You’ve missed my point.
Rebuild the foundations – with what money? The primary funding vehicle of Aus rugby is the wallabies. If the wallabies don’t do well then the money dries up.
NZ and Ireland, two of the most successful teams in the last four years, run centralised systems that are geared towards ensuring the success and primacy of the national side.

Believe it or not hog, but the Wallabies did win games up until 2013-2015. While NZ always seemed a bridge too far, I can remember that under Robbie Deans, Australia were often second – or at worst, third – in the world.

Unfortunately the coaching since has left much to be desired. Cheika started off well enough but selection and his game plan let us down after 2015. Rennie was a green international coach who, despite his fanbase on here trying to rehabilitate him, had a 38% win record: the worst until the second coming of Eddie Jones.

The hiring of Joe Schmidt, Laurie Fisher and Mike Cron, along with Peter Horne, points to some sensible decisions made that I think will actually right the ship. It may not be enough to win a WC in ’27 but I think they’ll certainly restore some respectability to our results.

Yes, just after the annus horribilis of 2023, you wish to upend the whole structure due to lingering gripes. Like that’s truly going to help the state of Australian rugby.

RA is indeed guilty of many missteps, but the state unions need to take a look in the mirror and understand that much of the grassroots failings are their responsibility. The truth of the matter is that RA are propping up the rotten structure that is Australian rugby as a whole. There is no easy fix and toppling the current system in favour of a new constitution favouring the states is frankly the last thing Australia needs. In fact, what should be happening is centralisation – something that Queensland and the ACT have obdurately resisted.

With regards to the regular complaints of the grass roots game, unpopular opinion here but you’ve got it the wrong way around. Get the wallabies winning again, then you’ll have bums on seats, higher revenues, greater broadcast interest and the kids wanting to play rugby because they can follow a winning national side. Then there might just be the money to invest in an NRC and the deeper community game. I suggest that anyone with an interest should listen to Sam Warburton on the BBC rugby pod from a few weeks ago, who advocates as such. Wales are much in the same boat domestically as Australia, with many of the same calls for grass roots investment.

So Brett and Harry aren’t returning as podcast hosts this year?

As much as I would like to see him stay in Aus, I expect he’ll move overseas. Might up skill and slim him down like Will Skelton. Also frees up part of the wage bill.

A bit harsh on Scotland Geoff? I thought Scotland fronted up very well against SA in the first half. Thing is, SA can find another level that Scotland can’t and tightened the screw rather painfully for Scottish hearts. That said, I thought that Scotland really failed to adapt to the rush defence in the second half where passes were often being thrown at the risk of intercept or injury to the receiver. Thought some short passes or chip kicks would have shown some smarts.

Nice article Brett and a good one to have off the back of the pod jersey chat.

I think you’re pretty much bang on with your rankings and how good is it to see collars somewhat in vogue again? While not mentioned, Asics is selling a classic long sleeved wallabies World Cup jersey (with a collar) that I must admit is not getting enough attention. After collars, could we see the return on long sleeves?

While I’ll be backing the wallabies, I did pick up a Portugal kit as I rate it as the best of the bunch and a Scotland one under a grandfather fan kit eligibility rule.

Easily the best tournament for kits. Less than a week to go – can’t wait!!!

Thanks Brett.

A lot of good intent and effort on Sunday but Aus lacking the polish to walk away with points. Goal kicking is likely to cost us a close on and France were looking to run rings around the defence in the second half. That said, with Kerevi to come back from injury and the nature of the draw, I still think the Wallabies can top the group and likely see off England in the quarterfinal. Reaching a semi would be further than what most of us could expect (and have expected).

Watched both games. Must say that neither England nor Wales looked great and the final score was more a product of just how bad England was. England are definitely in a hole and Wales has wafer thin depth. Despite the Wallabies record this year, if they can build on the first-half performance in Bled 2 then they can certainly still win their group.

Despite the comeback, it’s testament to France’s depth that they were 18 points up to begin with considering the team put out. Once the elation of the win passes, I imagine Gregor Townsend will be concerned that Scotland’s best side fell so far behind in the first half. Ireland and SA await.

Cheers Geoff for the wrap.
I have to say that the irrational hope, or hype for that matter, that had been built up inside me leading into the SA test has mostly evaporated.
That said, no matter how much I may write off the wallabies chances, there’s always enough for me to tune in. You never know: it might just be your day. Bring on the MCG.

Thanks for another piece Brett,

You’ve pretty much summed up what I imagine most of us were thinking on Saturday. It doesn’t help that Vunivalu and Wright haven’t nailed the defensive duties required for their respective positions.

A lot of questions that need to be answered come Saturday, otherwise a lot of us might really start to regret letting Lord Fisher go.

Morning Geoff,

Australia’s two tries showed glimpses of what the Wallabies can do with the ball in hand but offered nothing in between. Agree with your assessment that Aus failed to mentally front up in the first place. I think a few selection tweaks can help to a limited extent, especially with Tupou and Bell to come back, but gee wizz there is a lot of work to do. Not sure if the selection of a rookie defence coach from the NRL was the right move but we’ll see what happens in Sydney.

I think holding onto the ball for a bit longer and looking to kick when there is advantageous field position would do a lot to improve performances. Too often it looked like the Wallabies were kicking the ball after a few phases, for no return, because they were rigidly sticking to a game plan that wasn’t working, rather than looking to kick after winning some momentum to take advantage of a pressured Bok defence. I think most Aus fans are hoping that the train wreck we watched will serve some important lessons to take forward and improve from.

Thought the game plan wasn’t working after SA’s first two tries and funnily enough we only scored again after they hung onto the ball for a bit.

Would like to see more running against Argentina and more of Carter Gordon. Doesn’t have to start but he can come in sooner. Quade can have a redemption game.

Vunivalu is surely done? Would prefer to see Mark N. Kellaway as well. Uelese must also have played his last game. Not sure how to fix the scrums and D.

Can’t wait ‘til kick-off. At least there’s the cricket to tide us over.

Nice to have the panel back, particularly Nobes as I do miss the contributions that Argentinian roarers used to contribute on here.

1: Will be interesting to see the game plan put out by Aus. Will Eddie cook up something that will push the Springboks or did he really start to run out of ideas in England? Do players show greater confidence in their roles because they have clarity on their tasks and confidence in the game plan? Might sound vague but I want to see Aus burst out the blocks a bit here.

2: Quade and his legs. Could even swap in Kerevi in that sentence. Gordon is an exciting prospect in gold but still untested and our prospects rely heavily on Quade’s fitness. Otherwise keen to see Skelton and Frost in the second row and Tupou + Bell in the first.

Sure, but this is always the case in a WC year. Just one of the trade-offs, not that I will watch the upcoming RC with any less interest.

I’m not completely dismissive of the nations league format. Japan + Fiji in the RC is the direction we should be heading in and more games with upcoming nations like Georgia are a must, but does this require a the formation of a new league that more a commercial rather than competitive consideration?

Don’t quite get the point about relevancy. Every test is relevant. It’s why they’re called ‘tests’. There really aren’t any friendlies in rugby, bar the warmup matches you see in a WC year.

Even the spring tours are all about acquiring bragging rights over our northern opponents. We’ll miss three match tours in July when they’re gone.

Terrific article Harry. One can only admire your ability to convey rugby with such command of the English language. Many thanks.

Can remember when he was the new kid on the block at 18. He’s been a constant in the team since. Maybe he feels that there are other important things in life now.

Is it just me or is the standard of editing at the Roar declining? I understand Christy has a high output but noticing a lot of spelling mistakes, like misspelling ‘indictment’.

‘Their’, not ‘there’.

Investment in pathways will be crucial – where is this PE deal that CD keeps suggesting is right around the corner?

A lot of young 10s with a lot to prove. I think Lolesio will fall by the wayside.

Any news on Will Harrison?

Living in the UK now Armchair, I don’t think your comment about operating in the same marketplace quite hits the mark. Yes, it’s the same country but football is the dominant code in winter and league trails union by some distance in both player numbers and popularity. Perhaps there isn’t that animosity anymore in the UK because union is head and shoulders above league – the competition just isn’t there.
Unlike Australia, where league is dominant – the smaller player pool sees both codes pinching players from each other and competing with the AFL behemoth and football. Plus some of the animosities of yesteryear seem to have persisted into the modern age.

Thanks NB – agree 100%.

I used to be quite protectionist about SR but the quality of rugby is greatly surpassed by what the NH offers and has done for a number of years now. I think it would hinder the development of the likes of Lolesio, Donaldson and Harrison if they weren’t allowed to do some stints in Europe or Japan. It’s long been a trend that our players who leave to these pastures come back better players and more rounded people. I’d like to see more of our coaches do the same.

I thought Rob Kearney’s comments about his time at the Force shows just how far behind Australia is as a professional set up compared to its NH rivals.

Regarding Paisami, it’s like Rennie doesn’t want to change the Samu structure while he’s injured.

Hunter trucks it up like a trooper but mostly gets swallowed up. He’s better of at 13 when he has some space to break through the gap.