn’t even appropriate for Jeff Miller) that Australia has ever produced.

As with the players, it would be hard to offer coaches in Australia what they receive in an overseas package, but it would be great to get some back developing Australian talent… there’s still time until 2011…

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mother teresa said | April 21st 2009 @ 9:03am | Report comment

yes gordo agreed a thoughtful article,and yes a tad hard on hickey as its his first year and the seasons not over for him.mind you he has inherited a reasonable team but a hard act to follow;but seems a level headed fellow.shame about the back coach.
mooney has been involved with the reds under miller and other roles allied for some time.his 2 years at the helm have proven inability.unlike hickey the reds season is over and hopefully mooneys tenure.

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stillmissit said | April 21st 2009 @ 9:08am | Report comment

This is a very interesting and well researched article Andrew. I always wondered where our Aussie coaches were and now I know.

It is an Aussie tradition to be deprecating about our own and you can see this in any senior management presentation where Aussies are put under the microscope but bring in an American to say the same thing and they almost wet their pants trying to ingratiate themselves.

We need to start to do in our S14′s what JON did for the Wallabies and that is find the coach you want and then find out how to get them.

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Sam Taulelei said | April 21st 2009 @ 9:26am | Report comment

I don’t know the reasons or history behind their leaving Australia and with only four Super 14 teams to coach it does make it difficult to pursue a professional coaching career when opportunities are limited. Coaches are ambitious people and if all or even half of those coaches were available to return and coach in Australia where would they go? Most S14 coaching contracts are for a minimum 3 years which is a long time to sit on the sideline and wait. Just ask Warren Gatland.

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arthur rightus said | April 21st 2009 @ 9:28am | Report comment

How many professional coaching gigs are available in Australia & how many are available in Europe/UK? Of course we have a heap of talented coaches overseas.

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Lindommer said | April 21st 2009 @ 9:42am | Report comment

Here’s a more comprehensive list of Australian coaches plying their trade overseas. If I’ve missed anyone, please let me know.

Two salient points:
1. The four Irish Magners League teams all have an Australian coaching contribution, three have Oz head coaches.
2. The four Heineken Cup semi-finalists have Australian coaches.

coach club country
Mark Bakewell Bath Eng
Pat Byron Suntory Jap
Michael Cheika Leinster Ire
Ben Darwin NTT Jap
Brad Davis Bath Eng
Laurie Fisher Munster Ire
Shannon Fraser NTT Jap
Mark Gabey Yatton Eng
Alan Gaffney Leinster Ire
Richard Graham Saracens Eng
Sean Hedger Kobe Steel Jap
Charlie Higgins NTT Jap
Peter Horne Saracens Eng
Jack Isaac Biarritz Fra
Scott Johnson Ospreys Wal
Eddie Jones Suntory Jap
Les Kiss Ireland
Tim Lane Georgia
Todd Louden Ricoh Jap
Tony McGahan Munster Ire
Jim McKay Leicester Tigers Academy Eng
Ewen McKenzie Stade Francais Fra
Steve Meehan Bath Eng
Bill Millard Cardiff Blues Wal
John Muggleton Llanelli Scarlets Wal
Matt O’Connor Leicester Eng
Brian Smith England
Baden Stephenson Secom Jap
Adrian Thompson Kyuden Voltex Jap
Matt Williams Ulster Ire

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MikeN said | April 21st 2009 @ 10:02am | Report comment

And it is interesting to see that Foley, a coach with European experience and then Wallaby experience has got the Waratah fowards to the point where even a 20 year old can come into the front row, tight end what’s more, and they still dominate their opposition.
The Waratah’s need to get one of these backs/attack coaches back to take advantage of the forward strength.

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