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Queensland Reds coach Richard Graham’s biggest excuse all year has been his lack of a genuine flyhalf.
Therefore, it will be interesting to see if his selection of Brisbane City five-eighth Jake McIntyre will swing his side’s fortunes when they take on the Rebels at Suncorp on Friday evening.
McIntyre is not without form, having represented Australian Schools, Reds Under-20s and Australia Under-20s since 2012. But it is his partnership with Brisbane City teammate Samu Kerevi which should give the Reds hope of upsetting a feisty Melbourne Rebels side.
McIntyre has an excellent set of hands, an accurate pass and good speed off the mark, so it’s a bit surprising that he hasn’t been used before now, particularly since halfback Nick Frisby, who has filled the spot, is makeshift at best. But Reds coach Graham has faffed about with the 10 spot all season, excusing all his options along the way.
Quade Cooper was injured. James O’Connor wasn’t back long enough from Ireland where he’d been playing wing. Frisby wasn’t really a 10 but was trying his best. Duncan Paia’Aua was too inexperienced.
Not until the old stager Connolly arrived did sense prevail and a genuine five-eighth with pathway form, McIntyre, get a run.
Excuses are Graham’s stock in trade – perhaps the only mitigating factor is that he appears to be genuinely, and staggeringly, unaware that he is making them. It is frustrating waiting for him to really step up and take responsibility for the Reds’ dire showing.
Regardless of everything that has happened along the way – injury, weather, travel, the draw, bad refereeing decisions – everything that has happened is Graham’s responsibility, even if he hasn’t realised that yet.
He shows over and over again that he is unwilling to take on the responsibility that goes with coaching. It’s clear in his post-game comments.
“You have nearly 600 Super Rugby caps (James Horwill, Rob Simmons, Quade Cooper, Greg Holmes, Beau Robinson, Ed Quirk, JJ Taulagi, Samu Kerevi and Karmichael Hunt) sitting out and it certainly changes the dynamic.”
“We forced 23 turnovers from the Waratahs yet we didn’t make anything of them.”
“We didn’t hold on to the ball long enough (with 19 turnovers) to even get to our plans.”
“I understand the impatience out there but only when you are looking from the inside can you look deeper beneath the surface”
“At the end of the day, they (the Crusaders) came out and played very well in the second half.”
“I guess attitude’s one thing you can really only judge on work ethic and while the result was pretty poor, I wouldn’t question guys’ work ethic.”
In all of Graham’s comments, he is despairing of his players’ efforts, evasive about the real issue or giving away credit to the opposition. Almost all of his comments are designed to deflect pressure.
Unfortunately for Graham, there can be no excuses with the team that he and his new mentor John Connolly, put out for the Reds this week. They’re playing at home and with backs to the wall. They have two Wallaby captains on the field in Will Genia and James Horwill and eight Wallabies in the starting fifteen.
They have one of the best sevens in the country in Liam Gill, and a genuine if untried flyhalf in McIntyre. Add to this an All Black in Adam Thompson and a Kangaroo in Karmichael Hunt, and there is really no excuse at all for not having a competitive showing.
Some have said that the senior players should take it upon themselves to run the show, but that is asking more of the wrong people. There is no excuse for forcing players to shoulder the load of a coach who isn’t delivering (a debate I had on Twitter following the Crusaders bloodbath).
Several rugby supporters argued that while Graham might be a poor coach, the players were complicit for not having a go, as were the board for making the coaching appointment in the first place.
I disagree entirely with that line of thinking, as they are separate issues. The coach’s performance is one thing, and the decision making which appointed him is another. Once a coach is installed, regardless of the manner or transparency of his installation, it’s up to him to make things happen.
This may not be fair, but in coaching, whatever the excuse, there is no excuse. It’s up to you.
As James Kinsey, CEO of America Online and a West Point graduate, put it: “The first lesson I learned as a plebe (at West Point) came from an upperclassman yelling in my face. He told me that there were four acceptable answers: ‘Yes, sir’; ‘No, sir’; ‘No excuse, sir’; and ‘Sir, I do not understand.’
He’d ask, ‘Why aren’t your shoes shined?’ and I’d say, ‘Well, it was muddy, and I didn’t have time.’ He’d be all over me.
“He was trying to teach me something: If you have to take men up a hill and write letters to their moms that night, there’s literally no excuse. If you have to lay off thousands of people from your company, there’s no excuse. You should have seen it coming and done something about it.”
And this really is the lesson for Richard Graham, although it is questionable whether he will take it on board.
A good coach knows that when their teams concede 40 points in a half, when championship-winning captains crash to career-worst form on their watch, when their teams score less tries and win less games the longer they stay around, then there are no excuses.