After the Rugby World Cup, all the journalist take long breaks so that their wrists can get over the RSI strain of holding a tape recorder under someone’s nose and then typing out what everyone else was typing out.
I couldn’t wait for the World Cup to finish so that we could start reading something interesting.
I’ve been a Rugby coach in the past, women and men, and young schoolboys, had mixed success – a grand final in Sydney one year and an absolute shocker the next year in Canberra, where I was never so glad to see the end of the season. (We didn’t make the semi-finals)
It gets you thinking, what makes a good coach?
Obviously in this era of professional rugby, the coach is one part of a team that he or she chooses and puts together.
Quite possibly, the head coach, depending on his style, might have more interaction with the coaching team than the players themselves.
The best compliment that I had as a coach was one sixth grade team I once coached, when, at the presentation one of the many team captains said …”You weren’t much of a coach, Gatesy, but we always knew who was driving the bus!!” – I took that as a positive!
And it seems to me that a good coach is probably a good bus driver, or a good orchestra conductor. Of course, it does help if you have some technical expertise.
If you take the best orchestra in the world, with the best musicians, they can still sound ordinary if the conductor doesn’t get it right. That’s the most important thing that I think a coach brings to the equation.
I suspect that that is what Ewen McKenzie brings to the Reds. He has assembled a bunch of guys who he can relate to and who can relate to him. I have never been to a Reds training session, but I can imagine what they are like.
However, it’s probably more what happens off the training track than on it that makes them a special team. You can see it if you read between the lines in his tweets.
Robbie Deans seems to be a more taciturn person, but clearly a guy who knows where he wants to go. Beyond that, I can’t read him.
Alan Jones was apparently a tyrant, but fiercely loyal to his players, both during and after their football careers. There were, apparently, a few individuals, or individualists, who couldn’t handle that and one or two took early retirement. Mark Ella, a great loss to the game at the time, but Jones left a legacy of professionalism that was previously not there.
That was the great era of Australian Rugby, started by the likes of Tony Shaw and his group, in the 1970’s. Without that movement, the Southern Hemisphere would not have been strong enough to go forward and force the old farts in the North to go professional twenty years later.
A golden era, led by some golden coaches.
Bob Dwyer was apparently a technician but also a bloke that the players could relate to and he surrounded himself with technically excellent people from what I can tell.
Rod MacQueen – another good bloke who planned, planned and planned, and gave his players meaningful goals and targets, as if it were just another aspect of running a business.
Every one of those people that I have just mentioned brought a completely different style to the table, but the common denominator was that every one of them was a great bus driver.
I missed one or two along the way, such as Connolly, Templeton, Haberecht, Jones – only because I don’t know much about them, but I am sure that they were also “buck stops here” people.
And clearly the one that should always be mentioned – Brockhoff – absolutely no doubt that he never the players in any doubt where he stood on the leadership scale. I hope he is resting in peace and I would be pretty certain he didn’t die wondering about his place in the scheme of things.
I met him once after a game in Canberra. He didn’t know me from a bar of soap, but was an absolute gentleman. He cared only that we had all enjoyed the game.
You often have people theorising that so and so from another code would make a good coach in a different code.
Could Wayne Bennett coach the Wallabies? Could Ewen McKenzie coach the Australian Swimming team, or the Davis Cup team? Could Gus Hiddinck coach the Kangaroos?
I suspect that the answer to all of those questions is yes, particularly these days when coaching teams contain experts in every aspect of that sport … and why – because they have all proved themselves as good bus drivers!
Look at the success that Ric Charlesworth had. He was a champion at two sports (three if you include politics, other than his choice of which side to play for!) and his longevity is surely not just due to the fact that he had good cattle, at his disposal. Don’t forget he succeeded with both the Australian mens’ and womens’ teams.
Look at Ange Postocoglou at the Brisbane Roar – I don’t know a lot about the finer points of soccer, but you can see that something special is going on at that club.
Look at Tiger Woods – his game fell away after all the trouble he went through – he needed a mentor to keep him up, not a coach – there are probably not too many people who could actually teach him about the technical aspects of his game. I have a suspicion that the reason is the anticipation of playing as part of a team at the Presidents Cup where he won’t want to let down his team, or his coach, Fred Couples – but he’s struggled so far.
How would someone like Gai Waterhouse or Bart Cummings go at another sport – I suspect that they are probably both from the “take no prisoners” school of management, so they would also succeed (note, however, that I do not consider Horse Racing should necessarily be classified as “Sport” and that will be the subject of another submission to the Roar.)
So, from where I sit, a coach is first and foremost a mentor, then a leader, then a technical expert, but someone who is unscrupulously fair and firm, has “the buck stops here” attitude and is clearly the leader of the coaching team, who talks about “us” and “we” when things aren’t going well and “they’ and “he/ she” when they are and he or she wants to give credit.
If you haven’t picked up on that last point, watch any press conference that is given by a good coach.
The AFL post gamers are always interesting and even though I don’t particularly like AFL, I always watch their coaches with interest.
Guys like Mick Malthhouse, Kevin Sheedy, Paul Roos, Graham Eade – were always interesting to listen to at a press conference, despite their having to deal with my pet hate – the low standard of Australian sports journalism.
Interested to hear any of your theories.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.
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