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Fisher closes door on Brumbies
Wayne Smith | May 14, 2008 Fisher closes door on Brumbies | The Australian
LAURIE FISHER has all but made up his mind there will be no supporting actor role for him to play after he takes his final curtain call as Brumbies head coach against Western Force in Perth on Friday night.
There had been considerable speculation that Fisher, who last month reapplied for his position but failed to get it, might stay as forwards coach under the incoming Andy Friend.
But like the Barack Obama-Hillary Clinton Democratic Party ticket in the US, a Friend-Fisher coaching team has more appeal as a hypothetical than as a real working partnership.
It's not that there is any animosity between the two, merely that Friend deserves the chance to put his own stamp on the Brumbies side which would be difficult while Fisher, who has coached there since 2000, remains on staff.
"It's still an option but it's now the least likely option," Fisher said yesterday. "I really don't feel Friend would be comfortable with me staying on."
At present, Fisher does not have any local or overseas offers on the table, although now that the European season is coming to an end, that could quickly change.
For the moment, he is concentrating on keeping intact the Brumbies' unbeaten record against the Force at Subiaco Oval, on Friday night.
While collectively, there is little but pride for the Brumbies and Force to play for, there is still a lot at stake for a number of individuals, not least the two main claimants to the Test fullback position, Mark Gerrard and Cameron Shepherd.
Incoming Wallabies head coach Robbie Deans and his fellow selectors Michael Foley and Jim Williams did not get down to the business of assigning jerseys when they met in Brisbane before the Crusaders-Reds match, concentrating instead on more managerial matters.
But if they did stray on to the likely composition of the Test side, they would have wasted little time discussing the fullback position. Like everyone else, they would simply have assigned the 15 jersey to Chris Latham and moved on.
That all changed, however, when Latham tore a pectoral muscle attempting to stop the Crusaders' first try on Saturday night.
Suddenly, one of the few secure positions in the Wallabies' starting XV has "problem" written all over it, especially with Julian Huxley no longer able to pinch-hit at fullback as he did so successfully last season while Latham was recovering from a knee reconstruction.
Shepherd regularly produces moments of magic for the Force, as he reminded everyone with his brilliant individual try against the Hurricanes last weekend, but the clangers come just as regularly.
Gerrard, likewise, desperately needs to work on his consistency. Fisher conceded yesterday that a huge kicking game could not disguise a number of other flaws in his fullback's repertoire.
"He's got that element of laziness in his game," Fisher said. "He has great vision and when he's on, he's really on. But if only he would push himself more to get into position.
"When I compare him to (All Blacks and Crusaders fullback) Leon MacDonald, it's chalk and cheese. Every week, you know what you're going to get from MacDonald. Not so from Gerrard, although he still has been invaluable for us this season."
A knee injury to David Pusey, coming on top of Tom Hockings' shoulder "stinger", looks set to propel blindside flanker Sam Wykes into the Force second row, alongside captain Nathan Sharpe
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