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Isn’t it incredible what you can do in such a short amount of time?
Sorry, isn’t it incredible what Joe Schmidt can do in such a short amount of time?
Do you even remember how low of an ebb Australian Rugby was at after the World Cup in 2023. Not only did the Wallabies fail to make it out of their pool, they failed to even look like a rugby league team. Eddie Jones had taken everything that came before him and threw it all out the window. Good and the bad.
Yes, there’s an argument that whatever had gone on before simply hadn’t worked and therefore needed to be done completely differently. His reign had a very Liz Truss feel to it. Carter Gordon the man flung into the ten jersey, now playing rugby league, may be the closest thing to Eddie Jones’ piece of lettuce.
Hindsight is 20/20 but we know for a fact Jones’ approach didn’t work, at least not across the board. There’s something to say for dumping consistently inconsistent players. However it was too wholesale, it needed to be more focused and if he’d actually wanted to see out his entire contract, he would have paced his changes accordingly.
Instead he went all in. He picked players based on their size and potential ceiling and hoped the shine of a World Cup would help click it all into place. It didn’t.
Joe Schmidt has done the complete opposite. He’s introduced a paint by numbers element to the Wallabies and Rugby Australia. He’s leaned on performances, on output, on players measurable on the pitch as opposed to their dimensions. The Wallabies aren’t as prescriptive as his Ireland teams were but he’s definitely following a recipe, not cooking by feel.
We can see this by in the incremental improvements the Wallabies have made as a team and as individual players. We can see it in the contracts that have and haven’t been signed.
Players who are in contention for the Wallabies are no longer being retained, in case they kick on and play to their potential. Instead we’re seeing Rugby Australia focus on their actual performances, putting an emphasis on genuine rugby players as opposed to projects. I’m glad he’s now in the mix but I can’t help but feel Joseph Sua’ali’i wouldn’t have been headhunted if Schmidt was in charge.
Athletically gifted players are beginning to leave the system, players whose abilities and potential came with a hefty price tag, but what were they actually contributing on the field? Did they play enough, did their profile lead to more injuries, did they force themselves into the game, did they drift through games?
Rob Leota and Jordan Petaia are two players who come to mind. Two players who had all the attributes to become superstars but never put it all together to take over games. In Petaia’s case, he was rushed into the Wallabies environment and his run of injuries suggests he physically wasn’t conditioned for that level of rugby. He never got a consistent run of games to show what he could do and he never bedded down one position. Who knows how much thought he was giving to the NFL and how it affected him?
Leota is another player who shone at Super Rugby level but drifted through games and battled his own injuries. How much bang was Rugby Australia getting for their buck?
I’m delighted he’s secured a big deal in France. It’s a short career and the money in France is a difference maker.
But from a complete business perspective, he’s a player RA can afford to lose. They didn’t get into a bidding war, he was offered a better deal abroad and they couldn’t compete. They couldn’t retain him and I hope RA was honest enough with him and celebrate his worth.
Tom Hooper and Langi Gleeson fall into a greyer category. Hooper was a go-to player under Eddie Jones and I’d be really curious to hear about that experience. What is it like being so valued by such a dumpster fire of a regime? I’m sure it led to some serious soul-searching. His rotation between the second and back row didn’t help either. To his credit, he’s bounced back incredibly well this year and maybe he’s one that got away. With a more analytical approach, RA will come out ahead more often than not, but someone like Hooper might just be the cost of doing business.
Langi Gleeson was consistently picked in the No.20 jersey for the Wallabies. Schmidt valued his bulk and pound-for-pound strength coming off the bench and grinding teams down in the closing stages. Unfortunately for Gleeson, there are a number of backrowers in the country who play in a similar style. Bobby Valentini, Harry Wilson and Nick Champion de Crespigny fit that bill. The first two made up 2/3s of Schmidt’s back row and NCdC looks like he could break his way in too. Will Harris looks punchy too. Gleeson got an offer RA wasn’t able to match and he made the move to go to France. His bank balance will thank him for it but Montpellier has become a graveyard for rugby players. I hope he makes it out.
Carlo Tizzano, a very different type of back rower, is another who’s in the negotiating process. Something about his development this season suggests to me RA will do their utmost to lock him down fora home 2027 World Cup.
This brings us to Taniela Tupou. I hate to say it, but the tighthead prop is someone RA just can’t afford to retain. His highlight reel brings with it a hefty price tag, but his tangible impacts in games are few and far between. He’s never recovered from albeit a horrible Achilles injury. He’s gone for changes of scenery, he’s had different voices, different plans and none of them have worked. Let France pay for what he could be, the Reds, the Rebels and the Waratahs have all tried to fix him. Maybe the cure is in Perth but I doubt it. The Wallabies now have Mike Cron, the guru, working with up-and-coming tightheads and it’s imperative that they make as much progress as possible while he’s around.
These departures look and feel like blows but from a squad and budget management perspective, RA are doing a much more controlled job. Schmidt’s professionalism and poise areexactly what RA needed post Eddie Jones. It’s not just showing on the pitch but in the boardroom too.