My son plays rugby and has a superb athlete in his team. Seriously, the kid is a freak – represents schools, districts, regions and states at pretty much any sport he decides to have a go at.
In rugby, he can catch, pass, kick, tackle, run faster than everyone, win turnovers and is almost always the best on ground.
Trouble is, the rest of the team know this and are, on occasion, lackadaisical in their approach to their own skills and effort, knowing this kid will be there to clean up after them.
We regularly lose games in the last quarter because he’s tired from doing everything all game, and they’re still dependent on him doing so.
In a similar way, Israel Folau has some good skills in attack, but is placed on a pedestal and is expected to excel at everything. He doesn’t have the talent or all-round abilities of the boy in my son’s team, but his attacking prowess is expected to excuse all his faults and win matches for the Waratahs and Wallabies.
AAP Image/Joe Castro
One of the (many) issues for the Tahs and the Wallabies is their holding up of players as superstars and the belief or these superstars that they can do whatever they want and still be a superstar.
Folau is a great attacking player and many in the world would fear having to jump against him or tackle him at pace, but they certainly wouldn’t worry about playing a field position game against him (despite the monster punt he unloaded on the weekend). It’s left to Bernard Foley and, to a lesser extent Kurtley Beale, to do all the clearing kicks, leading to fatigue, poor options and poor kicking (particularly if your kicking wasn’t that great to begin with).
I posit this as a theory: media and social media is to blame. No longer is the grafter revered. No longer is the hard work valued over the dazzling moment. It’s all about the soundbyte, the social media hits, the highlight reel. Kids these days see that and want to mimic it. There’s no more just getting on with what needs to be done and doing it.
The media is used by the opposition as a tool, listen to the All Blacks hold a mirror to our beliefs about Folau: “he’s such a dangerous player”, “he’s really hard to defend against” etc.
Listen to what they’re not saying but are getting out on the field and exploiting.
Look at what Jake White did with the Brumbies: purged the names, simplified the gameplan, focused on basic skills, and creating a team mentality and environment where blokes who put their heads in dark places were celebrated.
How many times has Scott Fardy ever made the highlight reel? Keven Mealamu? Martin Johnson? Any Whitelock?
[latest_videos_strip category=”rugby” name=”Rugby”]
These days we have celebrities who seem interested in promoting their brand (thank you, James O’Connor) and their profile, rather than taking a good hard look at themselves and improving their deficiencies.
The All Blacks sweep the dressing rooms. Jake White’s Brumbies went back to local clubs and played with amateurs, who were out there for love of the game.
Society, I blame you for the failure of our Australian rugby sides. You revere the moment of brilliance over 80 minutes of work, you value attack over defence.
As a young man, I used to box and while chatting with one of the older boxers, he mentioned that he’d rather win a fight 1-0 than 25-24 (with old-school amateur scoring). Don’t get hit. Don’t leak the points.
Look at the contrast with the Blues, who play all-out attack, against the Crusaders, who have a staunch defence but fewer attacking threats. Who’s winning more games?
The Kiwis don’t have better athletes than us, just better team players. Eddie Jones is a two-year coach. So is Jake White. And Michael Cheika. I like Ned Hanigan and think he’s a good player (he was just promoted too high, too fast).
Australia, this is all your fault.
Timbo (L)
Roar Guru
Like Edmond Hilary, The all blacks climbed to the top of that pedestal and now does everything in their power to kick off anyone that tries to get close to them. It is what winners do.
Timbo (L)
Roar Guru
I have never been foolau'd and have been raging against the machine for years. Use him as a tool, but don't restructure your entire backline around him. Play a modern game plan and use his skills as a play option, not the play option. Chose a fullback that has positional playing skills and the ability to tackle strays, not just because his missus thinks it is the right thing to do.
Dan
Guest
This entire article is little more than a whinge “about the kids these days” in search of a topic to apply it to. As the old saying goes, the plural of anecdote is not “data”, and whilst I’m sure that your wonderfully gifted child is indeed in a side with less gifted kids, claiming that this is what ails Australian rugby is shallow and facile. The problems with Rugby in Australia are multifaceted and deep rooted. We have a viciously competitive football culture where four fully professional football codes all vy to identify young talent, a code that has cut itself off from the majority of the public by wedding itself to a platform limited to 30% of the public, poor investments in grass roots in our heartlands that has allowed serious incursions into our nurseries by the Southern enemy (AFL) and a vastly more organised and aggressive development program by the NRL. What’s more, the socceroos have taken the shine off the wallabies by becoming a bigger draw card for fans looking for international sporting fixes. All of these problems have been festering like a cancer for over 15 years now and have little or nothing to do with social media and the kids these days.
Tragic
Guest
WHo would you want ? You need to give an alternative if Chieka is so bad. Cheika has the same challenge every other possible Wallaby coach will have.... lack of decent talent. Since our rugby golden age, professional sport in Australia has become a monster, and Rugby hasn't adjusted or kept up. How many players do we lose to league, AFL, Cricket and soccer. They all sit above rugby with clear pathways from schoolboys to top teams. We won in the professional era from Amateur trained players. The corporate ignorance of grassroots cashed in on the Wallabies full of Amateur trained stars and they still don't get it. All the other sports do, AFL maybe going down the same path but with strong domestic competition established,it's self sustaining. Thats why the ABs do so well with a clear basis and pathway for their players & "coaches".
Bakkies
Guest
Compete well in tests? The Wallabies got flogged by Scotland.
KF
Guest
Butt team of superstars will have better marketing income and budget.
Rugby Fan
Roar Guru
I don't think you can blame the modern mindset, or social media. Rugby in England is almost a perfect counterexample. The most celebrated English players in amateur and professional eras are usually (not always) immensely hard workers rather than flashy superstars. Think Jason Leonard, Dean Richards, Fran Cotton, Martin Johnson, Richard Hill and Jonny Wilkinson.There are flair players, but for every Jerry Guscott or Jason Robinson, there are plenty of others who never get the same level of trust: Danny Cipriani, James Simpson-Daniel, Chris Ashton, Christian Wade and Austin Healey come to mind. It's often argued that the club and national teams in England think too much about what players can't do, rather than what they can do, which is the opposite of what the article describes. I don't know what kind of self-promotion James O'Connor gets up to but I do know that James "the Brand" Haskell used to draw a lot of criticism for his constant social media presence. He is still not to everybody's taste, but a number of fellow players now think Haskell was very smart to market himself so frequently, since it has developed career options for him after he retires. Most players leave it far too late to think what they will do after they give up the game. There aren't that many media, coaching or after-dinner speaking jobs to go round.
Cliff (Bishkek)
Guest
EJ, irrespective of the Coach and we could have JC himself but without the Junior Pathways and improvement in Coaches at all levels and a change in skill development, then the same will apply; the Coach will not succeed if he does not have the players. The Wallabies will never be able to beat all comers and the ABs regularly - we never have except for a period around 1999 and the period to 2003. We are not likely to be able to do so!!
MH01
Guest
EJ - you are correct , the problems do start right at junior levels - I’m just a frustrated rugby fan looking at how we can make a change that will improve things in the shorter term -quality coaches, though this needs to be corrected as you say from the roots .
Johnno
Guest
Stupid article.. Players work harder now than ever before, eg pro era vs amatuer era no comparison in amount of work put in.. To say aussie players don't work hard is just plain wrong.. The falir stuff, um hello flashy backs always have got more attention you pea brain eg who got more attention in the media Campo or say a Ewan Mckenzie or Rod Mcall? um seriously, or Tim Horan or Micheal Foley, um seriously.. The only thing I do agree with in this article is the australian public puts pressure on haveing flashy wins as opposed to gritty wins, so OZ rugby is forced to have an attitutde of lose by entertaining instead of win gritty, so RA can't win.. But all in all a stupid article... And yes I blame RA for haveing a player levy for junior rugby, and neglecting West sydney big time, this writer thinks RA are doing a good job in tough times(that they created)..
sheek
Guest
PK, The flaw of your argument is you are comparing apples with oranges. International teams are apples, provincial/regional teams are oranges. You must compare like with like. An international superstar team will beat an international team of superstars. A provincial superstar team will beat a provincial team of superstars.
PeterK
Roar Guru
kindergarten reds did well against the sunwolves didn't they. great defense yet again wasn't it. You still think they will have a good chance to make the finals?
woodart
Guest
good post, thorne is on his way to creating a hard playing team of no-names ,who will provide many wallabies...
woodart
Guest
top post.
Been hinking to use my resl name for a whilr adsa, just didn't know we could change our nicknames
Lano
Roar Guru
Chook you are an upsized bag of laughs - seriously amusing mate - 3.15 pm kick off rolls on.....not sure if I shd shave my head now or half time?
RedTed
Guest
"That depth is not there in oz rugby so little pressure is on the better players to work on their weaknesses, to hold their positions. It is easy to become, soft entitled and lazy." Hmm.. generalisation there. Tell that to Brad Thorn, who is ruthlessly revolutionising the Reds doing what you just said we don't do. Tell that to Quade Cooper and a few other Reds stalwarts who were dumped right on their head in preference to no-name NRC players. Kindergarten Reds no-namers a good chance to make the finals now, due to a ruthless, all-action coach. We absolutely do have depth here (at least in show-off attack, but no depth in hard-edged defence) - but we have almost no cut-throat coaches willing to gut all the show ponies and posers like FOLAU! Show reel tries don't count - someone has to be on the end of a try after all - often the fullback of any team. But where is Folau's highlights reel of JUST defensive genius? I've never seen one.
The Neutral View From Sweden
Roar Guru
Still don't get why RA and NZR should exclude Japan if they are looking at a comp without the Saffas (and Argies). IMHO NZR (and RA when they get their act together) should do everything within their powers to grow the game in Japan. The ROI could be huge and it would be kind of cool if rugby really took off in Japan and they became a solid Tier one nation.
Malo
Guest
True I’d rather fly to nz to watch a rugby game than go to Homebush. I won’t give a cent to ra but will follow my old school and club with the 1000s of supporters. The ra is an exclusive , fund the Mosman elite. All subs go to a few people at the top. No money to the heartlands.
PeterK
Roar Guru
the truism is a superstar team will beat of team of superstars not the other way. so the superstar team should beat all the teams of superstars.