Ewen McKenzie is deservedly receiving the wholesale praise of the rugby community, not just Reds fans, for the performance of the Queensland Reds in the 2011 Super Rugby season.
Saturday night’s game was the latest accolade in an already highly decorated rugby career as player and coach. It is the culmination of his prodigious work ethic and personal sacrifice over many years. It is not over yet.
His record is 51 caps as a Wallaby, a Rugby World Cup win as a player in 1991, a Rugby World Cup win as an assistant coach in 1999, Super 14 finalist in 2005 and 2008 and now Super Rugby winners in 2011.
I admired his self awareness when he refused to take the Wallabies coaching job, citing that he did not think he was ready for it. While probably true, it was an extraordinary decision.
It showed utmost respect for the national team, savvy understanding that it was a poisoned chalice and great self awareness rather than nagging self doubt.
Despite my regard for the man, I was a fervent critic of McKenzie, the coach, during his Waratahs tenure. I believed that he coached with a forward bias and without a sufficiently confident attacking game plan, even though the rules at the time were less conducive than now.
I sat through so many appallingly dull games while exciting attackers such as Beale and Burgess were underutilised, undercoached and in Beale’s case, not remotely fit.
The Stade Francais coaching job was a big opportunity and a mighty challenge. Professional coaching is hard enough without having to do it in another language. McKenzie is fluent in French. Fluent or not, language nuances can be very tricky at press conferences.
This experience ended abruptly for McKenzie and his assistant Dominici when they were removed because it was thought that they had lost the players’ ear.
Several questions remained: Had the Peter Principle, ‘in a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence’ come into force, or had the New South Wales Waratahs and Stade Francais, both among the most famous and successful clubs in world rugby, thrown the baby out with the bathwater?
Was McKenzie developing as a coach throughout this period?
In 2009, the Queensland Reds hit rock bottom. At the time, I christened them the Koalas after their logo and for their soft and cuddly performances.
Queensland Rugby appointed McKenzie as head coach for 2010, as the Wallabies’ newly appointed vice-captain Berrick Barnes jumped ship and Will Chambers tried to renege on his contract.
McKenzie in turn appointed Jim McKay and that was all the resources he had at his disposal. Necessity is the mother of invention. Together they were the first to successfully understand and adapt to the changes to the interpretation of the breakdown laws.
They soared up the ladder only to falter and finish fifth, one place out of the finals.
Tellingly, they slayed the dragon in round two, beating the Crusaders 41-20 at home, beat the Chiefs away 23-18, beat the Cheetahs away, 31-10, narrowly lost to the Sharks 30-28 away then beat the Lions, the Bulls and the Stormers.
They had announced themselves emphatically. Gone was the McKenzie of the Waratahs days. He sent out young players to have some fun and play whatever was in front of them. Genia, Cooper, Slipper,
Higginbotham, the Faingaas and Horwill entered the Wallabies squad. Simmons, Robinson, Davies and Daley have followed.
On the 22nd January this year, I wrote on The Roar “The Reds will not win the 2011 Super Rugby tournament.”
I was not alone. They were rated 15/1 by the Bookmakers. The Bulls and Crusaders were joint favourites at 4/1.
Thankfully, by Round 11, and despite the loss to the Hurricanes, they had convinced me that they were the real deal.
They duly finished the punishing 18-week competition in first place. The dragon-slaying continued, with wins over the Crusaders (twice), the Blues (twice), Stormers, Bulls and Waratahs.
McKenzie has addressed the multitude of problems he inherited at the Reds by employing his town planning skills. He simply plotted the shortest distance between where he was and where he needed to get to.
He needed to invigorate and build the confidence of his young squad by building on their Gen Y need for personal enjoyment and get them to play exciting, high octane rugby. This would in turn bring the crowds back and further encourage his youngsters.
It worked on and off the field. He got the best out of his players. He stood up to the supposed stars like Chambers and selected on performance and suitability, not reputation.
He multiskilled Digby Ioane, reinventing him as an outside centre.
He gave fellow cast-offs like Beau Robinson a chance, and the self confidence to take that chance. Cooper has become a potentially once-in-a-generation fly half.
There has not been one mention of winning ugly. The Queensland rugby supporters get it when he adjusts the tactics. What doesn’t change is the players’ determination and full commitment to the cause for 80 minutes.
There are several telling aspects to the Ewen McKenzie coaching biography.
He gave up a career to become a coach. He has developed significantly as a coach and is now a multi-disciplined, highly experienced, innovative and clever one.
At the same time, he is still the same, laconic, generous, straightforward man that he always was.
He has sacrificed more than most to achieve this. Since departing the Waratahs in 2008, his wife and daughters have remained in Sydney while he was first in Paris and now in Brisbane.
Just a few days after his dismissal from Stade Francais, he honoured his commitment to Ruggamatrix by appearing on the podcast, answering the obvious but painful questions for Djuro Sen and the voyeuristic rugby community, and maintaining his dignity throughout.
Finally, he has curbed his smorgasbord-clearing appetite, despite the daily grind of being a professional coach and being away from home-cooked meals.
My congratulations go to Ewen McKenzie and his coaching and playing staff for providing great rugby for us all to watch and marvel at, and setting up Australian rugby for another golden era.
Meanwhile his former employers, the NSW Waratahs and Stade Francais, continue to languish in mediocrity with a failure to evolve or find the missing Link.
DCR
Guest
There are several criteria for rating a coach and only one is results. Not all good coaches get good results. Not all successful coaches are good coaches. Some coaches have great teams and that's that. Apart from results there are two other criteria by which to judge a coach, their philosophy and individual player improvement. A great coach has a philosophy. It is a murky subject, because it is often intangible, but it means so much. Think of any great coach and you will know what they stood for. Frequently, the philosophy of a great coach will be ahead of its time, but not necessarily so. But it will be crystal clear to everyone what they want in terms of team performance, attitude and professionalism. It may sound contradictory in a team game that judging coaching performance is related to individual performance. But the truth is that most coaches have limited control over their playing list. They have to work with the cattle they have. They will have aged players in decline and young players needing development. A great coach will pull all three interdependent criteria together. They will succeed, improve players and be known for what they stand for. All great coaches have mana (prestige). Good clubs understand that and back the coach, not the players. The coach is the most important person in the club. If any player thinks they are bigger than the coach, they must be culled. McKenzie is a very good coach because players improve under him, it is clear what he stands for and he gets results. The interesting thing about McKenzie is that the Reds coach seems unrelated to the Waratahs coach. But there are in fact more similarities than differences. The Reds kick alot, alot more than people realise, but everyone raves about their attack; their open possession play. They defend almost exactly the same way as the Waratahs. The defensive patterns are identical. So what is the difference that makes everyone love watching the Reds and not the Waratahs and remarkably the answer is almost magical - people don't expect the Reds to kick, but everyone expects the Waratahs to. The reason is simple, the Reds revert to the kick as a last resort, whereas the Waratahs resort to running as a last resort. That is philosophy. Believe it or not in my opinion McKenzie succeeded at the Waratahs by bending that expectation. At the Reds it was already done by Phil Mooney. In my humble opinion and the reason for these stray words and for the reason just alluded to Phil Mooney should be the next Waratah coach. He more than anyone else I know has the makings of a great coach. Let's give him the chance to take on the Link and get the retribution that all Waratah fans now so desperately crave.
Dasher
Roar Guru
Ioane wore the No 13 jersey a few times in 2009 for the Reds and Wallabies (vs Ireland)...
Gav
Roar Pro
Don't forget to mention the 2nd Victorian Wallaby, 1st to win a World cup & 1st to coach a champion pronvincial team. It's a shame he doesn't get the recognition he deserves down here, oh wait... another campaign coming up.
LeftArmSpinner
Roar Guru
damo, geezzzzzzz, shucks. Thanks................
Harry
Guest
Wallaby scrum will be stronger with TPN/Moore at 2, Robinson at loosehead and Kepu or Slipper at 3.
LeftArmSpinner
Roar Guru
mudddster, it shows a valuable lesson. yes the scrum is very important but it can be worked around if everything else is working well. But, lets face it, a good scrum is worth its "weight" in gold. It was very distressing to see the saders knock on, reds get the scrum feed, saders screw the scrum and get the subsequent feed...............at 13-13, it was on a knife edge
johnny-boy
Guest
That's wishing upon a star LAS
LeftArmSpinner
Roar Guru
Chris, you may be right but the problems were there before Phil waugh and I expect that they will be there post Phil waugh...... If it were a corporate, you would bring in a root and branch guy to change the culture and set new standards, just as Deans has done with Wallabies and Link with Qld............... I dont see any sign of this happening because the first step is to admit the mistake......
LeftArmSpinner
Roar Guru
jez, spot on. the job is not over..........they are still so young
LeftArmSpinner
Roar Guru
as regards Hickey, he has done his apprenticeship as a super rugby coach on Tahs time and payroll. I would not be surprised if he didnt reinvent himself at his next coaching appointment and produce better conceived plans and results.........
LeftArmSpinner
Roar Guru
RK, they are missing many fundamental skills, starting with passionate self belief and preparedness to play the right style of rugby for 80 minutes every week and to do anything and everything to win................... Hmmmmmmmmmm, who would be a good example for them to follow?????? I'm Struggling here............Maybe the Link coached Queensland reds or the Crusaders..........
Damo
Guest
And yet another fine article from Mr L.A. Spinner. On the button.
muddster
Guest
great article and a great season. not excited by the reds scrum in the final though. will the scrum still be the problem for oz in the world cup?
mack
Guest
Now Waugh has retired the Waratahs will improve. I believe while he was a good player - his style and temperament has been the biggest anchor to play positively. Look what happened during this season when playing the reds constantly played the ball in the forwards while camped on the reds try line - refusing to try other options. His behavior after the 2008 Super Final in not acknowledging Links contribution to NSW during the final speeches. While this was rude, The Waratahs play was one dimensional while Waugh was playing. Why else has Link commented that the reds are a coach-able team - obviously because during Waugh's time in NSW the team would not listen to different ideas..
Damo
Guest
Harry. Someone has finally said it - the 'C' word- Culture. Link mentioned it in his post match speech does anyone have a copy of it in print.? It could be very instructive. McKenzie can't go on a criticism spree and cane the Tahs for their coulda woulda shoulda's BUT if we read between the lines there may be a blue print for the Tahs (and other teams lacking 'religion' ). Reds have religion - belief, faith in ability before everyone else can see it, spirit which was built by entertaining fans with massive efforts every game before they starting killing giants week to week. Link this year has complimented Reds for coachability and for great attitude in a top to bottom culture. Are there clues here for the Tahs? I'll say what I reckon he can't say. Were the Tahs un'coachable? Do they lack a bottom to top culture? Are the fans needs ignored by a top down, aka trickle down approach? Was I the only one who noticed how 'rugby league' the culture and celebrations of the Reds looked? Absolutely it did! The Reds have become a team 'of the people'. Like old Brumbies, like emerging Force, like Rebels will be in 6-8 months. No honest power broker at the Tahs could afford NOT to look at every single structural choice that was made at the Reds since 2009. And then ask - why not NSW? a la JFK. And if this was done I would confidently predict that - Western Syd and regional NSW would get some access to elite rugby - the Moore Park WaratAhs would be no more .The NSW Waratahs would play at SFS only half the time - the ARU would be shamed into honouring it's responsibility to grass roots rugby in western Sydney and regions. And if the Tahs Czars actually listened to their markets (as every other corporation has to) and responded to real market demands then their market - fan base would increase astronomically, eventually( after some rigorous root and branch lopping.) Memo to Czars - fear not the revolution. Fear what will happen if present path takes the Tahs and NSW further into the dullness of mediocrity. This week Qld jersey is fiery red. Tahs blue has moved a shade closer to beige. Well done Link and all in the vertically integrated structure of the Reds. I have a hope that your success will mean more to Australian rugby than a super cup and some well deserved Wallaby selections.
Harry
Guest
Mckenzie's comment in early 2010 that the reds were "coachable' and listened to him was I think aimed at the Tahs culture.
Chris Golis
Guest
I think you have missed the most important part of why Link had problems at the Waratahs, namely Phil Waugh. He repeatedly refused to follow the coaches instructions to play open rugby and he is the reason why Beale, fed up with Waugh's instructions left for Melbourne. Also why do think Elsom refused to come to Sydney. He refused to play under Phil Waugh as captain. Why did Beau Robinson leave NSW? Look at who was the #7. This year Alcock played Waugh off the ground. The coach can only do so much. When you get on the field, the captain plays the most important role. Phil Waugh has been a disaster for NSW since the 2007 World Cup when all his shortcomings were shown in the quarter-final. He was a good player before 2007 but since then has been the Waratah's biggest problem.
Cattledog
Guest
LAS, a great read. Thanks. You mention Link's appointment of Jim McKay as all the resources he had and together they analysed and interpreted the breakdown. However, don't you think his appointment of Matt Taylor as defence coach was a masterstroke? When you consider the last two seasons (when Matt was appointed), defence has been the lynch pin of the Reds success and rise to where they are today. Any thoughts on this?
Harry
Guest
Great article. What McKenzie has done with the Reds forwards is nothing short of astounding. He has turned young players like Slipper, Daly, Simmons, Higginbotham, Gill and Hanson into players who can compete with the best in the world in two seasons flat. Similarly he has made journeymen and discards like Holmes, AWH, Beau Robinson, S. Faingaa and Houston play career best rugby. And coaxed talismanic performances from the 35 years olds Samo and Humphreys - when by any rationale analysis at the start of the year they would have been considered way over the hill. Consider some of the forwards performances - matching the Crusaders in 3 games, taking on and beating the previously unbeaten and powerful Stormers in Capetown, taming the Bulls twice ... funnily enough, its only the Australian teams that have caused them big problems and got the better of them in the last two years, especially the Tahs and the Brumbies.
Cattledog
Guest
Sam agreed. Who in their right mind gets onto the media and says...'hang on, our form should have us as favourites, not them'... classic Link! You again mention the Wallabies coaching post RWC and mention the ARU holding off negotiations. Have I missed something but I was 99.9% sure Robbie Deans has been signed through to end 2013. Is there some clause in this we don't know about?