In the wake of Australia’s shambolic pool stage exit at the World Cup, Rugby Australia announced last Thursday, the appointment of a three-person panel to conduct a review of the Wallabies’ season.
According to an official statement, “The panel will review the strategy and structure of the Wallabies’ performance environment in 2023 and aims to deliver its recommendations to the Rugby Australia board before the end of the year.”
It’s reasonable to expect any public or private company missing its performance targets by a wide margin and experiencing the resignation of key personnel and the dismissal of others to get to the bottom of why. An external review is often an appropriate process to uncover hard truths, and to provide a platform for recovery.
But as anybody who follows the sport in Australia knows, Rugby Australia is no normal business. Its governance structure comprises historic, parochial, state-based voices, uneasily blended with hand-picked board members who, in some cases, tick diversity and ‘other than rugby experience’ boxes, or who happen to be connected to the ‘right’ people.
With chairman Hamish McLennan’s determination to play an active, front-facing role, traditional lines of responsibility between the board and the executive management and operations have not just been blurred, but obliterated.
With his autonomy neutered, the resignation of CEO Andy Marinos, in May this year, came as no surprise. Nor did the appointment of a successor with no prior experience in such a position, in the expectation that he might be more pliable and more forgiving of the chairman’s intrusions.
To his credit, new CEO Phil Waugh appears to be growing into the role, and despite being a member of the board that waved through the exorbitant contracting of Joseph Sua’alii, the sacking of Dave Rennie and the appointment of Eddie Jones as Wallabies coach, he seems to be largely untarnished by the current situation.
Rugby Australia CEO Phil Waugh speaks to the media on October 02, 2023 in Saint-Etienne, France. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
It was Waugh who featured prominently in the announcement of the review, which, among other things, looms as a test to establish whether he has the internal and external authority to lead necessary change for rugby in Australia, or not.
Of interest are the panellists appointed. Of more interest is the scope of review.
The review will be conducted by ex-Wallaby grand slam-winning captain, Andrew Slack, vastly experienced high-performance and coaching administrator, Darlene Harrison, and RUPA CEO and Stan Sport commentator, Justin Harrison (no relation).
In terms of expertise, there is no reason why this panel won’t pull together a meaningful and insightful report, albeit there are concerns that Justin Harrison – an intelligent and wholly committed contributor to Australian rugby – is conflicted with respect to his player representative role.
Should the need arise, how hard might Harrison be prepared to go at the business that effectively funds the organisation he heads? What happens if the actions of players, individually or via their contractual framework, is determined to be a contributing factor?
Because humour is in short supply these days when it comes to Australian rugby, we should at least all put a dollar on the phrase ‘inside shoulder’ appearing multiple times in the body of the report.
The scope of the report is where things get interesting – because of what the panel hasn’t been asked to consider, and whether the review might thus be potentially rendered moot.
Specifically, Rugby Australia has asked the panel to review “the strategy and structure of the Wallabies’ performance environment in 2023.”
Let’s hypothetically surmise that the panel finds that coach Eddie Jones was unable to compile a world-class coaching unit, given the ‘mid-cycle’ timing of his appointment. Or that he had insufficient time in which to determine his best team prior to the World Cup.
Or that the panel might determine that Jones made a conscious decision to jettison a number of vastly experienced players in order to get a head start on preparation for the 2027 World Cup. Or that there remains tension and lack of clarity in decision making between the coaching, strength and conditioning, and medical staff which continues to contribute to an excessive number of soft-tissue injuries.
Is it the panel’s role to determine those and other factors, and link them to Australia’s failure and, along with some recommendations, leave it at that?
Or is it the role of this panel to scratch deeper and ask why Jones’ appointment was made when, whatever one’s views on Dave Rennie, it must have been known that continuity and team cohesion would be profoundly impacted?
Andrew Kellaway of the Wallabies and Wallabies Coach Dave Rennie smile after winning game one of the international test match series between the Australian Wallabies and England at Optus Stadium on July 02, 2022 in Perth, Australia. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Essentially; is this a review of the performance of the head coach and others in the high-performance team, or is this a review of how the head coach and the high-performance team got to be appointed in the first place?
If it is the former, the question might reasonably be asked, ‘what is the point?’ That caravan has already moved on, and nobody’s job is at stake.
If it is the latter, then that’s clearly a more pertinent exercise in getting to the root cause of the problems that led to the disastrous outcomes. Not whether Jones is a competent coach or selector or not, but whether the nature and timing of his appointment was always doomed to fail, and/or whether Australia’s systemic, structural impediments were always going to lead to this kind of crash, no matter who the coach was.
That feels like far too big a piece for a three-person panel to digest, form conclusions and recommendations on, and report back on, in just seven weeks.
It would also go against every action so far by McLennan, to potentially expose himself to criticism for his decision to sack Rennie and hire Jones, and to effectively scuttle Australia’s World Cup hopes.
McLennan was once again prominent in the media over the weekend, using The Weekend Australian to liken himself to Theodore Roosevelt and to try to portray himself, the board and Waugh as a decision-making triumvirate. Interestingly, that seemed to apply only to the questionable decisions, whereas claimed successes around sponsorship and confirmation of hosting of the 2027 and 2029 World Cups were reserved for himself.
(Photo by Matt King/Getty Images for Rugby Australia)
There is also the matter of a similar end-of-season review carried out last year, the findings of which were never made public.
One imagines that if the review was critical of Rennie, it would have seen the light of day, in support of McLennan’s decision.
If that wasn’t the case, and the chairman acted unilaterally to remove Rennie regardless – and effectively CEO Marinos as a result – then it might reasonably be asked, what is the purpose of such a review, other than to breed cynicism in the fan base?
And what of players asked to contribute their thoughts? It is fanciful to suggest that, this time last year, any player was agitating for a change of coach and a pathway into a miserable World Cup experience.
Twelve months later, it would be no surprise if players approached to contribute to this review wonder, ‘what is the point of asking us, you never listen anyway’?
With the pain of the World Cup beginning to dull, it is vitally important that Australian rugby gets its bloodletting over with, and begins to focus forwards. Wherever one stands on Jones, because the circus surrounding him had grown larger than life, his resignation was welcome and necessary for this to occur.
There are many good things occurring at grassroots and franchise level that need trumpeting and building off.
But it is also key that for forward progress to be made, there be genuine acknowledgement and contrition from Rugby Australia’s leadership, that what has happened – this year and over the last two decades – is wrong, and that it must be fixed, and that the right people and processes are in place to do so.
Threats thinly disguised as headlines from McLennan – “Spear me and there will be a world of pain” – are not the way to go about this.
It is up to Australian rugby’s leadership to make the cynicism and discontent go away. If this review turns out to be another report buried, or a whitewashing exercise due to deliberately narrow terms of reference, then nothing will have been gained.
In positive news for Australian rugby, the Wallaroos capped off a great fortnight’s work by overcoming Wales, in Auckland, 25-19.
Kaitlan Leaney of Australia celebrates victory in the WXV1 match between Australia Wallaroos and Wales at Go Media Stadium Mt Smart on November 03, 2023 in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo by Dave Rowland/Getty Images)
While this result was in line with the 13-7 win over the same opposition in last year’s World Cup, it was the surprise 29-20 win over France, the week before, that really caught the attention.
At the World Cup, France was one missed kick away from beating eventual champions New Zealand in their semi-final. They have been a high-class team, with far more resources at their disposal than Australia, over the last four-year cycle.
Properly funding high-performance women’s rugby is one of many crucially important challenges for CEO Waugh. Australia’s leading female players are clearly doing their bit on the field. They deserve far more than throwaway media grabs from McLennan about Eddie Jones overseeing the Wallaroos program when there was never the capacity nor intent for him to do so.
The next few weeks will be pivotal. The extent to which the Wallabies season review is an honest attempt to provide solutions, and the Rugby Australia board demands accountability from its chair, will determine how genuine the sport is in forging a solution that the entire rugby community can embrace and support.
Kane
Roar Guru
What’s that saying? A fool and his money are easily parted? The SRU and their grass root committees are a shambles. They actively make it hard for players to join the sport. It’s almost like a prerequisite of being on these committees is to lack any common sense. The Super 6 being scrapped was five years in the making. It’s been a terrible competition and the teams themselves are undecided if it’s even worth finishing the final year.
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
Super 6 is gone which is disappointing. Hopefully the new competition will work better but they need promotion back to the u20 championship as they can't fail again in the trophy. Atleast they have the money to do things.
Kane
Roar Guru
And there goes the Super 6.
Kane
Roar Guru
Can’t find many people that rave about the Super6 Perhaps we should be looking at why they have less players than the countries you suggested. The unions here do not make it easy for players to play. All the red tape is driving players away.
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
And you still think the only difference between Scotland and Italy is Finn Russell. Scotland ability to set up the S6 (I know it has problems) in a time when other T1 nations are cutting funding to their second tier shows how well it is going in Scotland. Are things perfect, of course not but the SRU has money to do things unlike other Unions. Considering Scotland have less regisyered rugby players than Sri Lanka and Kenya and all the other T1 have 60+% more than them they are doing well (they get more fans into Murray field than they have registered players. Out of curiosity have you seen any positive changes at underage that should help the u20s get out of their rut.
The Flying Pig
Roar Rookie
The RC for SANZAR teams is the main focus. 6N is the main focus for those guys. The only time there is genuine interest in the NH for the July tests is when there is a test series. On the back of a European season it’s a nonsense to spend 100 hours flying around Asia, Africa, South America & Australasia. The NH sides won’t be at full strength & as a result the tournament becomes meaningless. The idea that underpins the whole thing is to add interest by making the games cross hemisphere games meaningful. This doesn’t. Then there is what happens in the Lions & WC years that bizarrely has hardly been mentioned. This plan is that July & Nov test windows will be for games against tier 2 teams. Not sure how ticket sales for that will work out.
Kane
Roar Guru
I’m well involved in the off field stuff here in Scotland
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
Don't agree, do you think Russell is the linchpin in attack and defence. Only thing the two unions have in common is they both play in the 6N. Italy has 100k registered players Scotland have half that. Scotland u20s is where Italy was 10 years ago. But Scotland have an average attendance higher than SA even for November games and make 10s millions of profit each year that has allowed them to set up the S6. Italy and Scotland have as much in common as Argentina and Australia, do you think Argtina are a PM away from beung Australia. Yes they play in the same competitions but how players get to the test side are different as are the supports as are the the strenghts and weaknesses of the teams. Maybe pay more attention to off the field stuff as its a better indication of future on field performance.
JD Kiwi
Roar Rookie
More logical would be a flow from Japan to SA to Argentina to NZ to Fiji to Australia. It's only the first two that have two oceans to cross and that would only be once every 12 years for each team. When you think what the Rugby Championship used to be every year it's no great hardship.
Kane
Roar Guru
In reality Scotland are a Finn Russel injury away from being Italy.
Ian Brown
Roar Pro
Upon reflection there is also something else which it would be nice to get clarity on. Now I don't profess to know the exact time line but was the removal of Rennie and Marinos a done deal? Given the chairman was having discussions with Jones either prior to or during the spring tour of 2022 then maybe it was all over for the CEO and coach no matter the results of that tour. Would Rennie still be there if we would have beaten France, Ireland and Italy, I know what iffs? It does look a bit cute that a member of the board is quickly made CEO and the 2022 review is not published.
The Flying Pig
Roar Rookie
True, but if in that test window each SH team (and Japan) all have three home tests someone has to play in Japan or Argentina or SA in the second week. Let’s say they split the fixtures with three NH teams to play Fiji, NZ and Australia and then host the other SH in November. That’s not to bad as at least they are in the same continent but the other three NH teams will play Japan, Argentina & SA - that is a logistical nightmare.
JD Kiwi
Roar Rookie
Obviously they will engineer the draw to minimise travel as best they can.
Footy Franks
Roar Rookie
I notice Geoff leaves any questions on Super or alone. Super and the huge waste of money here with no community support and the demise of its quality is the main reason we are in this decline. Even NZ is questioning Super and whether they should focus internally as playing Australian teams is seeing a decline in their game.
The Flying Pig
Roar Rookie
French clubs are already saying things like it’s a excellent opportunity to grow depth - i.e. they don’t want the best players flying to Australia and then to South Africa and then to Japan. Playing once a week isn’t the problem. 20 hour plus commutes is. If you imagine the WB were to play Argentina in Salta, South Africa in Gqeberha and the AB in Dunedin on consecutive weekends you get an idea of the sort of hellish schedule that NH teams could face.
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
No but it allows Toulouse to keep the players they want and provide more players to the WC than any SR side. Toulouse care about their club and are generating as much as all the NZ SR sides combined. Look how long it took Spain and France to win in soccer. If the WC is all that matters why did SA move their club sides North. Money is needed for professional sports and Toulouses 50m helps make rugby grow.
cs
Roar Guru
Ankles once outlined to me what we need to achieve alignment, as follows: [A bloke] who writes the contents of audit checklists and provides the video footage snippets and photos for those (electronic) checklists of what’s being looked for, which is what each independent franchise checks themselves against, to look at their alignment with the Australian whole. The checklists are refreshed regularly. They cover the results – what’s on the field of play – as well as the support – the back office – as well as the management and administration of the on-field and the support. Believe it or not, the internal audit program is where the rubber meets the road: – everyone has the same page? Everyone is on it? Check. – you know what success looks like? Check. – you cover success on-field, support functions, administration and management? Check. – and they are aligned? Check. – and you can evaluate and provide feedback based on a common understanding and alignment? Check. – if the audit detail is wrong or needs to be improved, you have a method where everyone can provide feedback and add their insight? While there is still a final arbiter of the decisions, how changes build to the vision of success, and who has accountability for holding the vision? Check. Alignment can be achieved by everyone playing nice with the bloke who is accountable for the checklists, and the checklists communicate the vision. You don’t need to control the P&L or the asset registers for this approach to succeed.
Olly
Roar Rookie
No slave gets multimillion-dollar handouts while delivering nothing year on year. These are all the same excuses we have been putting up with now for years. Personally, I am sick of these excuses from the SR level, and it is time everyone stops putting up with this nonsense and expect better. This is just white sound covering up the laziness and incompetency of the SR teams. Super Rugby format might be a problem but it is not "The" problem. The pathetic performance of the Australian SR teams is the problem. If the Australian teams could compete, it would be week on week best of the best rugby with fans packing stadiums to watch a high-quality product. They could change the format to have unicorns in it…. the rubbish rugby from the Australian teams will continue to turn fans away from the game. This format change talk is all white noise….Nobody watches losers and our SR teams are nothing but losers. Lack of talent in Australia is also SR team laziness. We have more talent overseas than we do in half our SR teams. Rob Keraney commented in an interview back in the North when asked about Super Rugby teams from his time at the Force that the teams are packed with incredible talent but they don't have the coaches for them...... I have moved to a regional town that is sporting mad and there are zero rugby scouts, recruitment, and pathways here. League is here in force and filling up the NRL teams and extended squads. I have just learned over the last week that the Northern Hemisphere rugby teams have just started to recruit directly here now from schools….think about this…..The Northern Hemisphere rugby teams have eyes and ears here to recruit talent and we have the nerve to say there is no talent…..absolute incompetence to the greatest degree and the ultimate failure to grassroots rugby by the state rugby bodies…. RA needs to improve yes, but there is not enough glitter in this world to cover up the turd that is the Australia SR teams.
Hicks
Roar Rookie
" Toulouse have an operating budget this season of about 50m" Nice, hasn`t made the surrender cheese monkeys win a Rugby World cup yet.
Hazel Nutt
Roar Rookie
Thanks Geoff, as always a well considered and structured dive into the corporate side of our game. My question is, do you think the gradual progress being made on centralisation and alignment would stall, continue or even speed up if HM is sacked? I always find thinking about the structure of the sport, top to bottom, a depressing exercise. The current CEO, and stacking this review with two arguably unqualified and/or conflicted former players, stinks of more jobs for the boys. We were assured those days were behind us.