Let’s face fact. Australian rugby just simply lacks depth and relies on too many players with talent who appear to have lost heart and belief in themselves of which better replacements cannot be found.
The Wallabies have the problem of not being able to replace that talent with equals unlike their All Black and Springbok counterparts.
So where do the Wallabies go from here?
The current bunch is simply lack-lustre and a bunch of individuals who are now having to admit that they are semi-motivated losers. Or are they? Current form would indicate this being so.
Australian teams pride themselves on being the best, hailing success, and either minimising or glossing over losses.
I have no problem with this and agree that any hard win should be shouted out loud, but expect the backlash when it all goes belly up and there is no place to hide.
It becomes even worse when there is a need to front again and again all with the same result and to then have the same heated blowtorch aimed directly at ones posterior.
So it is with the Wallaby team, a good bunch of individuals but not a championship team, nor ever will be!
Great players have gone missing in action. Other great players are heartbroken by the efforts they put into games, only to be let down by those who should never be there.
The coach is finding out how Robbie Deans felt; only this time he is an Australian, so is all forgiven?
We know that the Wallaby depth of the player pool at Test match level is under-strengthed and paper thin and that there is no replacement should the incumbent fall.
Unlike the All Blacks who, with confidence, can simply put number five in the pecking order of first-five eights into a test match and is just as capable of performing as the incumbent number one.
And Australia like many other teams of the world, envy this.
The Australian ARU competes with the NRL and AFL for the player pool. Different games, granted but high sportsmen all, but, if Australia with its 20 million populous cannot find or organise competition levels as is done in New Zealand and South Africa to get their pool of potential Wallabies, then they get what they deserve.
If New Zealand can get their depth by creating sufficient player interest from a young age with them having only four million people, surely Australia can do the same within its 20 million odd?
The ARU needs to be one hell of a lot more assertive with organisation and proactively, giving more assistance to all states, allowing them to grow their players from the ground up and then hanging on to them.
It can be done. When Australia returned from the Olympic Games in 1976 with not a gold medal between them, a plan to never let it happen again was instigated. The same needs to happen with Australian rugby.
If the Wallabies lost to every team they encountered changes would happen very quickly. Until this happens or a radical rethink takes place we will continue to write about the ‘woeful Wallabies’.
All teams like to win but having to play within a team who outwardly says that they are winners but many inwardly know they are likely losers requires massive changes within the mind-set of some current Wallabies and ARU management.
A lot more effort from the ARU, especially in having a lot more players to call upon by rebuild to replace under-performers is urgently warranted.
The change starting with attitude, radical thinking and the courage to implement is needed now! This constant underperformance simply cannot be allowed to continue.
Chan Wee
Guest
ok tnkx i think this is another move from MIB to achieve versatality (also south africa. they also have a hooker playing at flank forget his name). the all blacks have shown the world several strategies in positional play. for example playing a full back on one wing (jane smith piutau), the big & small center combination (bunce & little umaga & mauger nonu & smith), the openside poacher (iceman josh holah mccaw ...) the hooker as another 7 (mealamu, hore elliot). when folau was selected on wing it looked like deans had imitated one aspect of all black play. but he dont not have enough talent to go the whole 9 miles. there are two issues for OZ. availability of players to adapt to changing laws of union. just look at the matches so far; only one out of 3 teams is moaning about the scrum. and the ref. credit to argentina; got hammered like a 3rd tier team but did not blame others. credit to saffers; got roughed up but did not blame ref although moaned after. if OZ want to improve, they need to look at other teams and compare and try to adapt and change.
atlas
Guest
'hore played like a 7' Andrew Hore plays at 7 at club level; he was also 7 for ABs in the second 40 of their warm-up match the week before the 1st Bledisloe test. Keeps him sharp I suppose.
Michael Warren
Roar Guru
Sorry Boomeranga if the facts get in the way of the reality. Nobody is gloating about pointing out why the AB's are successful and why the Wallabies aren't. All Black stocks often get low as Chan Wee points out but there are always replacements where Australia's stock are non existent. Going into denial does not solve the problem but constructive advice is always accepted by those who want to fix the problem.
Boomeranga
Roar Rookie
I hate opinion pieces that open with reference to facing fact as if that is what follows. You've written a gloat. Another humble (obviously) gloat. Bravo champ!
Chan Wee
Guest
AS much as the world envies the NZ rugby union crop, it is not as big in every position. True they have a lot of fly halves and scrum halves and wingers and full backs. but the second row stock is low, the 8 stock is low, the big center stock is low, the hooker stock is low. the glaring difference is the one many auzzy dont want to admit; the skill level. the oz team are not near in skill level , so the lack of depth is what gets highlighted. take moore and hore for example. hore played like a 7 while moore was like any front row, ending on the wrong side several times and conceding penalties. take mogg and dagg for example. dagg knew what to do as a fullback, mogg was covered by joc. tony greig once said on cricket commentry ' you dont teach a test cricketer how to catch the ball. if he cant catch he does not belong here'. that is the issue with oz rugby; the coach is blamed for players' shortcommings. at test level coach will talk strategy and game plan, not how to catch a high ball or where the head shud be when tackling.
Dsat24
Guest
good comment steve I dont think the ABs are any different to be honest. Mealamu, McCaw, Whitelock, Nonu, Smith, Smith, Smith, Woodcock, Reid, Franks and Carter are pretty quiet and self effacing. Just watch the All Black Adidas youtubes vids see for yourself.
Run riot
Guest
Interesting assessment Garth. Aaron Smith (AB's) said that during the last 20 minutes of the test that the Wallabies forward pack where quiet opposed to the AB's that where talking all the time. Perhaps they are short on confidence I do hope that they gain some confidence when they play against the Boks or Argentina.
Garth
Guest
Not necessarily, in a rugby/sporting enviroment they could be loud, confident & self-assured, just like you'd expect. Place them in an unfamiliar or non-sporting enviroment, something they aren't that conversant in, and you could reasonably expect them to "shy". Perhaps even nervous or apprehensive.
Steve
Guest
I was at a wedding on the weekend and i had a discussion which has totally changed my perception about the current Wallabies. I was speaking to a lady who is involved in advertising and the business she works for deals with a lot of sporting teams with regards to promotions and commercials etc and she was stunned by recent dealings with the Wallabies. Her description was "they were like a bunch of young, shy schoolboys" she said she'd never seen a pro sporting team so lacking in self confidence, they were incredibly quiet and almost embarrassed that people were making a fuss over them. She said they were polite but very quiet and it made me think about what Danny Weidler wrote in the Sun Herald. Maybe these guys are very different to the ones we think they are.