I note that D Pocock is far more diplomatic than me. He’d make a good politician!

I think Eddie Jones is a divisive figure who would be a disaster if hired for a Wallaby coaching or advisory position. Who could forget his nasty psychological destabilising of Cheika in many truly ugly media performances. Maybe it shouldn’t have worked. It didn’t on Rennie. But the fact that it happens at all is exactly not the image the Wallabies need. How could you repair the damage to still current players from 2019 and before re trust, respect, etc. Impossible.
A divisive and nasty figure such as Eddie would certainly divide, but just as certainly not conquer.
We need to stick with Rennie and then move on after the WC to our next logical choice of Australian for coach. No foreigners. No recycling damaged goods.

Andrew Kellaway may not be ready to start after his hamstring injury, but his attacking nous was a major missing piece of the losses to England in the 2nd & 3rd tests. If he starts we’ll have to assume he’s ready for it, and if he is, that’s good for the Wallabies. Tom Wright hasn’t shown himself as a linkman/creator yet, but he looked good in space with the ball, particularly in the 1st try in the 3rd test against England. Lolesio has a long way to go to have the necessary confidence to direct operations and see the opportunities for attack like top international flyhalves eg Cooper. Edmed or Donaldson may soon eclipse him, because they do have that innate confidence. Time will tell, and the World Cup is probably too soon for any of those three.

The Scottish tighthead prop appeared to be binding on James Slipper’s arm, and dragging it forcefully downward to cause a dropping of the bind, and about 3 penalties to Scotland against Slipper.
The law states that the bind must be on the side or back and not the arm, I believe.

“Not guilty” is a very bad decision for rugby. Interpretation of film footage is obviously an individual thing, and the Judiciary have seen no foul play. I saw the opposite. First Jordie Barrett’s knee went out, but because Korobeiti made the correct decision to stop and stay out of range, the only no way Barrett could inflict physicality upon Korobeiti was to kick out from the knee. Barrett sees red when he feels physically threatened, and strikes out with no concern for the recipient or the rules. He is a serial offender. Remember the forearm to the head/neck of Haylett-Petty to stop him inflicting a damaging tackle with no space for avoiding the crunch? Haylett-Petty hasn’t played since. 2 years.
He’s got away with it again.
Just makes you wonder how?

I like your comments, especially re JOC. The Waratahs 10 is Ben Donaldson. And I thought there was something about him as well. Takes on the line, big enough to do it effectively, seems to choose his best option, and nails his goalkicks and line-clearances.
Mentally shot? Maybe a bit, after they handed that match to NZ. Three intercept tries certainly indicates that they are fixed on doing things too far in advance of a proper final decision time, so the play is too easily read. Touch footy is good. let’s hope so.
The blind-side defence isn’t managed properly as NIcholas Bishop pointed out, so IT HAS TO BE! Is that so hard? We should be able to fairly easily fix that, but perhaps it is part of a wider problem where scramble defence seems to lack gold jerseys. The best players are always doing the most running off the ball, and there really needs to be a considerable effort to get that improved a lot. Tate McDermott and Hooper do cover defence, but where are the rest of the inside backs and forwards? John Eales used to make cover tackles. Perfect ones too!. Brodie Retallick and Codie Taylor scored tries by pure support lines and tireless running. Players need to be savvy enough to sniff the possibilities both in attack and defence. I think the Wallabies are lacking there. Is it confidence? I think that is a big part of it, for sure.

I think T’o omua starting at 12 last Saturday was a mistake, but Lolisio and Paisani are worth continuing with. Inexperience from them both hurts when it hits, and those lapses must be eradicated asap, but they both do very good things as well. Both need more urgency in scramble defence, and also need to think ahead to where the play is going, not where it is now.
Do only Hooper and McDermott do cover defence?

The conference system with 18 teams was too complicated and seemed unfair and the audience lost interest.
The author’s proposed system is complicated with bells on, unwieldy, and simply lacking any concept of tribalism and continuity to enable a building of support over time.
One star.

Abandoning the AIS training program doesn’t sound like a good plan.
Rugby as a corporate entity operating in the world of “Big Sport” with rivers of cash available to be finessed sounds like it needs to have people experienced in TV and online sport involved in the decision-making. Whether that means that there needs to be total separation from any club affiliations (or not) definitely warrants examination. It sounds illogical, in that it implies that knowledge of rugby below the fully professional tier is not really relevant.
My impression is that the rivers of gold produced lazy corporate habits and a lot of snouts in the trough. The salary bill was way too high, no money was put into a cash reserve for a rainy day, and too much emphasis on the Rolls-Royce corporate operational methodology.
Sounds to me as though a review is absolutely necessary, and input needed from the non-professional levels of rugby, as well as sports media specialists.

No Super Rugby means no NSW Waratahs. A Sydney team in the proposed seven team early-season NRC-style comp effectively replaces the Waratahs, with the NSW Country team also part of that replacement.

ARU management appears to be bloated in both staff numbers and salaries paid, and its performance has been poor probably since at least the end of the first John O’Neill stint as CEO. The current minor annual salary cut by the CEO Raelene Castle (even though it is 50%) amounts to a $400,000 cut. That amount slaps you in the face with the ridiculousness of the size of the salary in the first place. Other admin salaries, for the 25% not laid off, have been reduced by 30%. The players themselves, have not been told what their cuts will be.
Realistically, $50,000 max per player per annum is about the most possible. That amounts to $10 million. The ARU has $11 million cash and no income. The $1 million left after paying the players is all there is for ARU admin staff and coaches. At $50,000 each for them as well, there is enough for 20 people.
There will be no rugby, at best, until February 2021. The Super Rugby franchises need to be dissolved now, with the remnants cherry-picked and earmarked for resurrection in 2021 in the new proposed NRC comp.
The game has to protect its solvency.

The best players playing (in the new NRC-styled early-season Super Rugby comp replacement) will make a huge difference. Star power is important.

I doubt Ireland or Scotland have more BN players than Aus.
You can’t have actually read the article anyway, because the proposal is not Sydney-centric but nationwide. The proposal also aims at what is most achievable, not any pie-in-the-sky dreams.

Simple is best, and a professional tier replacement for Super Rugby is the simplest with an NRC-style comp completed immediately prior to the June test window. I proposed seven teams in my article yesterday “A New Path For Australian Rugby”. Those teams were ACT, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, North QLD, and Northern NSW (the last two courtesy of Sheek – I’d called them NSW Country and QLD Country, but his existing provincial organisation arguments were eminently sensible).
All the existing Super Rugby / Wallaby players would be playing in it, so this competition would look more like a domestic Super Rugby, and not like the existing end-of-season NRC. It would therefore have star power and TV appeal, so rights would have greater value due to the quality on display.
Costs would be extremely high in a proposed 24 team club model, and there would be too many matches to viably broadcast. Three matches each week-end at 7.30pm on Free-to-air and Foxtel (shared like with NRL) is a nice dose of Australian Rugby that can build strength and audiences over time.
To start with there would be not a lot of money, so very lean admin and player salaries would have to apply.
Rugby does not have to attempt to emulate AFL and NRL, but rather produce a logical and quality product that the existing Rugby fanbase can enjoy and participate in. Over time, particularly via Free-To-Air access, the audience could be grown, if the quality builds and tribal-style support develops.

Last week I saw something about NZ idolising the ABs, but below that they were less interested. Maybe they have grown a little tired of having less and less competition at Super Rugby level, making the matches way less interesting. Maybe the Mitre 10 Cup audience is affected by the drop-off in SR interest.
Crusaders support always seems strong though!

The early-season Super Rugby domestic replacement competition concept obviously has all current Super Rugby and Wallaby players in it (if they haven’t left for Europe or Japan). After the June Test window, no Super Rugby would mean that those players could play in the suggested 3-way Origin-style series prior to the Rugby Championship, or play club rugby.
The club rugby standard would obviously be greatly improved by Super Rugby / Wallaby players playing in it, but that doesn’t mean it has not been and is not now a valid and valuable lower tier developing the next stars of the game (as it has done still up to now).

Maybe you should read my article again …

While that is true, drainfish, Australian Rugby has an opportunity to build on the work done in developing the Western Force and Melbourne Rebels, and before that the ACT Brumbies. Those cities have club competitions as well, but would not be strong enough as a club to compete with Sydney and Brisbane clubs.
The professional tier can lie above the club tier in Australian Rugby, as shown by the success of the Super 12. My proposal was like a domestic Super 12 concept with no stuffing around with teams and formats from season-to-season.

Good idea, jeznez, about the origin series post June tests. It is a bit like the old Wallaby trial games – City v Country, Possibles v Probables, but with the origin-style feeling injected.

That’s way too Bitta, Force.
Sydney and Brisbane have most of the players for a (major) start.
But my point was that the tribal feeling for Sydney at the 2001 Lions match at North Sydney Oval can be revived by promotion(!) and goodwill, and not being in a timeslot at the end of a long season.

Money, sure. But a lack of Aus team results were affecting TV and ground support in Australia at least. NZ and SA too I think.

Odd game that. And Randwick were not at full strength nor were they a representative team. They were much stronger when they gave the ABs a fright in the early 1990s. There was always a representative tier of selected trial matches atop the club comps to work out a Wallabies squad. But the NRC-style comp in the early-season timeslot provides a professional tier at a higher level to better prepare the Wallabies possibles (and probables).

Mea culpa, jeznez. Great game, and we thought things were starting to turn around for Aus rugby then. False dawn, however.
The Reds winning in 2011 was fantastic too of course. but the Super Rugby format kept getting worse, and Aus rugby kept leaking audience traction.

My suggested new Australian professional rugby competition format was a discussion start point, and you’ve made some interesting additions, Sheek.
I like the idea of Northern NSW (Country) centred in Newcastle. Playing in Coffs Harbour, Tamworth and Dubbo as well ideally. Because it has been labelled “Northern”, however, Wollongong and Southern NSW are left out, though maybe your proposal has them aligned with ACT.
I fancied the seven teams to make the comp finished before the June Test window. That has the benefit of ramping up the excitement level immediately prior to the June tests, which should increase audiences both at the ground and on TV for those tests.
On that basis, NQ works for me, but no more teams after that. The quality would be affected and the June Test window would get in the way unless the comp starts earlier, which I don’t think is a good idea.

I agree with the NZ system ramp-up after their RWC 2007 debacle has left Australia and to a lesser extent SA, behind.
Perhaps a Super 14 could have worked, but it still exacerbated the Australian problem by diluting the quality and assisting in Australian Super Rugby teams becoming less competitive. The other problem with it was the shutdown period for the June Test Window. I seem to recall that the same number of rounds were played, but there was an adjustment as to who played who year-to-year. Definitely not ideal. A full home-and-away season is always way superior.
The other problem though was the falling off of interest in the Brumbies, Waratahs and Reds after the Super 14 started and the results were heading south.
The Super 12 worked, but my point was that the Super 14 was the start of the demise of Super Rugby. And, unfortunately, once you’ve broken the egg, you can’t put it back together again.