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Dan McKellar has revealed he was asked by Eddie Jones to join his coaching staff through to the British and Irish Lions series in 2025, but the desire to be a head coach, particularly at a big English club, ultimately led to him making the biggest decision of his coaching career by foregoing a World Cup.
The ambitious and rising Australian coach also says he was not “dirty” that Rugby Australia signed Jones on a long-term deal, saying the Wallabies coaching job is “not something that anyone can just expect is going to be handed to them”.
Only a series of extraordinary events led McKellar to join Leicester Tigers, the English Premiership heavyweights.
A mere three months ago Jones was still England coach and his apparent successor, Steve Borthwick, was coaching Leicester.
But Jones’ axing at the start of December saw Borthwick parachuted into the England coaching role and thereby left the Tigers job open.
Dan McKellar says Dave Rennie’s axing had no bearing on his future with the Wallabies. Photo Hannah Peters/Getty Images
That position has now been filled by McKellar, a man who was headhunted by the Tigers on the recommendation of Borthwick, who tapped on the former Brumbies coach’s skill-set, particularly at the rolling maul, ahead of the 2019 World Cup.
“Certainly once Eddie was moved on by England there’s been a domino effect across the world in terms of coaching positions,” McKellar told The Roar in his first interview since resigning as Wallabies forwards coach.
“A year ago I certainly wouldn’t have thought it was going to happen.
“I’ve always had real interest in coaching out there, especially in the Premiership, because it’s a tough competition week-in, week-out.
“But I was 100 per cent committed to the World Cup. This opportunity popped up and it’s been a really tough decision to make, but I make it with the understanding it’s a head coach role and I’m a head coach, and it will make me a better head coach and hopefully Australian rugby can benefit from this experience down the track.”
When Jones took the role, he was hopeful McKellar would stay on.
Newly appointed Wallabies coach Eddie Jones has made just one official appointment to his coaching team. Photo Matt King/Getty Images
Jones saw McKellar as important figure for Australian rugby, but someone whose skill-set would not only be beneficial to the Wallabies at the World Cup but also provide some continuity to the program following the departure of Dave Rennie.
“We’d had discussions around staying on through till the end of the Lions series and that was all genuine,” McKellar said.
“So another two years after the World Cup, but, look, when I spoke to Eddie early last week, he was very fair, very reasonable.
“No doubt he would have been disappointed and probably frustrated, but his reaction was fair, reasonable, understanding and he gets where I’m at with my coaching career and why I’ve accepted the position.”
Were the scales tipped after Rennie’s departure?
“No, not at all,” he said.
“This would have been a tough decision to make if Rens was still here as well.
“Life and coaching, in particular, is all around timing and obviously I had a really close relationship with Rens and was disappointed and shattered for him. But I could see benefit to working with Eddie as well.
“In the end, it’s always been a decision for me around assistant coach versus head coach and I just couldn’t see myself being an assistant coach for the next three to five years leading into ‘27.”
Dan McKellar and scrum coach Petrus du Plessis were the last two coaches to leave the Wallabies earlier in February. Photo Mark Runnacles/Getty Images
Adding to the complexity of the decision was the prospect of working alongside Jones, who is regarded as one of rugby’s great coaches.
“I’ve spoken a number of people that have worked with Eddie and everyone said however long you work with him for, you’ll leave a better coach – and that was enticing,” McKellar said.
“And to pass up a World Cup, I’d booked flights for my family over there and that was something they were looking forward to and obviously the players, I had a very good relationship with the playing group and you can’t help but feel a sense of guilt, I suppose.”
McKellar has long been thought of as a future Wallabies coach.
Even before joining Rennie’s coaching structure in 2021, a year after he was asked to come on board, McKellar was seen as “Wallabies material”.
Not only had he taken over from Stephen Larkham at the Brumbies, he had helped expand their game, emphasising a need to develop their counter-attacking, while also leading the franchise to semi-final appearances in 2019 and 2022.
While some believed McKellar’s hand had been forced by RA signing Jones on a long-term deal through to the World Cup, the incoming coach rejected that.
“I’m in no rush to head coach Australia,” McKellar said.
“No one’s actually ever asked me this question and I’m in no rush.
“If I don’t ever coach Australia that’s not going to define me as an individual or as a person. Would it be nice to do one day when I’m ready and when other people feel that I’m ready, that’d be great. But I’m not dirty on not being the coach in ’24 and this is not a decision off the back of that, that’s got nothing to do with it.
“Coaching the Wallabies and coaching Australia’s is a big job, it’s a big deal. It’s not something that anyone can just expect is going to be handed to them, and I certainly don’t. I’m the last person that thinks that.
“I’ve been really proud and grateful to work as an assistant coach in the Wallabies. If the day comes that people think that I’m the man to coach the national team, well that along with having children and marrying my wife will be the proudest day of my life. But I don’t expect it to be handed to me by any means.”
Dan McKellar says he’s in “no rush” to coach the Wallabies and believes he will benefit from time overseas. Photo: Jono Searle/Getty Images
McKellar leaves without any regrets.
Even before he joined the Wallabies set-up he recognised that international rugby often came down to fine margins. He still thinks that.
“I go back to the second Test against England at Suncorp and there’s a dodgy 50-22 call that goes against us. If you win that, you might win a series,” he said.
“If we execute better in the first 20 minutes of the Sydney Test, you beat the English, you’re up, they’ve got to chase to the game. Close out that French game and the Irish game [in 2022] and all of a sudden it’s a very different year, a different feel.
“But there’s no regrets. There’s no point looking back and going, I shouldn’t have done that or should have done this. We work incredibly hard to try and win Test matches and, as I said, it’s fine lines and the margins for error are very fine. And sometimes you’re on the wrong end of the score board. I think the really good teams, they win the majority of those 50-50 games.”
Are the Wallabies a team capable of overcoming that trend and turning narrow defeats into wins? McKellar believes so.
The departing Wallabies forwards coach came out strongly last November ahead of the narrow 13-10 defeat to Ireland in Dublin when Stirling Mortlock said his former side could not win the World Cup.
McKellar, however, believes Jones will bring the team together and says the Wallabies remain a World Cup bolter.
“Obviously, plenty has changed but nothing’s changed in terms of the fact I think they can go deep,” he said.
“It was discussed when we were on the Spring Tour last year, you don’t necessarily want to come across Australia in a quarter or a semi-final.
“If we get out best players on the park and we’re in a good position physically going into that tournament, I really do think that they can be successful.
“Now, getting the new coaching staff and the playing group aligned, and Eddie’s been around the block many more times than I have, he will ensure that they get aligned and they’re all on the same page and once that happens, the Wallabies will be very dangerous in a World Cup.”
Dan McKellar believes the Wallabies can be this year’s great bolters at the World Cup. Photo: David Davies/PA Images via Getty Images
As for his immediate future, McKellar is planning on heading to Leicester, the reigning English champions, in April for the first time, after completing the interview process over Zoom.
The prospect of not having to sell the game as relentlessly also dawns on McKellar, with the Queensland-raised former prop excited to lead an English giant in front of a passionate, well-attended audience.
“After going on two Spring Tours, you understand that there’s a real love and passion for the game over there and I’ve sort of always thrived that,” he said.
“I’m not going to lie, it’s been pretty exhausting at times over the last five years. I’ve spoken often about trying to create positive stories for the game to get the game back at the forefront of people’s minds and for us to be successful again.
“I mean, we’ve done pretty well at the Brumbies. Everyone talks about the New Zealand teams, we’ve had a very good record against them for a number of years.
“But Saracens versus Leicester, or Northampton versus Leicester, whoever it might be at Welford Road, on a Saturday afternoon in front 25,000 people, a sold out stadium in those traditional rugby grounds where the crowd’s on top of you, I look forward to experiencing that.”
There was no popping off champagne bottles when McKellar made the decision to leave Australian rugby.
As McKellar said, “I don’t know if relief’s the right word because it wasn’t something that I was pushing for a long time”.
But he’s excited for his journey to the heartbeat of English rugby, believing he will return a better coach for the experience he’s about to undertake with his young family.
Not bad for a bloke from Brisbane, whose career was forged in Townsville at the Burdekin Canetoads.
“It’s a fair way from the Burdekin Canetoads, the Leicester Tigers,” McKellar said. “The Leicester Tigers is a great rugby club and I can promise you that Burdekin Canetoads is a great rugby union club, too.”
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.