The Media Conference

Cut the B.S.: Western Force coach Simon Cron’s blunt honesty at press conferences is refreshing

Ben Smith
PerthNow
March 21, 2024 2:00PM

What makes for a good press conference?

It is a question with multiple answers which depend on who you are, none of them necessarily wrong either.

Journalists want a few good lines, a quote one can wrap a story around, be it snappy dialogue or meaningful discourse.

Fans want an explanation for what happened on the field/court (which explains why the best sports writers are often fans).

The best pressers have both of the above, but the cross-section of the fan-journalist venn diagram is both want honesty and preferably a lack of cliches.

It is what made Simon Cron’s Western Force post-game press conference on Friday night, following their 22-14 defeat to Moana Pasifika, refreshing.

After a promising off-season, there is a timeline where the Force have taken their chances, have won three of their opening four games and Saturday’s clash against the Reds - the best team in Australia right now - is must-watch entertainment.

Instead, the Force are 0-4, having failed to capitalise on leads in their last three games to find themselves rooted to the bottom of the ladder.

Moana were beatable, and gave the Force plenty of chances to overrun them in the second-half, but the Force shot themselves in the foot throughout the game with avoidable penalties and skill errors as they chased the game.

When Cron was asked for his thoughts on the game, he did not hold back.

“Firstly, we’ve got to apologize to our supporters and fans, because that’s some of the worst rugby I’ve ever seen.”

Strong enough opening.

“We were horrendous tonight and there’s nothing pretty about it. First 10 minutes we could’ve scored three tries but we didn’t and then we started to put our head down a little bit.

“We went into club rugby heroics; every time we made a line break, somebody tried to throw a miracle ball and gave it straight back again.”

Cron is blunt; he means what he says and cuts to the heart of the matter with little fluff. It has been a consistent characteristic of his press interactions since he took over after the 2022 Super Rugby season.

In a world where most coaches talk themselves into knots to avoid giving a straight answer, the Force coach responds to the questions answered directly.

The response to his press conference from Force fans was mixed, with some feeling he was too harsh on the players and did not take accountability for the performance.

There are enough self-help and leadership books out there to tell you no one in a position of power should simply throw those underneath under the bus.

But listen to the press conference in its entirety, and you will hear Cron never throws any specific player under the bus.

He needed to be forceful (pun not intended) after a fourth successive loss to start the season, was clearly upset and agitated after the result and felt like he needed to make a point publicly.

But he also spoke about them as coaches needing to be better and work with the players to eradicate mistakes, and when he did mention specific players, it was to applaud their work-rate.

Cron spoke about the things they did well, and went into why he was frustrated about the manner of their performances, highlighting how overplaying and poor-decision making led to the team straying away from the structures his coaching staff have implemented.

Sometime these moments miss the cut in a post-game press conference wrap-up article due to space amid the presence of similarly-strong quotes, which is why they sometimes go unnoticed.

Cron’s words may have cut deep and sat uneasily with some, but after a poor performance, sometimes it is better to be honest than diplomatic.

If the best press conferences have loud words ringing with meaning, genuine honesty and analysis, Cron ticked all the boxes.