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ARU boss John O’Neill has a lot to do before he retires at the end of next of next year. He’s given yeoman service to the 15-code in two stints: 1995 to 2003 then 2007 to current.
But right now, the Wallabies are at rock bottom after last Saturday’s dismal effort against the All Blacks.
And if they don’t improve 200% by next Saturday at Eden Park, their hoodoo ground since 1986 and with no David Pocock, it could be even more dismal.
If that’s possible.
At Super Rugby level, only the Brumbies showed improvement over 2011, while the Waratahs and Reds went backwards, and the Force and Rebels trod water making up the numbers.
Club level in Sydney and Brisbane has almost disappeared without trace, most knocking on the “broke” door.
Professionalism at club level should never have been tolerated. It was doomed from the start.
And without a strong club competition, as it was before professionalism, where will the future Wallabies and Super Rugby reps come from?
And to add salt to the wounds, rugby is losing ground at the rate of knots to the AFL and NRL, but has the higher ground.
Rugby is an international and Super Rugby game, both at a strong level.
Rugby league is a State of Origin game, with a good following at club level. Internationals are limited to the Kangaroos, the Kiwis, and the Brits.
AFL is by far the biggest code in the country, but no Origin and no-one to play internationally.
That hybrid series against Ireland with a mixture of AFL and Gaelic football is an embarrassment.
Yet the pecking order in bums on seats on a weekly basis is in reverse order. The AFL wins by the length of the straight, then NRL, with rugby a very poor third.
Australian rugby is between a rock and a hard place and has no-one to blame but the administrators, coaches, and the players. The supporters are there, but won’t pay top dollar to watch rubbish.
And who can blame them?
There’s still a stigma about rugby, the last code to turn professional in 1996. The rah-rah, leather patches, exclusive GPS image has never gone away, always simmering just below the surface.
Despite the fact that image from within has long gone and is deep in the bollocks basket.
And just as importantly, the move towards an independent rugby commission, where all states have an equal say in the running of the game, is dynamite.
There’s absolutely no argument rep rugby is a Queensland, NSW, and ACT sport. The vast majority of reps from the Force and Rebels are from one of the three areas.
And it will never be any different.
So how can Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, and Tasmania have a substantial, even a meaningful, input into Australian rugby when those states play at rugby in front of a man and two dogs, yet have an equal say with the big three?
Insanity.
Forget state representation altogether, it should have gone out with knickerbockers, safari suits, and cravats.
The commission should feature the likes of John Eales, Nick Farr-Jones, Andy Slack, Bobby Dwyer, Rod Macqueen, and Alan Jones, with selected businessmen who know and understand rugby, but also have the commercial expertise.
So go to it JON, you only have 16 months left.
Leave a lasting legacy.
There’s only one man who can achieve that, and that’s the man himself, one of the very best administrators I’ve dealt with in nearly 50 years covering sport around the world.
Not everyone’s cup of tea, but he is mine.