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Opinion

Alan Jones to coach my favourite Wallaby team

27th October, 2022
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Alan Jones. (Photo by Don Arnold/WireImage via Getty Images)
Roar Guru
27th October, 2022
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2198 Reads

I received this question about my favourite All Black team, “Great side, who do you think would be strong enough to coach a team that is chock full of personalities?”

The answer to that question was legendary coach Fred Allen, in a battle with Graham Henry.

Well, that same question applies to my favourite Wallaby team which I have shared with you over the past few months. Who will coach this team?

The short list came down to Alan Jones and Rod MacQueen. Of these two I had to reason who was my favourite coach and not necessarily the best qualified coach.

MacQueen has the better win ratio of 80 percent compared to Jones’ 70 percent record. In matches against the All Blacks MacQueen coached seven Tests for five wins against Alan Jones’ eight Tests for three wins.

Makes Dave Rennie look rather woeful, doesn’t it?

If you go by those statistics, then Rod Macqueen would be the popular vote for best all time Wallaby coach.

However, I know little about Rod MacQueen the man, his interests, likes, dislikes, life’s priorities and views on issues. Whereas I know more about Alan Jones, of whom you will either strongly disagree with or agree with.

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Rod Macqueen

Rebels coach Rod Macqueen talks to the media during a Melbourne Rebels Super Rugby training session at Visy Park on April 27, 2011 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

He is a polarising figure who most have an opinion on. Jones advocates conservative views, of which I predominantly do too.

When Jones was coach of the Wallabies, me being an All Black supporter, I disliked the man. Being a typical parochial Kiwi I would be offended at any criticism of our great rugby country and Jones seemed to do that with ease. Well, that was my impression at the time back in the 80s.

I have this vague memory of him complaining about the Wallaby accommodation at a small town in New Zealand, where the beds were deemed to be too small for the bigger players. He was not a popular figure.

Although David Lord in a previous Roar article in 2013 stated that, “When Alan Jones took over the Wallaby coaching job in 1984, it became a position of importance virtually overnight. Up until then the position was regarded as a necessary evil, officially known as the assistant manager.”

Well, that was then, this is now and thoughts have mellowed over the years. I now see him in a different light and none of the rancor exists. I do not agree with everything he says but share many of the same views.

Alan Belford Jones was born 1941 in Oakey, Queensland. His father was a farmer and coal miner and his mother a teacher. Like his siblings, Jones would also become a schoolteacher, securing a position at Brisbane Grammar where he also excelled at coaching tennis, rugby and athletics.

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Alan Jones

Alan Jones. (Photo by Don Arnold/WireImage via Getty Images)

He progressed to coach the Kings School Parramatta First XV to a championship title. After Kings he included a bid to enter politics, management and time in England on his resume.

After returning to Sydney, Jones had another failed bid at politics and ended up as a speech writer for Malcolm Fraser. In 1985 he then began his radio career in Sydney.

The first major step in his coaching career began in 1982 as the manager for the NSW team. A coaching role for Manly Rugby Union followed in 1983, who clinched the Shute Shield after 32 years.

In 1984 he was appointed Wallaby coach and became immortalised as the coach of the Grand Slam winning team. The Confederation of Australian Sport awarded him the Coach of the Year in 1985. A major achievement for Jones was winning the Bledisloe Cup in 1986, the first time in 39 years.

His accolades include being inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame and awarded the Member of the Order of Australia for services to Rugby Union.

I appreciate not everyone agrees with Alan Jones’s stance on certain issues, but I am attempting to keep it refined to his rugby career and achievements.

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A good coach can have varying political opinions, but does that really affect his job? His past comments on Australian rugby and their coaches are now proving to be correct with their dismal record over the past few years. Purely hypothetical, but if Jones were at his prime would he get any more out of the current Wallabies than Dave Rennie?

 

“What a transformation came over Australian Rugby Union in the ‘eighties! In my time the Wallabies were, for the most part, a pushover; some light entertainment in between taking on the All Blacks or the Springboks. But along came a great coach who inspired them to great deeds in the next decade, including an all-conquering tour of the United Kingdom.” – Gareth Edwards ‘100 Great Rugby Players’

“While Tempo and Dwyer were leaders in their field in specific areas, Jones was undoubtedly the master coach and the best I’ve ever played under. He was a freak. Australian Rugby was very fortunate to have had a person with his extraordinary ability to coach our national team.”

“New Zealand’s Fred Allen and the British Lions’ Carwyn James are probably the other most remarkable coaches of modern times. But given Alan Jones’ skills in so many areas, and his record, probably no other Rugby nation in the world has had anyone quite like him, and perhaps none ever will.” – Simon Poidevin ‘For Love Not Money’

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Alan Jones will always be remembered as a superb motivator and communicator, who was truly an innovator and transformed Australian rugby in the 80s. Some will say that they could have coached the 1984 team, but they were not there and they did not do it. All the selections and tactics were up to Jones, can you imagine Australian rugby without him?

How time changes feelings towards Alan Jones, going from All Black nemesis and chief antagoniser to selection as coach of my favourite Wallaby team!

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