“That, to this outsider at least, seems to be why..”
Leaugies like this author all live in a bubble where the best of league are automatically the pinnacle globally in either code and it is incredibly irritating. It’s like listening to cult members. Something absurd like “Clearly is the only man to save the Wallabies” is said so matter of factly. But hold on, there is an order of magnitude more rugby players globally so where do that factor in these delusions? Cleary and others look amazing because.. they play league! 10m of sparation each and every play, catch and pass is easier, kicking easier. Collisions harder.
Wendall Sailor was only in the Wallabies over Roff because of Jone’s fetish, that’s it. He was outplayed head to head every single time. And Cleary would be no different. The talk of luring Andrew Johns over was ridiculous as well. We had Larkham followed by Giteau. He wouldn’t have made the grade, full stop.

That’s hilarious. There’s 5 times more registered players in France alone versus AU league. Actually watch the Springboks France game. Foie gras versus rugby league pate buddy

FFS. Doesn’t forget to stoke league convert talk on Nathan Cleary. He could say nah we’ve got Isaac Lucas mate going to Japan he’s coming home. But no. Watching France and Springboks, All Black and Ireland, does anyone seriously think Cleary’s on the same level as these playmakers? Dupont? Mo’unga? It’s a f-ing joke. There are levels and NRL is not on International Rugby’s level, period.

Very true and that is an excellent idea. No doubt EJ is reading this comment feed. Bonaparte head as attack coach, delivered through state-of-the-art Apple augmented reality headsets. All Wallabies get a headset at the start of the camp, allowing EJ to overlay rugby league scenarios, with Bondaparte AI providing pointers such as “just kick it, possession rugby is dead”, and “six-again!”

And a Peter Brock AI can be our beyond the grave motivational guru. We need to instill the Aussie winning mentality within these YOUNG men, leveraging the latest technology the world has to offer.

OK. That does it. I’ll have to get my fix with provincial/local rugby. Not bothering with Wallabies while this man is pulling the strings. If he had any decency he’d have resigned and let the recovery begin. If he had decency he’d have insisted Rennie complete his contract before assuming the role. But he doesn’t, simply he doesn’t.

We’ve got ourselves bent over a barrel with a total narcissist. Eddie’s nostalgia plays into every decision he makes. He played league as a kid, so we have to have league players. Remember this is the guy who replaced the likes Roff, Latham, Burke and Staniforth with Sailor, Tuqiri, and Rogers, at great expense to boot. 20 years later, is anyone saying this was a smart move? He’s pushed out Fisher and McKellar and looks what’s happened. Flogged by a well structured Wales team. He played for Randwick, so of course we have to play a Randwick 10 even though he was not even in the top 5 we had available. He dropped Kellaway for Vinuvalu – you shouldve played League Kellaway! Hell if Eddie had played chess as a youngster, we’d have to have a chess guy in the team. And if it couldn’t get anymore embarrassing, we’ve tabled a whopping offer for an aged leaguie, who is too small to be a forward and too inexperienced to be a centre, and we’ve been knocked back. Meanwhile we have players all over the world who we could attempt to bring back, but won’t of course. As for 10s, is anyone from RA on the phone to Isaac Lucas with $1.6m offers? These numbskulls would be looking at Nathan Cleary before any of that I’m sure.

Lately our great leader McClellan and his lacky Waugh have implicitly blamed the players in the media for the RWC flop. Of course it’s not the boof head league fanatic at the helm. Of course not. Remember these are the same players that beat the Boks and only lost to the ABs because of a Raynard brain explosion.. We all know it’s not the players.

We lost to All Blacks, France and Ireland in the last play/last mins last year.. beat the Springboks..

That’s actually competitive. Forget the win %. Any suggestion we could do the same right now would be met with laughter.

But sure Eddie, you’re the “fall guy”..

Give me strength. And give this deluded bloke the boot.

Painting himself as some kind of saviour after this failure. How much lower can this bloke go?

Dismantled a strong game plan, saw excellent coaches off overseas, ruining careers, throwing together a team that hadn’t played together for the RWC, not to mention a game plan that hasn’t worked once in 8 games.

Eddie: See I did this for you!

He is seriously a leader who lives by a different set of rules. As the saying goes, “failure’s an orphan” – ain’t that the truth!

“Whatever goes on, I’ve come back to help Australian rugby. So if I become an issue, then I’ll have to go. I’m pretty even-tempered about it. (THEN RESIGN ALREADY!)

“I’ve just got to keep doing what I think is right. That’s the only motivation I’ve got. I want to leave Australian rugby in a better place whenever I leave. That’s the job I’ve got to do and I want to do and I feel strongly about and I believe in.

“This is something I knew would take need a lot of work. I’m putting down some foundations that are going to help Australia in the future. And I’m prepared to pay the price of any personal hardship.

I am not watching any Australian rugby until Eddie’s gone.

Other school kids, their parents and the old boys etc. Some school games get thousands. But the point is not about viewership, it’s more about participation and engagement

Is this actually Tah-man on the keyboard? You’re in no position to be lecturing anyone Tah-Biscuit

I honestly don’t think South Africa, All Blacks, France or Ireland would be intimidated by this list. Leaguies just don’t get it

Dan McKellar and Larkham plus Laurie Fisher and Dan Palmer would be the highest quality coaching set up Australia has seen in 2 decades. And a fitting farewell for the Biscuit to boot.

MCLENNON MUST RESIGN.

This is to say nothing bad about Crichton, he’s talented no doubt. More so than Rob Valetini, Hamish McReight or Tom Hooper (looseys) or Ikitau (centres)? Are they on $800k p.a.? Ireland, Scotland, Italy, England and France all have Aussies in their 22 or wider RWC squads, and yet they are ranked well ahead of Wallabies.. why is that? Mack Hansen was a fringe Brumbies player, now a star in the world’s best team.. It ain’t the talent, it’s the lack of structure and professionalism at the management level. Our Chairman doesn’t understand this, doesn’t understand the importance of cohesion in the sport he and Eddie have captured. That’s why we had a good coaching team dumped 8 months before a world cup, why we now have a national coach who is completely past it (with an odd infatuation with rugby league) and now extravagant offers to league players.

When people implore what’s the strategy for grass roots, they mean: where is the digital infrastructure that tells you where the nearest club is, where are local competition results tables, where is a national schoolboy ranking system (and knockout tournament), where is a national club ranking system (and knockout tournament)? Do participants at age group level receive free entry to Super games? Where the F is any of this?!

Yet Phil Waugh’s grand plan is a GPS old boys day: “I love the concept of an old boys’ day at Allianz Stadium … three back-to-back GPS [Great Public Schools] games at Allianz Stadium from 11am to 5pm, and you just make it a festival,” (AFR)

Are you kidding?! Who says a Brisbane, Canberra, even Melbourne or Perth school or club team isn’t the best in AU.. why isn’t there an inclusive plan that gets everyone in the country interested in the grass root game. If there’s any doubt about whether this would work go look at NZ / SA rugby or US high school football. Schoolboys and Amateur clubs is rugby’s trump card and we are too myopic and unimaginative to play it.

Eddie mate, we lost because you brought in league assistance and dumped the best provincial coaching team from Australian in the last 10 years. We were lost at the breakdown, and maul, and positional play was poor. That’s all coaching. You see the Brumbies make these errors? No – why is that? Coaching and nous. Not to mention we took the most out of form 10 and made him playmaker. Where’s Lolosio now? Where’s Lenny Ikitau? There was simply no cohesion. I think had we chucked on the Brumbies we’d have been competitive, and definitely not losing to Wales by 34 points. When you shaft the systems and replace with league coaches, what the f did you expect. I saw this from a mile away. Laurie Fisher you told to shut up for pointing out the obvious. If he could see the breakdown problem, why are you sitting there refusing to leave, because you’re clearly just past it.

Who here thinks the Wallabies could beat the Brumbies? We all know the answer. Why are there only 6 Brumbies in this team? Why are the coaches from other sports? Look at our maul, it sucks. No one knows what to do at the breakdown or in attack. Why are the coaches blathering about the early stage of ‘the cycle’ and lack of cohesion. Seriously the cohesion’s been dismantled and they’ve run a train over the careers of some of our best players. We’ll bow out before the quarters, and EJ’s position will be untenable. For what?

This article is basically the unanimous opinion of every rugby person I know. It’s a disgrace that Eddie’s used this campaign as preparation for a future one. We were narrowly defeated by France and Ireland away from home last year – two of this RWC’s favourites – basically the bounce of the ball decided those tests. To trash the pre-existing staff and give up on key players before this RWC was a horrendous mistake. Why did we have to move on? The team just 12 months ago was in the mix, and now no one is contemplating success. McLennon took a risk and it hasn’t worked, and it’s time Jones receives the same unapologetic treatment as he himself wrought on some of the real servants on the game in this train wreck 6 months. They deserved so much better. Hell, should Hamish say sorry and try to bring them back for the British and Irish Lions?

Nice one Biscuit. Tuggeranong would win the Shute Shield easily and the current Brumbies would smash this Wallabies side, like they do to the Tahs every year. Yet here we are.

Can we sack Eddie already? Give Larkham a go

Funny thing is, Brandon Smith would have next to zero chance of making the All Blacks. I guess he could always take up the challenge to find out..

IS anyone where a telecoms engineer? Let’s figure out how to jam the TMO signal at the games

Aussie here and confirming we have problems. The pack is okay, but the lack of cohesion / skill was obvious. Basically our 2nd sting inside backs which makes a difference.. generally lacking pace. Didn’t like Gordon’s service, maybe that’s harsh but his tempo held the team back. Toomua just isn’t quick enough now. Back 3 were ok, bench was good

Bailey Kunzle from the Brumbies might also get a look in at 10 by the time 2023 rolls around

Excellent news.
Connecting professional levels and amateur/grass roots is critical. The amateur clubs have a lot of history/culture and it they were alienated by the NRC (which had no history/community feel). Eventually I would like to see the amateur comp evolve into a round robin of the top city teams (eg Syndey, Brisbane, Canberra, Melb, Perth), perhaps via a ranking system (this is a rabbit hole but Shute Shield is a little too narrow).
Hopefully the next gen Super rugby will be something like the Super 12 format with a short but intense competition with NZ.
Schoolboys rugby is another rich vein to tap into – NZ broadcasts national schoolboys games and it is incredible. Imagine a national schooolboys ranking system with a round robin to determine the National Champ. It would be the most intense/competitive school competition of any sport in Australia, by far.