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The great thing about the mind games of Eddie Jones is that his reputation means everyone searches for “The Great Con” that might not even exist.
With the Ashes upon us, the perfect analogy is related to cricket, his other favourite sport. Some search so hard for the wicked flipper or the mystery ball that the bulk-basic leg break becomes more potent.
We all remember a wonderful exponent who talked up a mystery ball every second summer and rarely had one.
Ditto Jones.
For now, all Jones has done is crack the whip cleverly on blokes who needed a boot in the shorts to find more.
Why would he pick every possible player in his first camp? He omitted Queensland Reds duo Harry Wilson and Tate McDermott and has got far more from them in the second half of Super Rugby Pacific. He got a few bigger games from Izzy Perese as well, two good ones from Noah Lolesio and a better James O’Connor as well when his smarts were moved to inside centre.
As for theatrically producing a cattle prod to show what was needed for winger Suliasi Vunivalu, that was gold at the initial Gold Coast training camp. Vunivalu took it the right way, instantly connected with Jones’ humour and nous and the straight words that he had to be himself and be a “try-scoring bloke” again.
Vunivalu found the right time to rise too against the Chiefs with one try finish off an O’Connor pass. His second try was one he would never have scored a year ago.
He snooped around at the back of the ruck, ran the fast-twitch pick-and-go himself and scored.
Jones has intimated that big showings in peak local derbies like Reds v Waratahs and Brumbies v Waratahs count for double points at the selection table.
Eddie was telling us about “double points” value at the selection table for such games 20 years ago.
Likewise, huge performances like the one No.8 Wilson cranked out against the Chiefs in the quarter-finals carry extra selection value.
Wilson poured 20 ball-carries, 20 tackles, a well-taken try and a couple of perfect passes into that five-star effort.
(Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)
Lock Ned Hanigan’s excellent first half for the Waratahs against the Blues was another persuasive effort. He scored a try and his good long pass would have set up another but for winger Dylan Pietsch botching it by tucking the ball under his exposed arm not the safety-first left arm.
Brumbies flanker Luke Reimer is almost without peer in Australian rugby right now for the frequent turnovers he triggers with the timing of his sorties into rucks.
You just can’t pick a bloke for anything higher at the moment when 12 of his 14 games have been off the bench in 2023.
We haven’t even begun to see the first joker pulled from Eddie’s deck of cards.
A wildcard call at fullback, re-arranging the backrow, a juggled lock pairing and playing Quade Cooper in Pretoria would warrant the first true gasps of the new era.
Super Rugby Pacific has been a good testing ground for Jones to assess his troops with all the positional question marks that are attached.
Some like Tom Wright have stepped up just about every week with influential play. Others like Waratahs fly-half Ben Donaldson have been treading water because you’d only rate his display against the Melbourne Rebels as top drawer, Test-quality.
Jordan Petaia was in red hot form before his wrist ligament surgery ended Super Rugby Pacific for him.
His big-bodied X factor, with his changes of pace, is vital for Jones and the fact he can tonk his punts 45m-plus.
He has the crunching cover defence at fullback that is the one weaker link in the Wright package so No.15 is still a consideration for him.
Wilson won his second Pilecki Medal as the Reds’ best player, on the vote of his peers. Wilson (268 votes) was a deserved winner but if Petaia (208) had stayed fit he might well have soared by him because those votes were accrued in just nine games.
Suliasi Vunivalu (R) and Harry Wilson (L) finished the Super Rugby season in strong form. (Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)
As for Melbourne Rebels hooker Jordan Uelese…he got plenty of chances to start in the second half of the season.
He did some very good things but battles to regroup when his lineout throwing goes off and always seems to overtly show his disappointment at moments that don’t go perfectly. He might be our biggest body as a hooker but we’d all beat him at poker.
The ACT Brumbies head to Hamilton for a semi-final on Saturday with every chance of silencing the cowbells that ring a chorus at every Chiefs game.
They won there in 2020 and 2022 so there’s no mental factor holding them back. You have to rate the Brumbies on so many scores.
They have got great value from the continuity of players in settled slots.
The Wright-Andy Muirhead combo has been in the back three all season. Flyer Corey Toole will get a chance with his pals after Ollie Sapsford does his bit as starting winger.
The Nick Frost-Cadeyrn Neville partnership is good enough to be the Wallabies lock pairing at times this season.
Pete Samu and Rob Valetini are quality regulars in the backrow, veteran James Slipper and every-improving hooker Lachie Lonergan are a front-row pair with a groove too.
Jack Debrezceni is another success story of the kind that only the Brumbies do regularly. He’s 30 but not making the big errors of his early Rebels career or even early this season when he dropped a couple of balls cold.
Noah Lolesio’s benching for back-to-back knockout matches tells a story. (Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)
His terrific quarter-final performance against the Hurricanes had direct running and long kicking of purpose.
No World Cup nation picks a fly-half who benches for his club team, which is where Noah Lolesio is at right now. His nerveless sideline conversion won the Brumbies the quarter-final as much as Reimer’s hand-of-God moment so, yeah, Lolesio has his plusses too.
The Brumbies who may turn this semi-final won’t even be sighted at the kick-off. They wear Nos. 16-23 as the bench crew.
Assistant coach Rod Seib put it beautifully this week: “They know what they are to add…they are there to make a difference not just blend in.”
A Reimer steal, a big Blake Schoupp scrum moment, a lineout pinch from Darcy Swain, a Toole sprint into the clear, Ryan Lonergan’s leadership, crisp pass and quick-tap sniping…plus more. The bench has a big role to play.
Jones will be watching on. There are very good Australian players out there. Brumbies coach Steve Larkham was spot on when he said selecting them in the right positions will be Jones’ most vexing debate.