Eddie Jones was keen to make it clear ‘I’m not the messiah’ nor a naughty boy in a prickly, extensive first all-in media conference since his surprise resurrection as Wallabies coach.

While Jones has spoken since the announcement, his appearance at his old school Matraville High – alongside his childhood mates the Ella brothers – was by far the most in-depth he has gone on his plans for his tenure.

Jones spoke about restoring pride to the game and the Wallabies jersey – vowing a return to the “spirit the Ellas had” in his teams.

Jones said the Wallabies had potentially the best backline in the world, and backed the team to have enough talent to win this year’s World Cup.

Jones was also at his cutting best on a couple of occasions – lining up two former coaches who have smashed him – Alan Jones and Clive Woodward. “One of them will work out who is the greatest coach,” he said.

Here’s everything Eddie said at Tuesday’s media conference

On being back on home turf

“It definitely does (feel like home),” said Jones. “Mark, Glen, Gary and I were talking out there and we’ve got the fourth Ella, a red-headed one Greg who played on the wing. We left here in 1977 and to come back here now is pretty special. It’s a good feeling. It’s quite emotional.

“I remember going to kindergarten with the three Ellas. There was no difference between anyone. We were all the same kids. We played cricket, rugby, rugby league and there was nothing between us.

“I came back and taught here, taught mathematics very badly. It was a different feeling. There was some antagonism between people and now I think one of the things that has really impressed me in Australian rugby is their endeavour to reconcile.

“We still need to do more for Aboriginal kids and getting them playing rugby. They have done well in other sports and we want more playing. We have seen what the Ellas have done for their people and we want to do more and I want to be part of it.“

On the state of rugby in Australia and winning back fan support

“Australian rugby has gone through tough periods before. This is not unusual,” said Jones.

“If you just look back at when the Ellas came through, in 1977 they played for Matraville High and in 1978 they played Australian Schoolboys.

“They went and won everything in the UK and it set off a movement in Australian rugby. At some time around that period, Australia got beaten by Tonga at [the Sydney] Cricket Ground. They changed the way the game was played.

“They changed that spirit of Australian rugby which was a bit of a mismatch between NSW and Queensland. They changed it back to an aggressive running style of rugby and they changed the fortunes of Australian rugby that culminated in the grand slam in 1984 with the world’s best coach in Alan Jones.

“His only competitor is Clive Woodward but they are having a good go at each other. One of them will work out who is the greatest coach.

“Australia ended up winning the World Cup in 1991 and then 1999 we won the World Cup. We want to start that period again. We’re not short of talented players here but talent doesn’t win World Cups.

“What wins World Cups and wins the hearts of people is teams who play with that same spirit the Ellas had. Being aggressive, playing with a certain panache. That doesn’t mean you run with the ball all the time because kicking can be as artistic as running the ball. We want to play with a certain panache.

“We want to play tough so at the end of tight games, you win those tight games. That’s the traditional Australian digger spirit. We want that in the team and that’s the opportunity for the players this year. Where can we take the team?

“If we play like that, people will want to watch rugby again. Mark [Ella] was saying he doesn’t want to come and watch us play until we play well. We need Mark to be at the ground. That’s good to hear. We want that pressure on ourselves. We want to perform. I’m only a small part of it.”

On the Wallabies’ World Cup prospects

“We’ve got to win the World Cup. Our plan is to win the World Cup,” said Jones, who came second in 2019 with England.

“If we win the World Cup it changes things for rugby in Australia. So our target is to win the World Cup then we’ll worry about what happens after that.

“To win the World Cup, we’re going to take this talented group of players, who are going to have to work together to make a team that has a competitive edge over the rest of the world.

“If you look at world rugby at the moment, there’s six teams not separated by a cigarette paper. They’re so tight.

“And the team that learns the most over the next nine months will be the team that lifts the William Webb Ellis trophy in Stade de France on the 28th of October at about 11pm.

“And we’re intending that to be us.”

He said that on his visit to the school on Tuesday he saw most of the kids kicking a round ball.

“Because they watched the Socceroos and they were excited about the Matildas in the women’s World Cup,” Jones said.

“And there was a small number of rugby. When we were at school here, when Gary and Mark and Glen were here, it would have been the opposite.

“All rugby kids and a few kids that played soccer. we we need to create role models and we need to create heroes for the young kids.”

On the road map ahead of him

Jones listed “three big things” that he needs to get locked down.

“One, the staff, two, the players and three, the way we play. So I used to have plans after plans – I used to have paper everywhere,” said Jones.

“And one of the things age teaches you is have an idea in your head but don’t get too set to a plan. So we’ve just got to knock them off as we go along.

“But I’ll be out on Saturday at Griffith… Saturday week I’ll be at Narrabri so I aim to get out to those Super Rugby teams, meet the coaching staff.

“Because the Super Rugby coaching staff – everyone’s in this together – they’ve got a huge role to play as well. [It’s a] huge role to prepare the players well and we want to make sure we do that collaboratively.

“And then I’ll speak to the players as we go around and then we’ll get our staff worked out again. I can’t get our staff worked out until I know what the players need. It’s not what I need. It’s what the players need so we’ll work that out and we’ll get that done.

“But by the time we’re ready for the first game in Pretoria, we’ll be ready to go.”

On what personal style he will bring to the job

“For every team you coach and since since Australia in 2005 I’ve coached a few teams, you’ve got to just find the right spot for those players,” Jones said when asked about a man management style that has been widely questioned.

“What’s the right spot to get them absolutely motivated because when we’re talking about motivation, everyone in this room at the moment thinks they’re concentrating at 100 per cent.

“And every player thinks they’re playing at 100 per cent. But what we know is that the human being has so much more in them.

“What we’re trying to find is that discretionary five to 10 per cent where the ball goes over your head and you make a decision on whether you run hard or you don’t run hard. That’s what we’re looking for.

“And so I don’t know how I’m going to have to coach the Wallabies. Whether I’m going to have to be harder, to be supportive or I’m going have to challenge or what mixture it is until I get the players.

“What I do know is that our players don’t lack talent. If you did a World XV today on talent you’d have a fair few Australian players in there.

“You’ve just got to look potentially at the backline Australia could have, potentially. And you’re thinking ‘yeah, is there a better backline in the world now?’

“But that doesn’t win you Test matches. What wins you Test matches is whether you run hard to do that inside clean, whether you go back over your head, to chase a kick. And so I need to find the right balance.

“It’s not just the head coaches, it’s the assistant coaches.

“Because when you think of modern rugby now and you think of how much work is done to prepare a team, the vast majority of the work is done by the assistant coaches.

“Now I’ve got a role to play so I’ve got to find the right level of coaching for those players so they want to give a bit more.

“Then when they give a bit more, they want to give a bit more again.

“It’s the old thing, in athletics, [Roger] Bannister breaks the four minute mile.

“So when he breaks the four minute mile, they say, at that time, the medical history says your body disintegrates, you can’t run that fast. He can’t run that fast.

Then next year, what happens? Six or seven people run the four minute mark.

“A Kenyan breaks the two hour marathon. The next day a woman marathon runner breaks a world record.

“So our players don’t know how good they can be. And I’ve got a role in trying to prod them, sometimes cajoling them, sometimes loving them.

“Whatever word you want to use to get a bit more out of them, see where we can take it.”

Jones was asked what the public’ biggest misconception of him was.

“I don’t think it really matters what people paint of you, because the only thing that matters is my relationship with the players,” said Jones.

“And I’m sure they don’t read the garbage that’s written by these blokes, if they do they’re not smart enough to play for the Wallabies.

“So they’ll be reading your columns and saying this and this, but what we’ll be worried about is developing good relationships with the players, making sure the environment gives them what they need.

“It’s what the players need. As coaches, we’re just servants to the players.”

On the culture he wants to instill and the myths of mental scarring

Dave Rennie was known for fostering a strong culture in the Wallabies team, although was criticised by RA chairman Hamish McLennan for his ‘Kumbaya’ approach recently.

“Culture is a set of behaviours, it’s how your group decides they want to behave,” said Jones.

“And a rugby team is put together to win games of rugby, we want to win and if that means getting up the other end of the field as quickly as you can and stopping the other mob coming into your end of the field.

“And to do that, you have to have an understanding of each others’ strengths and weaknesses, you have to have an understanding sometimes of things that have gone on before, and sometimes things that are culturally appropriate.

“Australia is a very diverse society, and if I just look at the player pools in Super Rugby, it’s far different to when I was here before, so we need to understand that.

“But the one thing we need to have is a Wallabies culture. And there’s guys that have been in the Wallabies culture and knows when it’s good, and knows when it isn’t good.

“And sometimes that historical reflection of what was good and what wasn’t good can be useful, and sometimes it’s [not] useful.

“We’ll definitely be looking at players from previous eras that can add to the understanding. I know George Gregan was over there on the previous tour, I was just talking to Morgan [Turinui] who is in charge of Classic Wallabies about how we involve them, that could be important going forward.”

He made it clear the team would be picked on form.

“If they are at their best at Super Rugby and producing at the top 2-3 in their position, then they’ll be in the Wallabies. Then they’ll be excited but they will be excited because then they will go on a journey that will change Australian Rugby. 

“If they miss out they will be so disappointed because they will be sitting at home watching a Wallabies team do things they would like to be a part of and they then might work a bit harder and they might get in the team.

“No door will be closed but as for the mental state, I don’t really care mate.”

He said he didn’t believe that players could be mentally scarred by previous results – ncluding the Wallabies near misses in tight contests.

“Mental scarring is a not a factor in sport. It’s the ability of a player to want to be at their best that’s the most important thing,” said Jones.

“All we want is players that want to be at their best and if they want to be at their best, then any previous experience they’ll cope with.

“I’m not worried about the history of that. I’m worried about the team gelling, getting together with the culture we want, being tough on each other and the opposition and those close losses will turn into close wins.

“Just look at the golden period. When I was coaching Australia previously, everyone remembers that (Toutai) Kefu try. Well before that we were getting beaten and Kefu does something great, scores the try and we win the game and it ends up the All Blacks coach (Wayne Smith) resigning.

“That’s the difference in sport and what we have to get the players is to believe that they can do it. You believe when you get confidence and you get confidence by repeated success and that comes from training well.

“There’s a step ladder to it and we’ll make sure that’s in place.”

On the importance of the Bledisloe Cup and All Blacks rivalry

“I think it’s pretty important… I remember 2001 in Dunedin when we won it, the party we had afterwards was fantastic,” said Jones..

“And Steve Larkham is one of our Super Rugby coaches now, was brilliant on that day, the way he manipulated the space against the Kiwis.

“And that’s a big target for us because we as Australians we can take New Zealand and we’re in a good position to take the World Cup so we’ll certainly be prioritising that.

“But again, it won’t be the be all and end all because the World Cup is a major tournament but certainly, you know we’ve got a home game against them in Melbourne.

“Where we have to have to have a sellout crowd which will be a great occasion.

“And we know that the last time the Australians played there, the referee made a difficult decision at the end of the game. And he’s still recovering from it.

“And Australia went close and it’s a ground, Melbourne Cricket Ground, where Australia traditionally play well.

“So if we can get the lead in the series then go to Dunedin then, what a fabulous place to win back the Bledisloe Cup. So that’s the picture in my head mate.”

Jones said he was impressed at how the All Blacks fought back after the Ireland series loss last year.

“If they lost that game in Johannesburg there might’ve been a change of coach and they battled through, won the Rugby Championship and then had a really good end of season tour,” said Jones.

“They’ve gone through that bit of transition where they’ve had a great team from 2012 to 2016, maybe coming off a little bit from 2017 and 2019, and now they’ve had to rejig the team.

“So I think they’ve done really well, they’ve always got great talent coming through, I’m sure we’ll see that in Super Rugby, a good coach in Ian Foster, good support coaches in Joe Schmidt and the young bloke from the Crusaders (Greg Feek), he does a good job there.

“I think they’re in a pretty good spot, but we’re coming after them. We’re going to be chasing them down the street, and that’s a good thing.

“We want that rivalry to be tough and I think New Zealand want it as well, so we’ll make sure we’re chasing them.”

On the battle for the No.10 jersey

“Some 10s can be inexperienced at 30, and some 10s can be experienced at 23, so it just depends their ability to put all the bits and pieces together,” said Jones on the preference for experience in the playmaker role.

“Put the information they get from the outside, look at the speed of the ball, their communication with their No.9.

“At the end of the last England tour, I watched Edmed and Donaldson play against each other, Eastwood v Randwick down at Coogee Oval, and both of them have got a lot to like about.

“Donaldson played well on the last tour, he’s a young guy coming though and he looks like he’s got a good head on him. So who knows?

“And there’s great competition there, hopefully we’ve got Quade coming back, Foley’s playing well in Japan, O’Connor will be fit for the Reds, then you’ve got Lolesio at the Brumbies, a young guy whose had some experience in Test rugby.

“So it’s going to be competitive, but we’re definitely going to have to decide the hierarchy of 10s, because … you want cohesion, particularly in the spine of your team, so we’ll try to get to that as quickly as we can.”

On the Giteau Law and overseas picks

“Everyone’s available mate…We haven’t discussed it yet but we will,” said Jones.

It led to an interjection from McLennan: “Whatever he wants…” 

Jones responded to the seemingly light-hearted injection: “At the appropriate time we’ll have a chat. I understand the rationale behind the law and it’s important to keep players in Australia. I think that’s important and we need to have a discussion around is that going to affect us winning the World Cup? 

“If it is, then we’re maybe an option, I’m not sure. At the appropriate time we’ll have a chat.”

On carrying an evangelical load for the sport in Australia

“I think I made the point today I’m not the messiah,” said Jones.

“Everyone’s in this together but sometimes you just need someone to beat the drum to get people walking faster and maybe that’s the role at the moment.

“Heading forward, it’s going to be about everyone working together. We need everyone to do it, including the media, we need you guys to beat the drum.”