Hawker goes into bat for Deans
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Robbie Deans’s greatest ally has left the building but it seems there is still plenty of support where it matters for the Wallabies coach.
The long-time ARU chief executive John O’Neill announced on Friday he would stand down at the end of the month with the move expected by most to spell trouble for Deans as popular Ewen McKenzie waits in the wings.
But a strong supporter of Deans, ARU chairman and former Wallaby Michael Hawker, jumped into the spotlight on Friday.
O’Neill was asked if it was a mistake re-signing Deans for two years before last year’s World Cup where Australia finished third.
Hawker intervened.
“It was a board decision with John,” he said.
“I’d just like to put Robbie Deans’s performance in context as well. Robbie came in and we were fifth ranking in the world, we’ve gone to second in the world.
“… We’ve retained the number two position in the world. We just so happen to play the numbers one and three in the world pretty regularly.”
Hawker added that Australia are battling a huge injury toll and did well to go 1-1 with South Africa and land two wins over Argentina in the Rugby Championship as the Wallabies finished second.
“The discussion about Robbie Deans needs to be held in that (injuries) context,” he said.
O’Neill was again asked if re-signing Deans was a mistake.
“I don’t believe so,” he said.
“The board’s pretty well-equipped to do that with four former Wallabies including the chairman, John Eales, Brett Robinson and George Gregan.”
The Wallabies play a third Bledisloe Test against the All Blacks on October 20 before a four-game European tour starting next month that comprises matches against France, England, Italy and Wales.
A 3-1 return should keep Deans safe while a failed 1-3 campaign is unlikely to be tolerated.
The last time a depleted Australia squad went to Europe and won just one Test, in 2005, Eddie Jones was sacked.
For now, Deans appears to have the full support of the board.
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The Crowd Says (19) | Page 1 of Comments
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- michael hawker, robbie deans, Rugby Union, wallabies
October 13th 2012 @ 2:13am
Johnno said | October 13th 2012 @ 2:13am | Report comment
Micheal Hawker is an interesting personality, with an interesting background that I didn’t know much about until yesterday , I knew about his playing background but not his work background. He was a banker like JON , something JON pointed out yesterday.
He seemed very friendly towards JON. Was it all for the cameras and show , I don’t know how close there relationship was.
Micheal Hawker was a product of the amateur errs. He played for the wallabies in the 1980′s during the amateur era.
Like JON went to one of the elite private schools in the GPS system. He went to shore like Al Baxter and Phil Waugh. So Hawker does fit the classic CV of people involved in aussy rugby.
So he is hardly the cv of TPN or Dave Dennis or Rodney blake all going to schools public schools in west sydney. Or new audiences or markets , say like kids form working class suburbs in Melbourne or Perth who took up rugby being inspired by the force or rebels.
But Frank Lowy was from the old NSL days, and was the main architect in with the vision for aussy soccer. Will Hawker think outside the box and recognise, aussy rugby to get market share has to appeal to a wider audience of austrlaian people to get market share. Just like Frank Lowy recognised. Time will tell. The fact he is open to a foreigner is a good start. Will it transcend to loosing the foreign import rules I hope so, but am not sure yet. The force could use 5 foreign imports 5 gareth delves to be competitive.
But yes it will be interesting to see if Micheal Hawker has his foot on the pulse to modernise aussy rugby despite being from the establishment and the old rugby system in OZ. Frank Lowy was part of the old NSL with Hakoah and reveloutinised aussy soccer, will Micheal Hawker have a modern 2012 attitude and have vision and raw and expand the game to new market sin OZ , time will tell I hope so, coz global rugby os booming, aussy rugby is not right now but has so much potential too. It just needs to go mainstream, embrace imports like the A-league and NRL. and french rugby and japan rugby, get a 3rd tier going, and expand outdo the GPS private schools system and other private schools more.
Rugby could be so much better n OZ I hope Micheal Hawker has the business models and vision as chairman to take aussy rugby forwad in 2012 and beyond eg 2015 world cup ,2019 world cup.
October 13th 2012 @ 10:29am
Ra said | October 13th 2012 @ 10:29am | Report comment
That’s terrible journalism johnno! You jumped all over the place like an amateur ‘letters to the editor’ contributor of the 1980s era. A pretty dicey thing to do in these modern times of professional rugby writing. Then again, this modern high tech era does allow for us amateur writers to engage directly with the viewing public. Most of us who write in, to, have our say in theroar, have probably not done any post-secondary school writers courses, journalism training or university studies in literacy, but here we are proving that people from the amateur era have a place in the modern game. I hated Michael Hawker as a rugby player with the greatest respect. He played in an era when the Ozzies had what I believe to be the best back line in world rugby during his time, and Hawker was to me the Mortlock of his era, the link man, big and strong to stand up in tackles, and powerful midfield defender. You say that he has a banking background. Yep, that’s how it was in the amateur era johnno folks actually studied, worked full-time, practiced and trained in their own time, bought their own stuff, turned out on weekends to play like professionals, paid for their own drinks afterwards, and never had to apologise on camera for being an idiot outside night clubs and bars at 5.30am, like too many of our modern day highly paid yobbos are having to do these days.
So I guess if your argument here is about amateur era vs modern era, its speculative and subjective, and so is your attack on Michael Hawker. Quite simply, in this modern professional era, there is still no substitute for experience and the ARU obviously see those qualities in both Hawker and Deans.
Maybe, johnno you might want to do a little research assignment comparing those two, much better than comparing with JON I would think. I look forward to reading it.
October 13th 2012 @ 12:44pm
Johnno said | October 13th 2012 @ 12:44pm | Report comment
RA no 1 I am not a journalist I am just writing a comment, drop your standards a little, I am not writing a walkley award winning piece.
And you raise the bar very high writing courses. What percentage of the aussy population Ra have degrees, or diplomas, or certificates, not very high. And there are a lot of similarities between JON and Micheal Hawker if you ask me. Same private school system , same industry as bankers, both were born and have been alive for a significant part of there lifetime where rugby was an amateur sport.
And Hawker only played for the wallabies during the amateur era, unlike phil kearns who played in both.
Hawker and deans Ra have a lot in common to mate. Both played in the amateur era.
And it is speculative but like anything if you have been exposed only to one belief system or value system you will often favour that system if you know no better. But I think Micheal Hawker will do a good job , as chairman he is an intelligent man.
October 13th 2012 @ 11:41pm
Ra said | October 13th 2012 @ 11:41pm | Report comment
Johnno, there’s an old saying back home “All Blacks don’t necessarily make the best coaches”. And the mighty few who eventually get to wear the All Blacks jersey are coached by a long list of dads and mums in their lifelong journey from Saturday morning bare foot stuff, through the school, club and provincial age-group level, never themselves got anywhere near to even touching the black jersey in their playing days, and never received a 10 cent piece for their efforts. What I’m saying is, it takes a lot of unselfish amateur coaches to produce a potential All Black coach. I won’t be distracted by debating the merits of Phil Kearns (another player I love to hate) and Mighty Hawker, at this stage, but i will stick to my opening sentence, Zinzan Brooke great player he was, failed as a coach when he first hung up his boots, Tobias Matson, Canterbury and All Blacks centre came (rather, went) home to Palmerston North from Japan back about 12 or so years ago to attend the level 1 coaching course I attended. He was amazed at how much he didn’t know about the game, and we appreciated what he shared with us from his experience as a top level professional, and he is back home now doing a great job with Canterbury.
So now to Kearns. A great comments man. I love his knowledge of the game. Rugby commentators like him today are much better now at bringing the armchair critics like you and me, into the game more with their on-field playing knowledge, something cricket and lawn bowls commentators have done for years. Victor Matfield was great like that in the commentary box of the All Blacks v Springboks game last week.
We hear Kearns because of his job, but it doesn’t mean he knows more about the game, will be a better coach, or will be better than Hawker at his job or the board members at theirs. Neither does it mean that he would be a star coach. But he is a legend in his own geurnsey. He would have been a great All Black if he was a Kiwi, but he’s too good an opponent to be wasted in a Black jersey. Wouldn’t you agree?
October 13th 2012 @ 7:59am
MA said | October 13th 2012 @ 7:59am | Report comment
These comments show that the Board have no desire and no belief that we can be 1st anytime in the near future. They are happy with 2nd. They are actually applauding 2nd.
I am not happy with 2nd. The public is not happy with 2nd. I am sure the players are not happy with 2nd.
To me there seems to be a big disconnect between what the Board thinks and what everyone else thinks. This is so often the case these days with Authority. So deluded by their own self importance and arrogance that in order to not admit a mistake they push on using excuses and propaganda to justify their decisions. I expect that being paid big dollars to take responsibility for an organisation comes with the responsibility to take the blame when the organisation fails to meet the expectations of its stack holders. In the case of Rugby and the ARU Board surely the stack holders are the general public and the more importantly the Rugby Fans.
October 13th 2012 @ 10:31pm
Ra said | October 13th 2012 @ 10:31pm | Report comment
We understand that MA, despite the imbalance in every way our kiwi league fans never see our side as the underdog when we front up to the Aussies. Our officials might have a more rational view of where our game is at, and likewise those wise heads of Aussie rugby officialdom,but you and i enjoy the perogative of the one-eyed fanatic in the grandstand to demand nothing but the best from our national teams, as of right.
October 14th 2012 @ 9:57am
Mike said | October 14th 2012 @ 9:57am | Report comment
I don’t read this as saying that John Eales and the other board members “are happy with 2nd”.
Rather it says they are being realistic about it. Simply demanding that we be first and changing the coach if we are not (rather like a child throwing its toys out of the pay pen) is not being realistic at all.
They are also warning that the coach only plays a small part in where we are at. If we want to be 1st, we can’t be mentally lazy – we have to look a lot further than just changing the coach.
October 14th 2012 @ 12:09pm
Justin2 said | October 14th 2012 @ 12:09pm | Report comment
It’s very realistic however to beat Samoa, Scotland and Ireland isn’t it?
October 14th 2012 @ 8:55pm
Mike said | October 14th 2012 @ 8:55pm | Report comment
???? We didn’t beat Samoa, Scotland and Ireland, so why is it “realistic”?
October 15th 2012 @ 6:27am
Justin2 said | October 15th 2012 @ 6:27am | Report comment
Enough said, on ya bike Robbie…
October 13th 2012 @ 9:08am
Krasnoff of Noosa said | October 13th 2012 @ 9:08am | Report comment
O’Neill rates himself a six or a seven. I think he failed. I think he failed for the following reasons: the removal of the ARC competition which would have brought provincial sides from all states to one competition would have identified aspiring players for the 2nd tier and on to national level. It was a concept put together by Gary Flowers which was lauded by Super coaches and almost all the players. It ran for one year and O’Neill scrapped it, ostensibly because of cost. Chasing the buck, O’Neill diluted the 2nd tier playing group by allowing five super franchises in Australia—the player group is too thin. O’Neill showed a lack of wisdom by prematurely renewing Deans’ contract before the end of the RWC which for Australia was a dismal failure. I like the notion of amateurism for the 3rd tier. Too much money is being thrown at young players too soon. Now, I’m seventy-three years old and I spent 21 years in the Army in charge of troops, my last two years in command of an Australian regular army battalion. I trained young national servicemen for operations in Vietnam. They came to Battle School as smart-arses and left as proficient soldiers. Some were killed, others wounded, none of them got extra money but all learned about integrity, loyalty and discipline. And this leads me to Deans. I think Robbie Deans is a good bloke, but he’s out of his depth as a national coach and should be replaced immediately after this next match against the ABs in Brisbane. He has no cohesive playing strategy, he is ultra conservative (particularly against the ABs where he manifests a strange inferiority complex), his team selection is poor and he constantly changes playing groups, he has poor management skills over young players. So, unless we stop pandering to The Establishment and make some tough decisions about management and coaches all we’ll be doing is shuffling deckchairs on the Titanic.
October 13th 2012 @ 7:59pm
Rugby Tragic said | October 13th 2012 @ 7:59pm | Report comment
“the removal of the ARC competition which would have brought provincial sides from all states to one competition would have identified aspiring players for the 2nd tier and on to national level”.. 100% agree
“Too much money is being thrown at young players too soon.” – 100% agree, in fact I think this is the crux to the problem in todays competitive environment – no point in going to battle (understanding your stated past) with pea shooters against machine guns – We do not have the means at this point to go into an auction against much greater forces, heavily outnumbered – what would your advice be? – Mine is to not go into that battle, circumvent it through other means. In other words capitalise on your opponents weaknesses rather that take them on at their strengths,
“I think Robbie Deans is a good bloke, but he’s out of his depth as a national coach and should be replaced immediately after this next match against the ABs in Brisbane” – I understand your frustrations however you mentioned the word “loyalty” – I have absolutely no desire to defend Deans but that is the typical response and over reaction by many. Others have been less loyal to him and the code.
Krasnoff, I have a son in the Australian Defence Force who has served overseas in MEAO and continues to ‘take instructions’ from the Governement of the day and his superiors. He understand discipline, he understands loyalty and people who rely on him to do his job, they just know he will. I too am ‘a senior’ who has had a reasonably successful career both with public companies and in private practice but that give me no rights to judge others other than with an individual opinion. I might not always be right but I try to be balanced in my views …
I just think that we are quick to look for the negatives and castigate others while focusing on the positive might be much more productive.
October 13th 2012 @ 11:10am
Oo-er said | October 13th 2012 @ 11:10am | Report comment
The ARC was not scrapped “ostensibly because of cost”, it was costs and how can we seriously argue against that decision. Remember that was 2007 or 2008 and the world economy was crumbling due to a loose attitude towards debt. I want a third tier like everyone else, but we cannot have one if it will lose $3-4 million per season and we aren’t covering that loss from an alternate income stream. We cannot just disregard money because we want something for rugby anymore than we can disregard it because we want a Ferrari to go to the shops in.
October 13th 2012 @ 12:21pm
redsnut said | October 13th 2012 @ 12:21pm | Report comment
There appears to be too little private money being put into both the national team and the states.
If the ARU allowed more they could save a lot of money which could be put into a second tier comp.
IMO of course
October 13th 2012 @ 12:32pm
Garryown said | October 13th 2012 @ 12:32pm | Report comment
I guess one of these days Deans will be in a position when he can tell of his years with the ARU and what he had to put up with from the officials and of many players suddenly with too much money and lack of understanding how integrity loyalty and discipline are paramount in success. He has battled with opposition from day 1 and despite that has worked hard to build the right spirit and determination, some of which came through last weekend.Good luck to him.
October 13th 2012 @ 10:10pm
Chivas said | October 13th 2012 @ 10:10pm | Report comment
I agree, I think both RD’s and JON have been extremely loyal to rugby in Australia, abd both will be a loss to the system at this point.
October 14th 2012 @ 9:59am
Mike said | October 14th 2012 @ 9:59am | Report comment
Note also John O’Neill’s comments about the need for wholesale change in governance of Australian rugby, something he has been pushing for since 2007:
“http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/rugby-union/modernise-or-face-a-dim-future-john-oneill-warns-rugby/story-e6frg7o6-1226494735080″
October 14th 2012 @ 7:16pm
cinematic said | October 14th 2012 @ 7:16pm | Report comment
The argument to retain Dean’s is redundant.
The constant speculation around Deans tenure and bizarre results – home losses to Scotland/Samoa aren’t good enough for the No. 2 side in the world.
October 14th 2012 @ 9:42pm
Mike said | October 14th 2012 @ 9:42pm | Report comment
Saying “it isn’t good enough” is easy. Coming up with a viable way to fix the problem is not so easy.