'How did mighty Australian Rugby get to this': McLennan says he has 'no' regrets, outlines three areas to fix

I support centralisation. Goodness knows that those 2 empires need to stop building up their empire further at the expense of the kingdoms and villages

If done via policies promoting ingrity, tranparency, oversite and redundancy by a leadership team with an effective vision. Yes. Otherwise, no. But at least then we’ll know for sure where the fault lies. To enable a successful RA empire a structure that allows for multiple kingdoms is also required. Unfortunately the current federated/state based structure only allows for 2 empires, 3 kingdoms and 3 villages. Until this is changed, I don’t think it’s going to make any difference what RA is allowed to do.

"Q: You were the architect behind Eddie’s return. Do you have any regrets this year around parachuting back into the head coaching role and any bullish public statements you made? No. Eddie’s cutting from England provided a catalyst which we had to decide on quickly. Dave’s win rate was 38% and Eddie’s was 73%. We were going no where fast. Those bullish statements also helped us get new Sponsors, the ‘27 and ‘29 World Cups, get a broadcast arrangement and cut us a fair deal against the Kiwis when they tried ruin us." Hamster BS again - EJ had no comparable win rate as he didn't coach OZ. What new sponsors? How many $$$? The WC deals were done before him. The Broadcast arrangement where they want to reduce the paltry $16m currently paid and with the national team failing to get out of the pool - that broadcast deal will be savaged cos nobody wants it. I read somewhere today that discussions with PE options have been stopped due to RA dismay at PE valuations. What did RA expect with these results? I travel a lot around Asia and in the local markets team jerseys from all popular sports are a huge knockoff item - apart from the soccer heavyweights you always find AB kit but never the Wobblies and it has been like that for decades. AB's got PE buy-in because they are a global brand and it seems to me the RA delusionists thought they would garner similar funding when globally the Wobblies are nada. Finally, that old BS about the Kiwis fair deal when they actually had a product that people wanted and the Hamster felt he was entitled to a 50% share when nobody watched OZ game = FFS the clown needs to go NOW

Whilst McLennan is a succesful business man, many of his decisions at RA have been stinkers. Look at the decision last year to take two extra test matches on the NH spring tour. The two extra tests were purely a commercial decision as it would net RA an additional $2-3 million (not sure of the exact figure) but in the end it proved disastrous - barely scraping by Scotland and Wales and a first ever loss to Italy. Now not withstanding that there was a ridiculous amount of injuries last year which McLennan could not have forseen, but, just but, if the NH tour started with a test against Italy, then maybe they would have beaten Ireland and France as well, instead of fielding the walking wounded for five tests in a row. Definitely a sliding doors moment that could have saved Rennie's job.

Yeah he was able to turn England around very quickly after taking the helm. England beat the Wallabies 3-0 during the 2016 inbound series, and I think they may have also claimed a 6N grandslam that year (or maybe the year after), and they won three 6N titles with Jones.

I beleive there was talk of centralisation many years back but QLD and NSW voted it down.

Not sure he has done better or worse than Rennie all I know is the English and Welsh teams have gone back to basic foundations of set piece and breakdown work under their coaches who have basically implemented the same plan that Eddie wants to do. Eddie can’t do that because the players aren’t there. I don’t think Rennie would have beaten Wales and I don’t think Rennie would have played Skelton so then the breakdown is not what it has been so then the Fiji result still happens. Agree Eddie with reporters has been bad but that is what he is and plenty coaches have been like that just maybe not as in your face. While I feel sorry for the fans do you feel the same as the fans of Tonga and Chile who have less money and go even though teams are going to lose most of their games. Oz is the first country where Eddie has failed to make a difference so was it a bad choice to assume he would do the same he did at Japan and England. Issue lies with what skills the players have v what skills the players need. Look at the playing time and level played at for the Oz 2019 u20 side v the French team that beat them in the final. Cant expect a coach to magically be able to provide 4 years of breakdown work the players don’t have, Rennie’s solution was to just not worry about the breakdown but it was under him the penalties went really high and the players missed out on the higher level breakdown work they needed prior to the WC.

Yeah we'd never know, I mean it's not like anybody in rugby every leaks to journo or anything

I can empathise with Hamish’s position. Despite being sacked by England, Eddie was still one of Australia’s most successful coaches. He was now on the market, and would be snapped up by a rival in no time. Rennie’s win rate was 38 percent, and that included 5 in a row with Quade running the game. With Quade out of the picture with a busted Achilles, and a big ? over whether he would be back and firing for the WC, the Wallabies looked dead in the water. Hamish had to move fast. With the benefit of hindsight, we are all experts, but we aren’t the ones in the hot seat, having to make decisions based on available information.

Here are some other questions which might have been asked (though presumably not answered): * Why was DR guaranteed his position until the RWC? * What due diligence was done wrt EJ's departure from the England set-up * Did EJ flag this "rebuild" program before his appointment? * Why have you allowed EJ to shift the narrative from "smash and grab" to "rebuild"? * Does EJ have to justify his squad selections to anyone at RA? * Can you identify a single area in which the Wallabies have improved since EJ's return? * How many RA staff (excluding coaches and support crew) are at the RWC, and what is it costing? * WTF have you been doing for the past three years if you had already identified the need for a "rebuild"?

Seems he is blaming everyone but himself for pretty much everything

The hubris exhibited by McLennan is truly amazing. One week he is telling critics not to watch if they don't like it, the next crying crocodile tears about fans leaving the Wales game early--essentially taking his earlier advice. He claims that supporting the game at the grass roots is one of the 3 priorities to fix Australian Rugby but has overseen the squandering of what few resources RA has on recruiting a young player from the NRL and paying out coaching contracts and creating another financial liability in giving Jones a 5 year contract. Typically when there is a changing of the guard at the top as there was with the replacement of Dave Rennie, those responsible for the decision reinforce their decisions by trashing the work of the person who has been replaced. In this case it involved the replacement of a number of experienced players in the Wallabies squad for no fault of their own, but simply to prove the wisdom of the replacement decision. Enough has been written about the decisions around fly-half and to a degree around the omission of Michael Hooper which was a major blunder mad evident in the Fiji game if it had not been evident beforehand. What has not been given the attention it should have has been the treatment of the most experienced player in the squad that was chosen--James Slipper on two counts. First the appointment of Dave Pilecki as captain in this pressure cauldron when there was a ready experienced captain available in Slipper is inexplicable other than on the basis that Slipper had been captain under Rennie. Pilecki is a very good player who did not need the added pressure of captaincy in these circumstances. It affected his game. How he could deal with the impact of the no jump lineout and his role in that turning point in the game from a leadership point of view is difficult to fathom. At that point the leadership of a wise head was absolutely crucial. While it was problematic in the context of the game the Wallabies were still in the contest and at half time down 16-6 all was not lost. In the first half Slippers Welsh opposite had attempted to lift Slipper in the scrum on a number of occasions only to be demolished by Slipper earning the Wallabies a couple of scrum penalties. The wallabies more than held their own in the scrums in the first half. Why on earth was Slipper replaced by "youth" at half time. Immediately the Welsh prop who had been tamed by Slipper became successful in popping his new opposite and our scrum was destroyed for the rest of the game. At every level the decision to replace Slipper was a disaster. The Psychological impact on the forward pack of having its scrum dominated should not be underestimated. Once Slipper was gone (with the bulk of the teams collective experience) the game was over. It was more of the same unfortunately, tied up with the justification of the undoing of anything Rennie had done. Its amazing to see how quickly the narrative has changed from replacing Rennie's team with one that could win the 2023 world cup, to one of going with youth to build a platform for the 2027 event. The narrative about the value of this losing experience compared with the way in which Carter Gordon was removed from the starting 15 in the Welsh game is an indication of the extent of the reverse engineering of this glib response to the defeat we have just suffered. Forget about blaming the players and even the coach. The change required immediately is the removal of McLennan.

Hence the need for a guaranteed return built into the structure. It is never going to happen while they rely on a voluntary return…we can see where that leads now and running into a home RWC you can bet there’ll be plenty of competition even for that. It is like the tax department relying on people to spare what they feel they can afford…

Not according to recent articles.

I have no issue with a full review after a World Cup and moving Rennie on if the results were poor. A knee jerk reaction to kick him out because Eddie had been sacked by England was a shocking decision. 9 months out from the World Cup. Do you honestly believe Eddie has achieved more than Rennie if he had stayed on? What about the impact on the wallaby brand and the game - the way journos and the PR side has been managed? Does it reflect the ARU brand and values of the wallabies - are we about arrogance and disrespect? We have confused confidence and swagger with something else, unfounded in results and performance. What about the fans that saved and travelled to France?

It's the physicality of doing it over and over again. The bench with lower skills doesn't help easier.

Was I wrong. Rennie at Glasgow had the same issues that he had at Oz which was fast play but a team good and the breakdown made them useless.

How Jake White is still at the Bulls is beyond me. I think if the Sharks finish above them this year he must be done.

True. Without SA to keep them linked to the rest of the Rugby world they have become rubbish at the foundations.

There is no leadership at RA so it is lucky we are already there. If they do not have signed commitments for finance, they would not be able to defend a winding up notice. Last year's profits were predominantly non-cash in nature, and the same will be the case this year, although I am dubious about them making a profit.