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Wallabies veteran James Slipper says he understands the reasons for former star Drew Mitchell’s explosive takedown of of Eddie Jones after the Fiji loss and predicts there will be more to come unless the team can turn around their fortunes against Wales.
On Friday Jones said “I don’t even know what Drew Mitchell said” and the head coach also disregarded criticism from another very vocal critic David Campese, who continued his attacks in another piece on Friday.
“I’ve been coaching 30 years, mate. I think I know what’s coming,” Jones told reporters.
Asked about Mitchell’s point that Jones had failed to explain his selections, Jones countered: “I think I have mate. I’ve been very clear about the fact that I’ve been brought in to change Australian rugby. And as we’ve said, the results haven’t been good.
“But I’m bringing through a young team that can be the basis of the team going forward. I’ve made no bones about that. I think I’ve explained that very clearly. And we’ve needed to move players on.”
Slipper was aware of Mitchell’s comments.
“I know Drew really well,” said Slipper. “The one thing about Drew is he cares a lot about the Wallaby jersey. He is genuinely very passionate about the team and he just wants to see us do well and that’s probably a bit of frustration coming out in Drew.
“As a player who’s still playing I get that. He’s not going to be the last player that comes out and says his bit. I’ve seen it my whole career, going back a long time. So it’s a part of the game.
“The players are invested, the ex-players are invested, the fans are invested and I get it. So it’s definitely not going to be the last player that voices his opinion. Whether they support us or not, it’s a part of the game that we are used to.”
World Cup winger Campese has been a strident critic of Jones and his decision to go for youth at the tournament and in an interview with Vegas Insider Campo claimed the younger players don’t “understand the importance” of their assignment in France.
“It would be unacceptable not to get to the quarter-finals. Australia should play rugby the way we know how to. If you haven’t got the skills or the determination and don’t understand your rugby culture or your history it won’t be successful,” said Campese.
“World Cups are supposed to be the ultimate in a player’s career. The young guys I don’t think understand the importance of the opportunity and playing for your country and the expectations on them.”
As well as Jones’ decision to leave out experienced players, he has also been questions for his “mad scientist” line up of coaching staff – which includes two AFL and two NRL aligned coaches.
Sipper defended the coaching team on Friday.
“I think coaching is pretty similar in all sports,” said Slipper. “It’s about managing people and I think this group does that really well. With any new coaches coming into the group, it takes a bit of time.
“They have different ideas of how the game wants to be played, and they get across to the players to get that game plan in place. So in terms of coaches coming from different sports, I know it’s a little bit different, but I feel the transition this year has been pretty seamless.
“We can sit here and address the elephant in the room. We haven’t got the results. So I get why there’s a bit of talk around that but as far as I’m concerned, the coaches have done a good job as a collective. It’s about us as players going out there and and putting that game plan into practice, perform it under pressure on the weekend.
“That’s probably the biggest thing that we need to get right as players. You can always nitpick at everything, all the way up to the top, when the results aren’t going going your way but us as players we know we’ve got to do a job to do this weekend. It’s really in our hands.”
With the Wallabies acknowledging they were battered in the breakdown by Fiji, some focus has come on the expertise of the staff in that realm.
“I wouldn’t say it’s an issue. Looking back on that Fijian game, it came down to a mindset,” said Slipper.
“We wanted to play a certain way – we’ll put our hands up – we got spooked. I thought the physicality that was in the game, we didn’t match that at all.
“And that comes off the back of the breakdown. If you’re not winning up front, you’re not winning the breakdown, you’re not going to win the game.
“In terms of the coaching, we trained really hard on the breakdown all week. And that’s why I’m a believer that the mindset wasn’t right. We were one second too late, one second to slow, we’d lose that break down. And I can tell you now the Welsh will be sitting there looking at that as well.”
Mitchell also criticised Jones’decision to have six captains in seven matches leading into the Fiji match.
“Captaincy, there’s six captains in seven weeks. Like, f—ing explain some of these decisions to us because, as fans, we’re all sitting here scratching our heads,” he said.
SAINT-ETIENNE, FRANCE – SEPTEMBER 14: James Slipper during a Wallabies training session ahead of the Rugby World Cup France 2023, at Stade Roger Baudras on September 14, 2023 in Saint-Etienne, France. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
Slipper said the team was on board.
“Internally, we cope with it fine. We said at the start of the year that it’s going to take quite a few captains this year with injuries and selection and HIA and suspension. You just don’t know really what’s going to happen. So the ability to have numerous captains in the team’s helpful,” said Slipper.
“We haven’t got the results so far this year. So it’s only natural that we’re trying to find the best the best outcome there in terms of leadership and Tatey did an amazing job earlier in the year and I can see him being a future captain for sure.
“You think back to when I came in and Rocky Elsom was my first captain – it would be interesting to see how he would go in this set up!
“Everything evolves with times and the collective leadership group is what’s important. But at the end of the day, one man has to make a call and that’s the captain. We’ve got a strong confidence in each of those leaders that can do a job on the day. It’s very clear.”