Australia's new coach?

[Jess]

I'm agreeing with you guys on this one. My fingers are crossed for Nucifora.
Would love Deans to come on board but just can't see him leaving NZ. The AB's would be pretty crazy not to snap him up asap.
Just anyone but Jones!

[no.8]

Looks like I'm out there on my own as I'm backing Muggo!
He's not a loud mouth or a big note, he's just good at being a coach and has served his apprenticeship under 4 Wallaby coaches - Dwyer, MacQueen, Jones and Connelly!
Go Muggo, Go Wallaby - has a certain ring to it!

[Thequeerone]

I want Jonsey

1: He has a vision
2: He has produced - yes I know it was a while ago - yes the rules have changed but he has produced
3: He discovered/ nurtured Phil Kearns and Matthew Burke to start with - apart from Berrick Barnes ( who wasn't ready) what other new talent has come through recently
4: There are big problems in the ARU with player contracts, encumbrant employees something funny with the NSW board and the continuing witch hunt of our own beloved Force - Jones is the only one of them with enough personality to cut through the whole lot including O'Neil to get a vision going
5: We need a coach who is able to handle the media - create a spin - get the sport back in the paper - with good news - and there is heaps of it - not just O'Neil blasting the English etc..

[jazza93]

I want Jonsey

1: He has a vision
2: He has produced - yes I know it was a while ago - yes the rules have changed but he has produced
3: He discovered/ nurtured Phil Kearns and Matthew Burke to start with - apart from Berrick Barnes ( who wasn't ready) what other new talent has come through recently
4: There are big problems in the ARU with player contracts, encumbrant employees something funny with the NSW board and the continuing witch hunt of our own beloved Force - Jones is the only one of them with enough personality to cut through the whole lot including O'Neil to get a vision going
5: We need a coach who is able to handle the media - create a spin - get the sport back in the paper - with good news - and there is heaps of it - not just O'Neil blasting the English etc..

TQ1 you have some good points and we need jones for all those reasons. he could do all of that as an assistant coach though.

i dont want him as head coach unless he has had some proffesinal coaching experiance this century. he would be great to have on the coaching team.


i dont like his vision though he can keep dreaming

[JediKnight]

Why not just apppoint all 5 as co-coaches? Then the ARU are bound to get the best candidate in some shape of form!!!!

[Flamethrower]

Or lock all 5 in a room and the one who walks out gets the job. The next least injured is second in charge

[GIGS20]

Not fair! look at them all! Compared to the others, you could beat Ewen McKenzie with an axe handle for a week and he wouldn't even LOOK any uglier!


ps Ewen McKenzie is at the bottom of my list! Too much Waratah baggage there!

[Flamethrower]

Well then, a smart applicant would leave the head on the axe handle.

[no.8]

Why not just apppoint all 5 as co-coaches? Then the ARU are bound to get the best candidate in some shape of form!!!!

That's it appoint Pat Howard as the Coach manager and have all of them contribute their skills for greater good of the Wallabies.

Well then, a smart applicant would leave the head on the axe handle.

Or better still beat the Axe with McKenzie!

[fulvio sammut]

If Jones gets the job, wont the wives and girlfriends get jealous?

I don't think the average woman could handle the competition...

[Burgs]

Jones 'better used as motivator'

By Liam FitzGibbon
November 13, 2007

ALAN Jones should be brought back to the Australia rugby side as a motivational speaker rather than as a coach, fellow Wallabies candidate John Muggleton says.

Muggleton, Australia's long-serving assistant coach, is one of five candidates - along with Jones, David Nucifora, Ewen McKenzie and Laurie Fisher - interviewed by the Australian Rugby Union last week for the vacant Wallabies head coaching position.

The defensive specialist was blunt about Jones's candidature last week, saying: "I think I had an advantage over Alan because I have coached this century" in reference to the fact that Jones last coached the Wallabies in 1987.

Muggleton has reiterated his opinion that Jones should not be appointed head coach, but he said that the broadcaster should be involved in some capacity and that he would be happy to work with him.

"If I was head coach, the first thing I would do would be write a letter to Alan and ask him to do what he used to do in the Rod McQueen (Wallabies coach 1997-2001) era," Muggleton said on Sydney radio station 2KY.

"He used to come down to Melbourne - it used to be a bit of a tradition - and talk to the team before the Test matches in Melbourne, and I found that really refreshing and I enjoyed his talks and the motivation he gave.

"I think that's the role that he should have ... we haven't had that for a few years with he and Eddie's (former coach Eddie Jones) relationship not being the best, to say the least.

"I think he needs to be involved in some capacity but I think it's simplistic to think he can just walk through the door and do the coaching job."

Asked whether he would be prepared to remain an assistant coach if Jones were appointed head coach, Muggleton said: "I wouldn't have a problem with it.

"That would have to be up to them ... I'm a full-time employee of the (Australian Rugby Union), I'm not on contract, so when the new coaches come in they tend to get me."

Although many pundits may view the appointment of Jones as a risk given his time out of the job, Muggleton believed his appointment would be the easy option for the union.

"I don't think Alan Jones is a risk, I think that's the easy option to appoint Alan," he said.

"You don't get any backlash off it."

Muggleton, who rates himself a 12-1 chance of landing the role, believes the ARU is looking for "something different".

"I'm fairly confident that I got across the point that I'm the only one who's different out of them (the five candidates)," Muggleton said.

"I do think differently to other people, if they want to go that way, if they want to take a risk.

"Either way, I enjoy my job. I'm not saying the other guys aren't worthy candidates, I just think I could do a good job."

AAP

[AndyS]

Another quote from Muggleton - wonder if it is really doing his chances any good?

[Flamethrower]

Nucifora has no problems with Brumbies baggage
By JOHN-PAUL MOLONEY - The Canberra Times | Thursday, 22 November 2007


More than three years after a player revolt forced David Nucifora's sacking as ACT Brumbies coach, he now stands ready to return from exile to coach the Wallabies.

Confirmation recently that the highly regarded Robbie Deans would be able to apply for the All Blacks post further reinforced Nucifora's position as front-runner to succeed Australia coach John Connolly.

But before Nucifora gets the role, a concern the ARU needs to consider is whether he still carries baggage from his bitter departure from Canberra.

Furthermore, would his former Brumbies charges, including some of the brightest talents in the country, be able to play under him again.

After revealing his sacking as Brumbies coach had been raised in his job interview last week, Nucifora told The Canberra Times he was ready to work with any Brumbies player, regardless of whether or not he had played a part in his downfall.

"I don't have any problems [with Brumbies players]. Everyone moves on from things. I certainly don't look back at the past as being something that's prohibitive to the future.

"We never actually named any people [who were involved] but I think it's irrelevant anyway.

"If there were still people who had issues with me then, that's three years ago and we've all had time to reflect and grow and go forward."

When Nucifora stood up in a team meeting in April 2004 to tell the Brumbies he had been sacked as coach, there were plenty of knowing looks around the room. There were also expressions of shock.

While it became widely known after the public announcement of Nucifora's sacking that a player revolt had brought him down, the untold story of that episode is of the younger players who had no idea what was going on.

Going into the 2004 season 12 players, including most of the team's Wallabies, had been signatories to a letter urging the Brumbies administration to address problems they had with Nucifora's coaching style. One of the major concerns was that he didn't fully embrace their ideas in formulating game plans.

Sensing a crisis building, then chief executive Rob Clarke summoned the 12 players and the coaching staff to his home to thrash out the issues. Ultimately if any truce was agreed in the three-hour meeting, it was short-lived.

The ACT Rugby Union board met not long after and, largely influenced by the views of the rebellious players, it decided Nucifora's tenure would not be extended into a fourth year.

While Brumbies players have always been reluctant to talk on the record about the episode, Clyde Rathbone and Mark Gerrard admitted this week they had no idea their coach's job had been under threat. Now senior members of the Brumbies and capped Wallabies, back then they were just second-year players in a squad overflowing with experience.

Rathbone said most of the young members of the squad were "out of the loop" as the push to have Nucifora removed gained speed.

"It wasn't as though there'd been rumours or you'd heard the odd thing about it," Rathbone said. "He stood up in the team meeting and said 'the board has decided not to renew my contract' and that was really the extent of it, and there were a few guys looking around the room at each other wondering what was going on.

"It was a big shock, and while I'm sure there were a few guys who expected it, to the majority of us it came like a bucket of ice water. We never saw it coming.

"The isolation of many of the young players from the decision not to extend Nucifora's contract could now be the best hope of them working in harmony with him if, as is now hotly tipped, the former Test hooker is awarded the head coach position.

While few players have ever publicly admitted they were involved in the 2004 coup, an agreed fact is that the unrest was generated by the team's most senior players. The three years that have passed have seen the retirements or departures to other teams of all but two of the 11 Wallabies then on the Brumbies' books.

Highly respected Test players such as George Gregan, Stephen Larkham, Owen Finegan, Joe Roff, Jeremy Paul and David Giffin have all retired. There are now only 10 survivors of the 2004 Brumbies squad, and of the list of players who were Wallabies heading into 2004, only George Smith and Stirling Mortlock remain.

One of six current Brumbies to have made their Test debuts since the 2004 Super 12, Gerrard said several senior members of the squad were greenhorns with little influence during Nucifora's reign.

While not endorsing any particular candidate, Gerrard said Nucifora was a coach with a record of success and there was no bad blood between the coach and his former players.

"It was mostly senior players [involved] and as we all know, most of them are gone now. There shouldn't be any issue with Nuccy now," Gerrard said.

If Nucifora is appointed Test coach, a key relationship for him will inevitably be with his captain. Most successful teams rely on a solid bond between the captain and coach, but sometimes the relationship can be difficult.

John Eales and Rod Macqueen started their partnership shakily yet eventually it became one of the strongest and most successful in rugby history.

Incumbent Test captain Mortlock said he would have no problems working with whoever was appointed coach, including Nucifora.

"I don't see any issue [with Nucifora] at all. In an organisation, in particular the Brumbies, you make a call at that time for the reasons that faced the team at the time. Years down the track now I don't think it has any bearing at all.

"I've got no dramas with any of the people standing. Whoever gets the job I'm sure I'll be working very closely with them in the future."

Nucifora's relaxed demeanour after his job interview in Sydney last week couldn't have been in greater contrast to his appearance in front of another large media pack on April 7, 2004, the day his sacking was announced.

On that occasion Nucifora was distraught. Tears welled in his eyes and his anger was never far from the surface.

He labelled the organisation's treatment of him as "appalling". The weeks that followed were the most traumatic time of his professional life, and they remain the most tumultuous the Brumbies have faced in their almost 13-year history. In the wake of its decision, the board tried to starve the controversy of oxygen by saying nothing publicly, apparently on the understanding Nucifora would also remain tight-lipped.

But a "bitterly disappointed" Nucifora made several scathing public comments about the board over the weeks that followed. He was also particularly critical of Clarke.

Privately some in the Brumbies organisation were unhappy Nucifora's voice was the only one being heard on the issue. Some of the players who had moved against him were apparently ready to make their true thoughts known, but were convinced to bite their tongues.

Now involved in the private equity market after leaving the Brumbies in 2005, Clarke said this week he had long since moved on from the issue.

Clarke's only comment on Nucifora was, "David is a worthy candidate and if his skill set is what Australian rugby is looking for, then he should get the job".

When Nucifora effectively went into exile after the 2004 season and took up an assistant coaching role with the Auckland Blues, it seemed unimaginable he could return three years later and be the favourite to become Test coach.

But with Deans seemingly out of the running, Nucifora's odds of succeeding Connolly have shortened considerably. His most obvious rival, NSW Waratahs coach Ewen McKenzie, had the job for the taking two years ago when Eddie Jones was sacked, but he decided against standing for it. It is believed some influential figures in the ARU unfavourably view McKenzie's earlier decision to knock back the role. NSW's woeful Super 14 campaign this year have further damaged his chances.

Nucifora's pledge to work productively with Brumbies players if he won the job and their commitment to do the same is a good sign for Australian rugby.

There is a clear mood in the rugby community for times of peace after several years of bitter infighting in ARU administration and coaching ranks.

Former Brumbies prop Bill Young believes Nucifora's past in Canberra will not work against him as the ARU's selection panel weighs up its options, which include Nucifora's successor at the ACT, Laurie Fisher. In fact, given ARU chief executive John O'Neill's admiration for tough, decisive leaders, the 2004 drama could work in Nucifora's favour.

"I think like any coach, that's probably added to his armour as a coach and it's a positive for him," Young said.

"He will probably now use that to his advantage."

Nucifora left Canberra claiming as a legacy the number of young players he had brought through to Super 14 level. Among the players who made their Brumbies debuts under him and who went on to become Wallabies are Gerrard, Rathbone, Matt Giteau, Mark Chisholm, Nic Henderson and Guy Shepherdson.

Asked if he looked forward to possibly working again with the young players he coached to a Super 12 title in 2004, Nucifora's face lit up and he smiled.

[hopep]

I think hes been away long enough to let water flow under that bridge, also - how many players in the original Putsh are still around ? I guess most have moved on also.

Still reckon his record at the Brumbies and the Blues is a solid foundation.

[The InnFORCEr]

Deans could still be Wallabies coach


Mark Cashman13:00 AEST Wed Nov 28 2007

Just a minute, there's been a change in the running!

Just when you thought the field had settled in the race to become the next Wallabies coach comes the news from New Zealand that Graham Henry has come back from the dead.

Now the All Black coach didn't do away with himself after the fired-up French knocked them over in the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup in France.

It's just that Henry has thrown his hat in the ring to be the Kiwi coach again and word from the Shaky Isles today is that he has done his numbers and is more than a chance of continuing on in his school masterly way despite the disaster that was the World Cup.

That of course, means that Robbie Deans, previously thought of as the pea for the job in the post Henry era, will get the rough end of the pineapple from the NZRU board.

And from where John O'Neill is sitting at the moment, hopefully on the lounge in his Sydney home, that's a pretty good result and testament to his nerve to get the right man to come on board for the Wallabies head coaching position.

Deans all along has acted with some honour throughout the whole process of being courted by O'Neill for the top job here in Australia and when asked he has answered truthfully about where his priorities lie.

That being: "I would like to coach the country of my birth and if that doesn't work out then let's talk down the track."

My Kiwi colleague Marc Hinton, who works for Fairfax across the ditch, smelt a rat in the process for appointing the next All Black coach.

"Whereas some read the initial NZRU decision not to reappoint Henry as a mortal blow to his chances of retaining the job, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the whole application process may be nothing more than a NZRU ruse so they are perceived to be doing the right thing by Robbie Deans," Hinton wrote.

"If so, if this process by which Deans and the other contenders have put their reputations on the line is nothing more than a PR-charade then, frankly, it is a disgrace.

"But reverberations are that Henry now has the backing of the NZRU board, which will make the final decision. Remember this is the same board that approved his dual policies of rotation and reconditioning that were blatant failures in 2007 and contributed heavily to the All Blacks' worst ever World Cup performance.

"Many are asking – and rightly so – how can they, having signed off on Henry's key strategic philosophies, then turn round and sack the coach. Isn't there almost a conflicted interest at play here, the same people are wondering?"

I'm not sure what the Aussie Wallabies contenders for the job – David Nucifora, Ewen Mckenzie and Alan Jones – will think of this latest development, but as they say "watch this space".