Great article. Thanks for the compilation. The game will take years to dig its way out from under that avalanche of BS.
Eddie was hired by an organisation that continually failed to capture the public’s interest because they flouted spin over substance. As such, Jones was their perfect fakir (yes, that is a pronunciation error) to hoodwink with hatched meaningless lines.
He was hired to create headlines. He didn’t disappoint with losing 7/9, axing experience troops, whispers of jumping ship to sail to Japan, all prolonging the spotlight. Even the resignation kept the word ‘Rugby’ in the news, and for all the wrong reasons.
Yep, the ARU got their money’s worth from the headline generator.
Jones did not promote Rugby, he elevated himself. He failed in both areas. In a post-truth world where marketing trumps (Trumps?) meaning, he will do well.
A putrid individual.
BTW “not fit for the job that he’s treated with disdain and dishonour since the World Cup “smash and grab” ended in crash and burn.” – One of the best composed lines in sport.

You be my assistant?

You mean, there’s a WC on? Since when?

I want the job. Who wouldn’t want a 3-5 year contract payout for one season of failed performance?

You either reduce the provinces, or take the brave step of building up the quantity and quality of players. Can you imagine NZ attempting to become even stronger by reducing their team numbers?

They went the same way as touring international sides actually touring, instead of a hit and run one or two week visit that is the norm now.
There is no sense of build up: no drama. It’s all a flash (more a disappointing slap in the face) of entertainment – that is more and more frustrating, puzzling, deflating and dull.
There is no sense of build-up – just a manufactured 90 minutes to be quickly disposed of when the lights are turned off.
In country, a Bush Boys’ match against a touring team was a highlight that spurred discussions on Rugby. It created genuine excitement that lasted.
But it also gave a player the hope that he could actually be a chance of making the team – maybe even provide a pathway for something bigger.
Now, if you are not given a scholarship to a GPS school by age of 14, then your dreams are gone.
Most former fans are lucky to know that a test is on, as most news of a match only filters through after a loss.
What have the TV audience figures been like over the last decade?
There used to be a community feeling about Rugby. Poems were written about the game that would make the eyes well. Anything like that now would be heckled and jeered at.
The game is really an excuse to create a salary for execs. Admin is really just a cosying-up to Corporate sponsors to secure a safety net by securing a career pathway when you eventually get the chop (much like a shonky politician after the parliament curtain is drawn).
People have abandoned the game because the game abandoned them first.
The game. Being a Wallaby supporter. Are becoming increasingly insignificant.

“Eddie fights for survival”?
IMPOSSIBLE!!
(Why isn’t there a facility to type in size 72 on this flamin’ thing?)
It was only 19 hours ago that I sat in front of the telly laughing at the news that Eddie would be taking us to the 2027 WC**. How could the world have altered so quickly?
Next thing you will be telling me is that Murdoch and 2GB and One Nation believe AGW is real.
The Wales game was always going to be a loss – so what has changed? Didn’t Eddie produce enough smart arsed quips in the post-game post mortem? Has the master plan of having eyes focus on the media performance of the coach instead of on the paddock performance of the players, not turned out as well as hoped?
What a shame: listening to the comments of a coach excusing another dreadful performance was always the highlight of being a Wallabies supporter. It took one back to kindy school where darlings are just that.
Now, how many Wally coaches this century have failed to run the term of their contract?
Outside of being comfortably stuck on the CEO merry-go-round, the Wally coaching stint has to be the best ticket for a gravy train ever: lose games in your first season and cop a 3-5 year payout as a reward.
How much has that lurk cost Rugby – in dollars, that is – in the last 20 years?
Pity there is not more cash for grass roots development.

**First, we have to qualify for the 2027 WC. Have we ever played in Israel before?

Maybe it wasn’t a put down, but more a worry that having Namibia on your list would see us on the receiving end of a hammering?

We need to schedule more tests against Portugal, Georgia and Greece.

Dissect, analyse and excuse all you like. The big problem with Australian Rugby is the one that has been with us for nearly 20 years: “Which are the best B Grade internationals to pick in the bulk of Wallaby positions?”
This defeat – and many other so called shock losses over 10 years – has been seen coming for a long, very long, time.
We do not have a big enough, nor deep enough, pool of talent to draw from for most of the squad.
There is no one who can set the world, or the imagination, on fire. They are mostly all nobodies because they are just that. Ask any u/8 Rugby player to name 4 players from each of the Storm. Broncos or Panthers, and you’ll get answers, fast.
Give the same questions for Rebels, Tahs and Reds – see how you go.
The best that the current board can do is to give a sacked coach the top job because he can play ‘mind games’. Well, Fiji just showed how that went: it has been assessed that Rugby Australia is carrion, and Jones’ a goose.
As for the board, they strive for pathetic back page space by “chasing” NRL players. (Didn’t that lark coincide with the start of the rot all those years ago?). Why would any talented kid seek a pathway through Rugby? Well, if they were not good enough for NRL apparently.
More needs to be done for the base of Rugby society here. That will not see Wallaby glory for the next 5 years, but neither will anything else. Longer term needs to be planned for – far longer than the next get together at a corporate box at the next test.
The game has suffered for far too long because of an over emphasis on the top. Get all the plastic surgery for your boat race you like, but if you neglect your gut and arse, you’ll end up looking like a pear – and that is the shape of Au Rugby.

Too true. If Campbell Graham is injured for Souths, would Jason Demetriou replace him with Cook?

Don’t usually sign in – just love learning from reading articles and comments. But it is worth the sign-in “effort” just to hit the up-thumb for the opening sentence.

An angle that is food for thought! But agree with Albo on To’o.

Did Gagai leaving a few ago, free up some money?

This is late, but it only came to me this arvo.
Recall being told of an 80s Rugby player who had rep Aust in schoolboy Rugby and Cricket. He would ask to be called “Dual”, especially when introduced to anyone new, therefore giving himself his own nickname.
When questioned why he was called Dual, he would proudly boast his achievements.
A friend, tiring of the self adulation, interrupted him one time, explaining, “He is called Dual because he has two penises – you don’t get that silly from just tugging one”.

Have not read all the contributions, apologies if this list contains repetitions:
Roy and H.G. Nicknames for players:
Allan “Alf” Langer – Debra Kerr (The King and I)
Glenn Lazarus – Brick With Eyes
Kurt Gidley – Giddy-Up
Nathan Hindmarsh – Money Box (from “coin slot” to describe the “arse crack” he often revealed because he wore his shorts low)
Michael O’Connor – Tiberius ( his Roman nose)
Brett Dallas – Debbie Does/The Grassy Knoll
Paul Hauff (pron. hoof) – Clip Clop
Julian O’Neill – The Poo in the Shoe

Genius nicknames occur when rhymed with last names
Phil Sigsworth – What’s a packet of/Watsapacketer
Petero Civoniceva – Petrol 70 cents a litre
Mal Meninga – Smell me finger
Grahame Langlands – Changa

Clever nicknames also arise when they are inserted between the first and family names
Tom Arber – Sydney
Billy Slater – Seeya
Steven Bell – Ding Dong
Luke Patten – General
Terry Lamb – Baa Baa
Paul McGregor – Mary
Dan Stains – Underpant
Daniel Wagon – Chuck
Wendall Sailor – Popeye (the Sailor man)/Hello (Sailor)
Anthony Minichiello – Violin (it’s a mini cello)
Payne Haas – In The
John Hopoate – Stop-a-farty
Jamie Feeney – I dream of…
Ben Ikin – Tina Turner
Jamie Buhrer – Ferris
Rhys “lightning” Wesser
Aidan “hail” Sezer
Brad Fittler – Freddy, but the best is Adolf.
Noel Cleal – Guide Dog (use to bludge on the blind)
Jesse “the suitcase” Royal (his team had to carry him)
Andrew “Jumper” Leeds
Valentine Holmes – love detective
Special mentions:
Southampton footballer “One Size” Fitz Hall
John “Nobody” Eales (because nobody is perfect)
Tommy Raudonikis – Ridiculous (Early in career when non-Anglo names were rare in League. Replaced by Tom Terrific once he more than proved his worth)

Had to look it up. Nice connection.

Too right. It makes a mockery of all the crap about “player welfare”.
What also was revealed by that lone incident is the return of the lifted elbow by an attacking player into the face of a defender. Replays clearly show the reason for Yeo’s concussion – an elbow driven into the jaw by 119kg prime Papalii on the rampage.
Despite dozens of replays of the incident, Papalii was not even placed on report, while that illegal tactic received no mention by commentators.
“Player welfare”, eh?

Go to this page to look at the amount of height Manu’s head dropped just a nano sec before hit my a flying Mitchell.
https://forums.leagueunlimited.com/threads/2021-rabbitohs-injuries-and-suspensions.482515/page-21

“Ugly, stupid, cheap, brain snap, shocking elbow to the jaw”
The Mungo season restarts…

Don’t know how ‘legal’ it is to quote a tweet without permisssion, but could not let this one go without sharing:
“Aussie Bar Flys
@Aussie_Bar_Flys
If England are quick enough they could still make Djokovic’s flight Flushed faceFlushed faceFlushed face #Ashes2021 #AUSvsENG”
Brilliant! Sounds like a good drinking mate.

Thank you for a valuable article. Your insights should be published in many more forums.

May have been, but when I read it this morning it had “6 hours ago” under the by-line.
Some cutting truths about a few issues just the same.

Very perceptive article on many levels. Further, your style and precision with language communicates some complex situations in a clear manner. Thank you.
Honesty is usually a cause for celebration, but paradoxically here, the truth makes for sad reading. The media manipulations, media bias in some quarters, the political ramifications and the election stakes at play, the economic consequences, all participate in this saga – as they do in most issues.
That too often results in decisions and policies that erode values and public confidence.
The court costs are really nothing as it should be seen as an investment in trying to find the right action, regardless of how clumsy the Govt’s handling of the case. It is also nothing when compared to the $35 billion (Yes! 35 thousand million$!) handed to businesses who did not qualify for Jobkeeper payments, but who were given them anyway without being asked to return a cent to tax payers. If the media, politicians and public do not scream about that, then the emotion generated by the Djokovic affair is just more evidence of how distorted our values have become.
The chance to win a record 21st grand slam should be irrelevant when it comes to public safety, values of equality, fairness and rule of law. Yet, there are many high profile people, mostly former tennis players, who want just that.
“Whether he was out and about in the community while infected is not a question of law but more of character and should not disqualify him”. Disagree there on two counts. Being out when infected without mask, not distancing and in doors, is against Serbian law and ours.
Djokovic’s selfishness is not just a sense of privilege, but is illegal – and harmful. It should disqualify him. It comes down to trust and sense of social responsibility. This is his second infection with Covid – he has not just endangered others, but he has no sense of seriousness when it comes to the virus. It seems that his personal stance against Covid precautions and science is of the utmost importance to him.
If he is so cavalier with his own safety when it comes to Covid, how can he be expected to have a concern for others here? He should be told to go home and see how he goes trying to play in the US Open under the same circumstances.
Yes, “Djokovic’s name is fast becoming a rallying cry for those who oppose government mandates via the enforcement of lockdowns and vaccine requirements.” In other words, it is a rallying cry for those who want their cake and who want to pig out on it at the same time. It is a cry to lift individualism, and its wants, over community needs. It is a mindset that demands and desires others to make sacrifices while you just reap the benefits without any contribution.
And that is the end point of our culture where we have the belief that somehow every individual following their own selfish desires will combine to create the optimum outcome. That clearly is ridiculous, but it is the way we operate – and it will one day end badly for the majority who are not wealthy or powerfully connected to avoid the result when the proverbial hits the fan.
Once you start to invent hardships as Djokovic camp are doing – imprisoned, torture, war against Serbia, etc – you know you do not have a real case to stand on.
We know society is partly run on outright corruption, bending of regulations, favouritism, privilege, elitism.
No one is surprised Djokovic has been allowed in – but it is still shocking. The same applied when Kerry Stokes was allowed to Q in his mansion instead of a hotel like every other returning Australian. We know the law does not apply equally.
But we still are hurt and disappointed when more examples of such discrimination arise. The real threat to our society will come when such inequality is accepted without shock or murmur.
When Nigel Farage, Craig Kelly and George Christensen are in Djokovic’s corner, then you instinctively know something stinks.
Another loser besides Truth is its brother, Values. Both continually take a pounding. There will come a time when all of the manipulated myths about what Australia stands for, will be peddled out to lift us to make future sacrifices, only to see them fall on deaf ears as we finally live the message that we are all in it for ourselves and that the most selfish will feast on the biggest piece of the cake.
You do what you can get away with. The most rewarded in society have relentlessly taught us that message.

Well, well – you learn something every day. Had no idea the actor named her dog after Barny. What a back hander! Wonder if the animal has the same ruddy hue as our Deputy PM? It must be a Red Setter!
However, the dog may sue its owner for emotional cruelty as some children have done when taking parents to court for being given embarrassing names. (Some nations around the world have passed laws to prevent parents giving babies monikers such as Satan, Anal, Cyanide, Circumcision, Sex Fruit, Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116, and . (that is, an actual full stop – maybe if the kid developed spelling difficulties?).
Can’t wait for legislators around the civilised world to now ban parents naming babies Barnaby Joyce – nor farmers being allowed to name their pigs as such either.