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Turn the clock back to 1983 for an extraordinary slice of Australian rugby history when Alan Jones coached his only season of Shute Shield with Manly.
The peninsula club reached the grand final against the juggernaut Galloping Greens from Randwick, premiers for the previous six years.
I called that epic decider with Norm Tasker for Channel Seven which Manly won 12-10 to end a 41-year drought. Jones was hailed as a super coach.
The next year Jones was appointed Wallaby coach, replacing the well-entrenched Bobby Dwyer to become the only Wallaby coach to achieve the coveted Grand Slam in 1984, beating England 19-3, Ireland 16-9, Wales 28-9, and Scotland 37-12.
Not only did the men in gold chalk up 100 points to just 33, the mercurial Mark Ella created his own slice of history by scoring a try in all four games.
But Jones wasn’t finished yet. He went on to reclaim the Bledisloe Cup.
There was no Tri-Nations until 1995 with South Africa still in isolation, so the only Jones hiccup was the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987 where the broadcaster made a rare mistake by trying to coach the Wallabies by remote control while keeping up his radio commitments – an impossible ask.
The Wallabies were beaten by France in the semis, and lost the third place play-off to Wales.
Jones was sacked with Dwyer regaining the Wallaby job on the way to winning the Wallabies’ first Rugby World Cup in 1991.
By any standards, Alan Jones’ record as Wallaby coach with 21 wins from 31 Tests for a win ratio of 67.74 per cent rates second only to Rod Macqueen’s 34 wins from 43 internationals and a win ratio of 79.07 per cent.
Macqueen coached the Wallabies to capture the Rugby World Cup in 1999, the Bledisloe for four successive years from 1998 to 2001, the Tri-Nations in 2000 and 2001, and the only series win over the British and Irish Lions in 2001.
The ARU’s trophy cabinet was full.
But Macqueen’s appointment came through regular channels, while Jones was from left field.
The Alan Jones experiment worked a treat, so why can’t a similar appointment work as Waratahs coach, currently in an embarrassing slump of major proportions.
Could Simon Cron be the answer?
The 40-year-old Kiwi born coached Northern Suburbs to their first Shute Shield win in 41 years, coached the Sydney Rays to a NRC semi, and was recently appointed the Australian under 20s coach.
Treading the Alan Jones path?
What have the Waratahs to lose, with Daryl Gibson obviously not up to it with just two wins from eight starts.
Cron can’t do any worse, and his refreshing attitude that he demands all his charges enjoy their rugby, and that ‘mediocrity has no place in rugby’ thinking is exactly the opposite to current Waratah thinking.
If Simon Cron can do an Alan Jones, Australian rugby would be well served.
Go for it.