By Rickety Knees -
November 23rd 2009 @ 6:59am
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Where to for the Wallabies from here?
The pain of watching Scotland gallantly defeat the Wallabies was palpable. The Wallabies had taken some steps forward with their performances against England and Ireland but have taken a massive step backwards with their inept performance in Edinburgh.
Reviewing 2009 will show that Australian teams performed poorly in the Super 14. This was exacerbated by a winning ugly ethos that dumbed down the game (which in turn drove spectators away) by playing low risk kick and chase tactics (that more resembled the forcings back we used to play as kids). The Waratahs were the worst offenders here.
The backs were not given the opportunity to express themselves, thus losing the opportunity to develop their skills with ball in hand. What is of greater concern is that lack of decent second rowers – in another posting I suggested that Robbie Deans have a chat to Dan Vickerman whilst in the UK. This is now an imperative.
There is a lack of depth in the Wallaby ranks which is a direct reflection of the Super 14 performances.
Robbie Deans now has had to select a sevens player with just one Super 14 match experience. This in itself is an indictment on rugby in Australia.
Robbie broke ranks with John O’Neill and suggested that Australia needs a national championship – this is now patently obvious.
However, even if John O’Neill did have a change of heart and instituted one in 2010, the benefits of a National Championship are three to five years out.
So where to from here?
In my opinion, our ability to compete in 2010 and the next Rugby World Cup are firmly in the hands of the Super 14 coaches.
We can forget about being competitive if they continue with low risk one dimensional kick and chase rugby.
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(55)
jools-usa said | November 23rd 2009 @ 7:07am | Report comment
Mr. Knees
Wasn’t it the SA Super 14 teams that initiated the kick & chase to use the new laws, & stayed
with it right up to beng ranked #1?
Other sides just copied to compete, inluding NZ!
Jools-USA
Rickety Knees said | November 23rd 2009 @ 7:34am | Report comment
So why do we have to do it?
Campbell Watts said | November 23rd 2009 @ 5:47pm | Report comment
Yes Jools – but they are very good at it, have the players to make it work and perform it with precision.
You cant be advocating the Waratahs/Wallabies continue with the mundane and pathetic play of this/last season can you?
stillmissit said | November 23rd 2009 @ 7:26am | Report comment
this is La La land Rickety. We cant have our players playing smart rugby, they need a simple hymn book to sing from and whilst they are singing this simple tune the RWC opportunity slides down the toilet.
The other thing is that we should NEVER innovate, we must do what everyone else does. This is the lowest risk to a coaches job. If you are doing what is in fashion this year you cant be wrong can you?
No imagination! no brains! no wins!
WLN said | November 23rd 2009 @ 7:57am | Report comment
How low can we go? To cap it off a kiwi wins Idol too. Hurry up and make NZ a state of Australia and together lets invade Fiji. Cant see ANYONE beating us when that happens…..
JamesB said | November 23rd 2009 @ 8:19am | Report comment
There really is nowhere to go! Lack of depth has always been Australia’s problem, and a few injuries has left them vulnerable and exposed. There is simply no one else new to bring in. Giteu is not world class, as some in the media would like us to believe. A good player, but not a great! How he was nominated as IRB Player of the Year was astounding. He never fronts in the big games, and this year in particular has been shown up.
Rickety Knees said | November 23rd 2009 @ 8:50am | Report comment
JB – I share your frustration – the cupboard is bare.
This has been the ARU’s own doing ie scrapping the ARC and driving senior players offshore through contract cost cutting. A better model would have been to follow incentive based packages – whilst they are winning the players are getting good money, the ARU wins with bums on seats when they are losing …………
Darwin hammer said | November 23rd 2009 @ 10:02am | Report comment
Ignore the RWC and commence a route and branch clearout – the basics are lacking, skills are poor and fundamentals are being ignored (eg – wet weather rugby – why didn’t Moore dive low prior to the try line and slide over – it’s not bloody rocket science) …. look at the next couple of seasons as the pain needed in order to achieve a decent pathway for players … unfortunately that’ll mean sticking with a few of the current crop and re-introducing some older heads …Sharpe needs to be re-introduced … and given a senior mentor role …
stop the endless hype machine of every young or emerging player as being “world class” … they’re not – drop those that don’t perform and tell them what needs to be done to correct their game – currently there’s zero incentive for any player to improve – because they continue to be selected … the list is endless Burgess, Mitchell, O’Connor, Cross, Cooper … FFS the most over hyped, ineffectual player in Australia (Beale) is actually on this tour …
re-introduce the A team programme, let the kids develop in the right environment first – O’Connor shouldn’t have been within a bulls roar of the tri-nations team … instead he should have been at the U20’s world cup …. contrast his “progress” to that of NZ’s star player there, Cruden, … Henry’s left him to develop over time … first in the NPC and then S14 … yet we’ve had more than 1 article by SZ on here saying he should have been in the AB’s run on side … a classic example of what Oz do time and time again – select players well before they’re ready – the odd one might make a decent fist of it but the large majority flatter to deceive for their entire international career …
the focus on the RWC is hampering any real long term improvement – currently the Wallabies will get out of their pool – because it’s weak, but they’ll falter in the quarters … what should be done now is a re-focus – ignore the 2011 RWC and look for a long term goal
Rickety Knees said | November 23rd 2009 @ 10:16am | Report comment
Great post DH – I cannot argue against what you are saying. I see that JON wants a complete review of the tour – I wonder who will review the ARU’s role in delivering the worst Wallaby result in the professional era.
Hansie said | November 23rd 2009 @ 10:01pm | Report comment
The trouble is that JON has already absolved himself from blame. He’s publicly stated that the ARU is doing everything possible for the team. Pathetic, given that he is the first to claim credit for Wallaby success.
rugbyfuture said | November 23rd 2009 @ 12:24pm | Report comment
its a problem of the ARU looking short term for long term problems. all they need to do is launch a heavy marketing campaign and juniors development and follow through path, that way in 20 years, we’ll be up there
Peter West said | November 23rd 2009 @ 1:34pm | Report comment
The problem is the lack of player quality. This needs to be fixed before anything else.
Bruiser said | November 23rd 2009 @ 1:48pm | Report comment
I do agree with your posts RN and DH…but as we talk about player depth, poor skills, introducing young guys too soon…what about the basic elements of desire, determination and absolute desperation to play well when representing your Country. While all of what you said is very true, the biggest disappointment is that these guys just don’t seem to care. I don’t care if you throw in a 20 year old, if he steps up when asked. If he makes a mistake when trying his guts out, i am sure the Australian Rugby Public would forgive. But these bunch of guys, aside from a few, just resonate a lack of desire to produce the goods because it all seems too hard.
Rickety Knees said | November 23rd 2009 @ 1:53pm | Report comment
There is that element to it – Bruiser. These guys are paid alot of money regardless if they win, lose or draw. That needs to be changed to an incentive based scheme. Then at least we will know that they have every motive to play their guts out which I am not sure is happening now.
Bruiser said | November 23rd 2009 @ 1:57pm | Report comment
Didn’t JON try to install something like this when he came back into the fold? I heard RUPA were against it?
Rickety Knees said | November 23rd 2009 @ 2:09pm | Report comment
He did and RUPA fought against it and won. The dynamic has changed and now is the time for him to have another crack at it.
Tony said | November 23rd 2009 @ 2:29pm | Report comment
The skills and decision making were the issue, not the endevour (trying). If it was just about trying, they would not have dominated field position, posession, the scrums and the break-down. It was about getting over the line and grounding the ball, about support play and about deception in attack.
If you think worrying about whether you take home $350k or $450k for the year will make you run harder when your lungs are burning, well you have more faith in money’s motivation than me. If it was the difference between earning $50k versus $500k, then yes, that might have some benefit. An attempt to push that level of performance pay will never make it, the players will go elsewhere (if not, then our company CEOs are on 5 times more than they should be!).
jimbo said | November 23rd 2009 @ 2:39pm | Report comment
Dixie Deans isn’t working out as the coach to save Australian Rugby – the more we lose, the worse we get.
We need to get a passionate Aussie back at the helm to guide the wallabies, who wouldn’t like being mentored by the second or third best Kiwi coach . . .
The ABs wouldn’t have failed to put the ball on the grass after getting over the line like that.
Rickety Knees said | November 23rd 2009 @ 3:06pm | Report comment
I don’t know about that jimbo – how can a team turn in a near faultess display in Brisbane to belt the Saffers and then not turn up in Wellington. Our problems lie between the ears of the players.
Deans is not the problem – however that does not mean that a coach with a different management style might not get a better result.
Brett McKay said | November 23rd 2009 @ 3:28pm | Report comment
Rickety, any review should start with the structures in place. I agree Deans isn’t the problem, but what do we make of the performance of his assistants, specifically the backs in attack and the lineout? To me, letting Foley go back to NSW fulltime was a massive mistake. The scrum’s going OK, but the lineout is nowhere near as good as it was this time last year. We all know how the backs are going..
And then we have the game plans of the S14 teams. For now, it was heartening to hear Andy Friend some months back now say he desperately wants to get the Brumbies back to their “traditional” game in 2010. If this happens and it’s successful straight away, then well and good. But what if they lose the first couple of games, how important will the “traditional” game be then?
Rickety Knees said | November 23rd 2009 @ 3:55pm | Report comment
Brett – I have another post coming out tomorrow that asks some hard questions of the ARU re the structures in place. Needless to say that I agree with you. On the Brumbies – well I just hope that we have the courage to persevere with the running game as I believe that in the end that will win the day. I hope that the Tahs will do the same – that is assuming that those dullards running the show actually show some imagination – I won’t hold my breath.
Rickety Knees said | November 23rd 2009 @ 4:02pm | Report comment
And I agree that letting go of Foley was a major bunder. Pato might know a lot about scrums, it would seem that he knows FA about lineouts which now is a major problem.
Worlds Biggest said | November 23rd 2009 @ 3:42pm | Report comment
I can’t agree that Deans isn’t part of the problem, that’s coddswallop. If Eddie Jones or Connolly were coaching now they would be coming home to the guillotine. Remember Eddie had a dismal 05 season culminating in the Twickenham scrum disaster, that sealed Eddies fate. Now we have just suffered arguably one of our most embarrassing Test defeats yet Deans is absolved of blame ??.
Pete said | November 23rd 2009 @ 6:51pm | Report comment
The Jones and Deans stories are poles apart. Jones had fantastic players (Gregan, Larkham, Latham, Vickerman etc) at his disposal but a play book that was too complex and structured. He picked small mobile forwards in the hope that the scrum would become irrelevant in Union and our mobile pack would run the ‘plodders’ off the park. End result, we lost the skills of scrummaging and became the joke of the world rugby. It’s taken us a long time to get those skills back and gain respect.
His back line moves at the Brumbies were very clever, but became more and more complex at the national level and in the end impractical and predictable. Players lost their attacking flare and forgot to play the game as they saw it. You could guess what they were doing. I believe that Giteau’s current woes are attributed to his formative professional rugby years being ’scripted’ in this complex environment. He is now trying to regain the flare that brought him to everyone’s attention in the first place.
In the Jones era players became “the power brokers”. Jones’s playing system was too complex for those outside the Jones sphere to break into and understand easily. So we were stuck with players like Gregan well past their peak. Complex playing systems were in vogue so the local super franchises attempted to copy the national ’style’ and the Australian rugby ’style’ started down the road of complex predictability. Jones is a brilliant Rugby strategist (Jake White recognised this), but this didn’t translate into good coaching.
Connolly had no chance to succeed. He inherited a dog’s breakfast with no time to turn it around before the RWC, but in truth he didn’t help himself. He farmed the coaching out to his assistants who jostled for power. He kept the established players because there was no time to blood new talent. Barnes being the standout exception.
Deans has come in to fix up the mess we are in, but I don’t think even he saw it for what it was. He is attempting to completely overhaul Australian Rugby. He (with JONs blessing) has removed the player ‘power brokers’ and now he is teaching the players to feel the game rather than read a script.
Unfortunately the players aren’t responding well, and this is what has Deans frustrated. The players will get there; it’s just a matter of time. But will this time come before the RWC is the million dollar question. Some are arguing that under Dean’s reign we have gone backwards, but this is the pain we need to endure for a successful future. Even if we do well at the RWC (and I believe we will), Deans job isn’t over. There is more he needs to do revolutionise Australian rugby. His playing philosophies need to filter down into every crevice of Australian Rugby “The coach is king, rugby is simple and play what is in front of you”. After 4 years of pain and change, someone else will come in and try to stamp their mark and we will start all over again. We’ve gone done this path, we need to see it to the end. Lesser men than Deans would have walked away and given up by now.
Someone mentioned to me that Deans is too proud to leave Australian rugby in a worse state than what he took it over in, so I hope that post 2011 Deans stays on to complete the bold road to rebuilding Australian Rugby.
So the parallels between Deans and Jones are non existent. Jones sent Australian Rugby back after the great Macqueen era. Deans is putting us through a huge amount of pain to get us back on track. It’s just taking a lot longer than we thought and hoped.
sheek said | November 23rd 2009 @ 7:56pm | Report comment
WB,
No two situations are entirely alike. You have to remember that both Jones & Connolly had extremely experienced, & largely settled (TOO settled) teams under their control.
Robbie Deans has had to rebuild the team, bringing in a lot of new blood. Look, I’m not exempting Deans at all, It’s just that I believe the major problems lie elsewhere in this situation.
Let’s conduct a very quick exercise – let’s sack Deans & replace him with Michael Cheika. Why? Because Cheika has an outstanding provincial record with Leinster, or is it Munster (one of them).
Oh….. hang on a minute….. wasn’t that why we picked Deans as Wallaby coach in the first place? Because of his outstanding provincial record with Canterbury???
So you see, the solutions to current problems is not so straight forward & we might like them to be……….
pothale said | November 24th 2009 @ 4:25am | Report comment
“Because Cheika has an outstanding provincial record with Leinster, or is it Munster (one of them).”
It can’t be that outstanding if you don’t know which province he manages. And he has two good seasons – Magners winners and the H Cup last season. Nothing to shout about in SH terms.
Rickety Knees said | November 23rd 2009 @ 3:58pm | Report comment
Perhaps he is WB – he is trying to get a bunch of boys to do a mans job and not succeeding. A coach that can use a stock whip might be the answer.
Worlds Biggest said | November 23rd 2009 @ 4:22pm | Report comment
Michael Cheika might be the perfect man for the stock whip. It wont happen as JON annointed Deans the saviour and paid the bank for him. I just think Deans mumbo jumbo is not working on this group. It’s all very well to blame assistant coaches but the buck stops with Deans. He has done some good things however the team has regressed and it’s not working out.
Hammer said | November 23rd 2009 @ 4:43pm | Report comment
Even if O’Neill wanted to move him on I very much doubt there’s a get out clause in Deans contract …. O’Neill was like the cat that had got the cream when he snatched Deans up – I just don’t think he would have envisaged this predictment when he thought he’d got one over the NZRFU – I bet he’s got an iron clad 4 year deal and there’d be a hefty pay out coming if he did try to jetison him early …
Rickety Knees said | November 23rd 2009 @ 4:52pm | Report comment
The best thing to come out of this is to now realise the house of cards that JON has built
Geoff Pereira said | November 23rd 2009 @ 6:12pm | Report comment
As a Saffer i’m not even going to try and add my tuppence as to why Aussie Rugby is in a shambles right now but this I will say – Money as an incentive has destroyed the game of Rugby in general. It was interesting to read about using game fees as a means of instilling passion in players and believe me as a Golden Lions supporter, I have oft played that tune. The problem is that if this approach were taken then all of the Rugby world should adopt the same approach because its a guarantee that if the Aissies do it in isolation, they will end up loosing all their capable players to unions and countries that dont adopt it. The reason being that money has been allowed to become more important than price. I often sit back and regret the day that Rugby became a professional sport but I guess that’s just old fashioned sentiment and reality pays the bills.
Don’t get me wrong i feel anybody with talent should be free to earn an income from it but I believe it should not be enough to supercede pure desire and pride – that’s where the breakdown happens.
mungo said | November 23rd 2009 @ 9:09pm | Report comment
Some Medals which should be considered for the next annual wallaby function
1) Most consistent Aimless Kick award (toss up AAC/Gits/Cooper)
2) High jump award (Cooper)
3) Best Impersonation of Abbot and Costello award (Horwill/Chisolm)
4) Foot in Mouth Sean Fitzpatrick Award (Chisolm “This Wallaby team is on the verge of Greatness”)
5) Best Actor for 2009 ( Gits, brilliantly looking shattered after missing that kick)
6) Who you would like to punch in the head most award (Rocky Elsom for giving the ball to Gits to convert every penalty)
7) Best kept secret award ( Gits is Robbies son)
johnny-boy said | November 23rd 2009 @ 9:13pm | Report comment
RK – I fully agree with your thoughts re the Waratahs. A criminal waste of talent. The new guy is just as dumb as the old guy. I don’t buy the lack of talent due to no national competition tho. NZ has a great ‘factory’ but hasn’t won the world cup for a long long time. Australia can hold it’s own on its current system, it’s just that it’s had a bad run of coaches since Eddie Jones got too big for his boots. Australia could actually also put together a fantastic coaching team. I would appoint Bob Dwyer as skills coach, Alan Jones as motivator and Rod Macqueen as head and tactician. I mention Macqueen as I read he was thinking of putting his hand up for the Melbourne franchise. Come on down Rod – your country needs you !
I dont think MacKenzie, Mitchell or that McKenzie clone in NSW (whats his name ?) could offer anything exciting. Maybe the Friend dude in the ACT has something to offer. Lets see how his season pans out. Mollycoddling Deans is just perpetutatng the myth he is a great coach. Agreat caoch would not have taken the Wallabies so low. Only a grossly overrated (by myself included previously) coach would. Stop kidding yourselves. I have.
westy said | November 23rd 2009 @ 9:47pm | Report comment
Growden said in the SMH the ARU player wages bill is 27 million. I think a difference at the moment is that the competitive pressure for positions in squads for Australian super 14 teams is not as strong as in SA and NZ yet the wages are as good if not better. The 10 foreign player entitlement of the proposed Melbourne team will last much longer than currently anticipated.
Dave said | November 23rd 2009 @ 10:57pm | Report comment
Eddie Jones lost Ben Darwin at the WC in 2003. He was the rock of our scrum. It took until 2005 for it to really fall apart, but with just Baxter and Dunning as ‘cattle’, then what other options were there?
In 2004 the Wallabies were an incredible side. They started 2005 looking just as menacing. What happened next? Gregan and Larkham both Injured. Ditto Rathbone and Mortlock playing matches while not fully fit. If memory serves, there were other notable injuries too.
This culminates in Rogers being played at 10. Thats how low our stocks were. The result? A poor season. Absolutely no depth. Jones is sacked.
In 2009 Deans puts in a far worse performance – but his assistants are to blame and not him?
jools-usa said | November 24th 2009 @ 1:31am | Report comment
Hi Campbell W
No way could I endorse current rugby.
Get more out of watching Man U, Chelsea, et al, via Setanta.
Seems there’s a tendancy for backs to kick instead of penetrating & saying:”Ooh, don’t tackle me …….I’ve kicked!’
Spare me!
Jools-USA
Campbell Watts said | November 24th 2009 @ 11:52am | Report comment
Jools
I think it’s just the current ebb-and-flow of the game at present. Newly introduced rules have lead to teams realising that getting caught with possession inside your own half is courting danger. Hence they come up with tactics to avoid that (all this bloody kicking!). I just think SA put it into practice best and the rest of us struggled to combat it.
After watching France bash them into submission and defuse all their highballs I’m hoping they have shown everone the blue-print to beating this game-plan. It may well have run its course and we’ll see more running this next southern hemi season!
ohtani's jacket said | November 24th 2009 @ 11:42am | Report comment
Where do for the Wallabies from here? Stop living in a state of denial.
When you’ve got people like Dwyer saying it can’t be Deans’ fault because he was an excellent coach with the Crusaders, and Tim Horan saying the side is looking good for the 2011 WC, you’re pretty much in denial. There’s no honour in playing poorly now and pulling a fast one at the WC. That is not going to help Australian rugby in any real sense, it just gives the supporters something to hang onto until 2011. And as for Deans, history is repeating itself, only this time it’s worse since Deans is head coach instead of an assistant.
I sincerely hope the NZRU never let Robbie Deans within ten feet of the All Black coaching job.
katzilla said | November 29th 2009 @ 7:44am | Report comment
^ OJ speaks the truth.
Rickety Knees said | November 29th 2009 @ 6:03am | Report comment
OJ the Wallabies just thumped Wales 4 tries to nil. So it is not that bad after all.
Knives Out said | November 29th 2009 @ 6:05am | Report comment
RK, I’m not being purposefully cynical here, but two good performances in a season can’t be that good surely?
Pete said | November 29th 2009 @ 7:01am | Report comment
There were more than 2 good performances! I think there were only 2 bad performances. Many results could have gone either way. It was a good season, but not a great one. Heading towards 2011, I’m pretty hapy with this squad.
A tough and long season:
31-8 Italy
34-12 Italy
22-6 France
16-22 New Zealand
17-29 South Africa
18-19 All Blacks
25-32 South Africa
21-6 South Africa
6-33 New Zealand
19-32 New Zealand
36-5 Gloucester
18-9 England
20-20 Ireland
8-9 Scotland
31-3 Cardiff
33-12 Wales
Knives Out said | November 29th 2009 @ 7:05am | Report comment
Are you being serious? Only two bad performances?! I think we’ll have to disagree. Nothing wrong with optimism of course.
Pete said | November 29th 2009 @ 7:08am | Report comment
I guess I’m being optimistic… I probably would have looked at the season differently if Wales had won…
Knives Out said | November 29th 2009 @ 7:10am | Report comment
You might be right there, Pete. If you’re feeling optimistic then don’t watch the France v NZ game.
Parisien said | November 29th 2009 @ 9:15am | Report comment
I more or less agree with you Pete, although I would say there were only four really bad performances: South Africa in Perth, NZ in Wellington, and recently Ireland and Scotland, bad for different reasons, the last two for not putting away an opponent that really deserved to be put away by half time. The Wallabies played pretty well in all the other matches and the results could easily have gone the other way. The win over Wales gives me reason for cautious optimism.
Rickety Knees said | November 29th 2009 @ 8:12am | Report comment
KO – I guess this result leaves me with the choice of whether the glass is half empty or half full. There certainly have been some low lights and I have been critical not so much of the players but the lack of Rugby infrastructure in Australia. This win by a very young side with little experence and the way it was executed does offer hope for the future. For me right now the cup is half full.
Knives Out said | November 29th 2009 @ 8:19am | Report comment
Sure, and why not be pleased? The win was a great finale to the season.
Incidentally, I’d like to point out that this youth myth is just that, a myth. Australia has some young players but it certainly isn’t overburdened with really young players. For example, when Australia played England England had 9 players aged 24 or younger and Australia had 8.
Rickety Knees said | November 29th 2009 @ 8:24am | Report comment
It would seem that Martin Johnson has a similar problem. The Wallaby and English results are not dissimilar.
Knives Out said | November 29th 2009 @ 8:25am | Report comment
What problem is that, RK? Do you mean results?
ohtani's jacket said | November 29th 2009 @ 7:38am | Report comment
It was a good win and I’m glad it gave Wallaby supporters something to cheer about.
Parisien said | November 29th 2009 @ 9:08am | Report comment
Thank you OJ, most gracious of you. Hope you enjoyed the NZ victory too.
johnny-boy said | November 29th 2009 @ 7:42am | Report comment
wallabies win 1 game in 10 ? – whoop de bloody do
Rickety Knees said | November 29th 2009 @ 8:35am | Report comment
KO – getting consistantly good results. The Wallabies have lacked maturity and composure in their play, from your comment I am assuming that England have played similarly?
Knives Out said | November 29th 2009 @ 8:49am | Report comment
I think we’ve got crossed wires, but now that you mention it, yes. England have lacked maturity and composure during this AI, and last years AI. The 6N was very good, however – the best since 2003, and Johnson has injury excuses to hide behind at the moment. Next years 6N and 3N will be very informative for all parties.