Regrets? He’s got a few – but Michael Cheika otherwise has the fondest of memories from his five years as Wallabies coach.
Typically honest to a fault, Cheika has peeled back the layers to reveal the softer side that only those closest to him – including hard-core rugby journalists who’ve been in the trenches with him and not (as he often sees it) necessarily against him.
“Am I satisfied in the end, mate? No, because I wanted to win a Bledisloe and the World Cup,” Cheika said on Fox League.
“I wasn’t able to do that and that hurts me, personally, because I really value the supporter on the street and I know that’s what they want. I see them.
“When you’re coaching your national team, it’s very different to club footy. No.1, you’re not a recruiter, you’re a selector.
“So the next thing you really feel, the day after the game … all the kids, even the people who aren’t rugby people – because you’re representing Australia – they’re feeling how you played the night before.
“You have a big win, everyone’s pumped. You go for recovery, they’re all high-fiving ya – (saying) ‘good on ya’.
“Then the next (game) – I see it in my own family; you know, the kids, they’re all dressed in their jerseys and then the next morning, if we lose, they’re unhappy.
“So I feel it in my own family.”
Happily – but hastily – thrown in to the hot seat following Ewen McKenzie’s dramatic departure in 2014, Cheika endured a rollercoaster five-year tenure.
World Rugby’s coach of the year after guiding the unfancied Wallabies to the World Cup final in 2015, then belittled on the other side of the Tasman the next (remember those pretty poor clown caricature jokes from New Zealand?)
He was also often harshly treated by World Rugby officials.
Yet Cheika – the survivor and proud immigrant hard-worker, has emerged from his tumultuous tenure with impressive dignity after falling on his sword following Australia’s World Cup quarter-final exit in Japan last October.
“Honoured. Grateful,” he said when asked of his abiding memories as Wallabies coach.
“For a kid like me, to think that he’d have the opportunity to coach the Wallabies, I would have never imagined. I’ve always been a sort of an outsider in rugby, outside of the establishment.
“So to get that opportunity – and to consider the circumstances that we’ve had going on in Australian rugby the last five years – we’ve always represented with maximum courage.
“Sometimes we weren’t at our best, sometimes we had to have terrible halves, had to make comebacks and we had some great wins as well.
“Even 2019, we had a great win over New Zealand in Perth.”
Cheika, now an assistant coach at the Sydney Roosters under long-time friend Trent Robinson, conceded the Wallabies lacked consistency during his tenure – but rightfully offered some explanations for that.
“At the end of the day, the Wallabies are a result of our preparations in Super Rugby and they’ve been difficult because we’ve had a lot going on,” he said.
“Whether it was Perth (with the Western Force’s demise in 2017) on the outside and then players going overseas etcetera and the format of the competition.
“But then when the guys got together, I think they really played hard for Australia every single time.
“I’m the first to know that that’s not perfect, but (I’m) always proud to be a part of that, some of the great wins and also for being there after some of the losses … being able to get the team back up.
“In coaching right now, you’ve got to be a professional at being able to turn negatives into a positive and that was something I really loved doing with those lads because they responded a lot.
“I think a lot of them played above their potential for where they are in their cycle.”
Ken Catchpole's Other Leg
Roar Guru
Josh, yes, as I said he gave us some moments of proud excitement. He has profound qualities in certain areas. But I was talking about him and his coaching of the ‘cattle’, not the cattle themselves. He seemed to me to have a narrow imagination. Like imagining a pack with a clever 6, or a backline served by an attack skilled 10. The current graduates from the ‘Joeys’ teams look exciting yes. I wish I got to see them in gold. But as for letting the former coach ‘form’ them further, no. He was entrusted with head coaching our national team for too long, imo. Trust has been eroded, while we waited patiently for the plan B that never came. He may be great at pre-game pep talks. Maybe he could do that after Rennie has developed skills and combinations and installed tactics in their heads?
Josh
Roar Rookie
Mostly agree Ken, I just don’t think we had the cattle. His background of winning a Heineken cup and super rugby title is pretty impressive. It would have been good to see him coach the kids coming through at the moment. I watched the Australian schools team from last year as well as u20s. They looked good just need a couple of consecutive years.
The Late News
Roar Rookie
Fair bit of truth there mate...
The Late News
Roar Rookie
Personal experience far outweighs a cv and an interview!
The Late News
Roar Rookie
Great comment Corne. I had never thought about it like that.
numpty
Roar Rookie
Agreed. When you look at the 2019 RWC, the wallabies were still capable of beating any team on their day, as evidenced by perth bledisloe, but there was no way they were gonna play like that 7 in a row.
Aussie D
Guest
I would argue the Wallabies had a lucky run in 2015. They won their obligatory pre-WC Bledisloe in Australia and then went into a pool group with England choking badly as hosts with all of the pre-tournament expectations placed on them and winning against our only whipping boys the Welsh. We were very lucky against Scotland in the QF and then had the 'easier' semi in playing Argentina. To me it wasn't all that amazing.
Derek Murray
Roar Rookie
Let’s hope so. Randwick haven’t had a Shute Shield for decades so no reason to think there should be another
Derek Murray
Roar Rookie
There’s no science in this response but I turned up 5 weeks in a row at Twickenham in 2015 and had beer and lunch with a bunch of Australian mates before going to the game. Each week bar Scotland we agreed that it was 50:50 at best and each week we had something great to discuss post match. The superb tries and running rugby against England, the once in a lifetime defence against Wales, our luck and Slipper’s intercept pass against Scotland, the all round quality against Argentina and Dan bloody Carter in the final. We completely outdid any expectations pre-tournament. The odds on winning it reflect how a side can win matches in a row away from home in big pressure. The NH teams had no history of doing that so were long odds to win a tournament (Scotland beat us, do you fancy them to knock over Argentina and NZ?). But each match is a different set of odds. We were underdogs v England and maybe slight favourites v Wales (although with 2 in the bin we were rank outsiders). It was an exceptional, outstanding performance given the rabble RA was when handed to Cheika. No dispute in my mind at the time and no amount of re-writing history now will change that. Sadly, it was the highest we got under Cheika and a false dawn for we supporters.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Harry I think more of a motivator
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
No they actually didn’t. They had a favourable draw with one really good win in Sydney. The win against England was overrated as their form was poor.
Oblonsky‘s Other Pun
Roar Guru
Good discussion guys. I think the Wallabies played quite well in the 2015 World Cup, but not nearly as well as we did in that 2013-14 run under Link. I don’t think we hugely over-performed in 2015, but we did enough to win the ones we should win. Didn’t slip up.
Lara
Guest
Cheika had a “ Forrest Gump” RWC in 2015. Everything fell in to place, the cards that Cheika got were pure luck n a lot of Wallaby supporters got caught up n couldn’t see the truth. Even after the final, Wallaby supporters n Roar contributors claimed the Wallabies were unlucky to take the final. Cheika just ran with it, RA got sucked in n the rest is history. Cheika got 5 years, Oz rugby went backwards n the game is now looking to rebuild.
Jigbon
Roar Rookie
My biggest concerns with cheika that is not mentioned in his mea culpa are:- 1 his totally disgraceful behaviour on the public stage especially in japan. He was an embarrassment to me as an Australian and that World Cup debacle where he was his worse than petulant self, and his public fight with raylene did my head in. 2 his inability to see other ways , other options , other solutions, as to how his Team played 3 his dedication to not using tactical kicking and ensuring training work was done around Improving and understanding that 4 his crazy defence system. 5 his inability to recognise and nurture talent. Luke Morahan is one who springs to mind – what a loss to oz rugby. I wanted him gone three years ago. The team was broken then.
soapit
Roar Guru
there was enough play in 15 before the world cup to believe oz were back around historical trend. doesnt take much thought to imagine that once the issues surrounding the 2014 eoyt had been resolved (basically no prep with new coaching team and lots of stress) the performances around that exceptionally bad eoyt wouldnt be the norm. additionally all the 2015 pre wc games followed historical trends. the bookies had oz at 10/1 ahead of wales at 16/1. arg was 80/1 and sco 250/1. not sure thats really 50/50 or barely favourites for oz against any of those. notably oz beat only 1 of the 4 teams the bookies had above them. good on them for beating england though. above par is always where ive held it as per my comments above. enough to reappoint him if his term was up (it wasnt). many here are claiming it was amazing and essentially demanded his immediate reappointment for 4 years. it wasnt
numpty
Roar Rookie
Yes 2014 was unusual, thats what made the 2015 result better than expected! They had come from the poor position that was 2014 and made the RWC final. How do you acknowledge 2014 and then suggest that it has no bearing on where they ended up in 2015... Medium term trends mean squat in the short term. They were outsiders to england, 50/50 with wales and barely favourites against scotland and argentina. So yeah, maybe they should've won all but one on paper, but to win them all in a row is the impressive part. As with any RWC campaign. My approach is just fine. Hell you even call it "above par" (*MY POINT*) in your comment.
soapit
Roar Guru
your approach is a very unsound way to assess a performance. you can quote facts but ones relating to actual results, and not others subjective assessments, are more beneficial. similarly if you insist on not acknowledging that the 2014 eoyt was extremely unusual circumstance, and that facts that are impacted by that tour must be viewed accordingly, then you arent going to be able to reach a conclusion that is accurate. youre far from alone (as evidenced by articles youve linked) but its that kind of thinking that got cheikas reappointment for such a long term and what that led to in results. which match wouldnt you have expected the wallabies to win in that tournament. i have 1 as a 50-50? btw i never said it wasnt a positive. just not an amazing performance as was claimed, essentially matching medium term trends against teams. slightly above par is as far as we should be going based on the actual game results.
numpty
Roar Rookie
You mean, the WBs were fifth due to 'recent form'. Hmm sounds pertinent. Lets step away from the WBs - if a team enters the RWC at one ranking and comes out having gone up, its likely they have done better than expected, if they go down then they likely went worse than expected. WBs went from 5th in the world to 2nd in 2015. Sure seems like they performed better than expected. If they were 4th going in as you gripe about, it still would've been a net positive. Cheika getting coach of the year, and hooper nominated player of the year probably tells you something too. But don't let my facts get in the way of your evidence, or was it evidence in the ways of facts, factidence??? I'll leave you with a quote from a 2015 SMH article - "Wallabies not good enough to beat All blacks but even in defeat the Wallabies wildly outperformed expectations." You may not agree with it, but this was very much the popular analysis at the time. https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-union/rugby-world-cup-2015-australia-not-good-enough-to-beat-new-zealand-yet-20151101-gknxeo.html
soapit
Roar Guru
no jacko, again, the cartoonist was australian (theyre a bit different to journalists) . apparently a rogue one acting with full creative freedom independent of his bosses wishes. ive known who owned it for a long time. never had it explained to me why that matters.
Jacko
Guest
Glad you see its an AUS owned paper and it was an Aus journalist. Clearly an Aus putting crap on another Aus...Mind you Cheika deserved everything he got from his fellow countrymen and more.