As for the Christian Brothers, was some good eggs but some pretty sour ones too. Mind you the job description is likely to attract a few freaks. For all the annoyance I came out of the school ready for a tougher world.

The ‘she’ll be right attitude’ can be mistaken for many other things…I am not a religious man by any stretch on the imagination (The Christian Brothers belted that out of me years ago) but I just have a bit of faith with this mob…

Yes, the Wallabies will come good………. eventually. That’s the cyclical nature of sport.

But there are some, deep underlying questions that need to be addressed.

1. Whatever the natural talent, there’s been a falloff in basic skills….. why?

And what are we going to do to address this?

2. What are we going to do tokeep the ‘lows’ to a minimum & ‘highs to a maximum?

How do we manage our structures to maximise our highs & minimise our lows?

I’m sorry, Matta, but you’re only scratching the surface. The “she’ll be right mate” attitude is not good enough. I’m sure most rugby fans don’t want to go through another 6-7 years of this again. So what lessons have we learnt to ensure the next low is minimised to about 2-3 years???

The England scenario of 1998 is not really relevant. England left most,indeed virtually their entire best senior side at home, so it wasn’t as if the talent wasn’t there. They just didn’t bother coming!

With the Wallabies in 2009, bar Barnes, Mortlock, Sharpe & Waugh, this was the best of the best of the touring team. Besides, apart from Barnes, the other 3 mentioned are at the end of their careers.

Like I said Matta, you’re only scratching the surface……….

Besides, the milo is costing me a fortune!

Deans wont go..no way. If he did that would be a truly stupid decision.

To give a coach a mandate to rebuild but get rid of him after 20ish games is crazy. People often forget that at test level, a union coach doesnt have players all year like Soccer, NRL or AFL. I would also argue that Unions technical and position specific nature means even slower player development.

Again, I appreciate and respect everyones passion but just get off their cases. Yes its been a long time between drinks for us but I say again, I live OS and everyone from all over the world are s*&^ scared of what this squad could turn into….Sadly the only person people seem not to rate highly is Gits at 10..but they are not Robinson Caruso there.

I think if we all just took a deep breath, have a nice warm milo and look through both eyes we would all see a great young side with loads of potential sloooooowly heading in the right direction.

Remember the old dart in ‘98 ? you all know the story. We smashed a young side 78-0… s*%^ they didnt win a game all tour and were even beaten by NZ A, Maori and Academy. It didnt take them long to get up to speed….and our current guys arent as bad as Sir Clives 98 squad.

To give a coach a mandate to rebuild but get rid of him after 20ish games is crazy. People often forget that at test level, a union coach doesnt have players all year like Soccer, NRL or AFL. I would also argue that Unions technical and position specific nature means even slower player development.

Again, I appreciate and respect everyones passion but just get off their cases. Yes its been a long time between drinks for us but I say again, I live OS and everyone from all over the world are shit scared of what this squad could turn into….Sadly the only person people seem not to rate highly is Gits at 10..but they are not Robinson Caruso there.

I think if we all just took a deep breath, have a nice warm milo and look through both eyes we would all see a great young side with loads of potential sloooooowly heading in the right direction.

Remember the poms in ’98 ? you all know the story. We smashed a young side 78-0… shit they didnt win a game all tour and were even beaten by NZ A, Maori and Academy. It didnt take them long to get up to speed….and our current guys are as bad as Sir Clives 98 squad.

We need to grow the game, & quickly!

Perhaps, but then isn’t that the same bloke who also said “I have been advocate of an intermediate competition between club rugby and Super Rugby for a long time” and “…we will review it at the end of the year. That does not mean it will be dismantled…”?

I’d be wearing my flak jacket backward if I were Robbie.

It’s a free world, for sure (for us, anyway, mostly). Just trying to add to everyone’s knowledge, all the while acknowledging there is so much for me to learn as well.

The other thing is, we’re all entitled to behave stupidly, just as surely as some of us will abuse the privilege!

All I am suggesting is that the Wallabies team has had a massive clean out over the last 12 months and are playing they youngest line up of the pro era. 2004 – 2007 were pretty bad for very different reasons.

While I admire yours and others passion, so of the comments made here are amazingly laughable.

I honestly don’t have a problem with Stade Français or RC Toulon gambling big big money to lure leaguies like Gasnier and SBW who have never shown any aptitude in the union game before signing a contract. And if players such as these succeed then power to them. If Gasnier makes a go of it in union and after his contract expires in France wants to come back to Australia and play Super 15 and earn a spot with the Wallabies then good luck to him I say. Or if he wants to keep playing in France that’s fine by me as well. But I just don’t think the ARU should be gambling big money to sign up league players who have never played a game of rugby union in their life and may or may not succeed in the 15 man game.

So say it increases 20% – does that mean that all the professional players just get a pay rise and we continue to sift through the same pool of amateurs and schoolboys hoping to find a gem? Or is there an opportunity to widen the number of players accessing that money? If we are not going to have an ARC, perhaps we could look at having a program of advanced training and development for the best players outside of the Super teams and academies. They would still play club rugby, but would receive money out of the expanded payment pool to, say, allow them to work part time and train semi-professionally. It would improve the standard of club rugby, give a much better insight into the potential of the players selected, and would significantly accelerate the development of those players if they show enough to attract a professional contract. Say the player payment pool swelled by $1M a year – what might be the effect of paying 50 of the most promising prospects outside the academies $20k each to train?

Herein lies the problem with the lack of a national comp. The Wallabies and Super teams seem to be getting increasingly younger. If players don’t get a gig in Super rugby, and then the Wallabies, they look at going overseas. For players in club land, they either ease off or go overseas.

In league, you can still miss out on Origin and Kangaroos and have a well paid an fulfilling career. Look at a bloke like El Masri, who only got a few caps but is still considered a legend and great player.

In union, without a wider professional base, blokes who might not come good until in their 20s can be left behind, or give up. No wonder league is more attractive. There, the guys dropping out are those in their mid 20s playing Jim Beam Cup, who realise they aren’t going to get an NRL contract. Here, its club land which is the guts of the sport.”

* The Wallabies are the be all and end all of Australian rugby. If they aren’t performing, what do people watch? Super rugby? To a certain degree, if they have Foxtel. However, this year it wasn’t attractive, so what could a real rugby fanatic watch? Club rugby. Not much to hang your hat on.

For SAF and NZ, even if their national or Super sides aren’t doing well, they still have the NPC or CC to live off.

In league, the Roos might lose, the Blues might lose, but I can still watch my Tiges. In rugby, all I had to fall back on was the Woodies, which wasn’t a real substitute ….

That was the point of my reply. I want the ‘booms’ to last longer, & the ‘busts’ to be shorter. To achieve that we need to be proactive, & change our structures.

The old “she’ll be right,mate” attitude is clearly counterproductive & unhelpful.

Sheek I am with you, I am over the boom and bust nature of Australian Rugby – we need to develop a producton line of talent and start to produce consistant results. This should be the ARU’s primary focus.

“Relax, let it happen! This team will come good with some small changes and time”.

I guess if you said this same thing in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 & 2009, & next year, & the year after, you are eventually going to be proven right!

Jack Petro,

The 5 year cycles aren’t my idea, they’re usually the life of the TV deals. (And I wasn’t aware 5 year cycles actually worked for the USSR).