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John Connolly
Sunday, August 5, 2007
It's time to set the record straight - there's no crisis in Camp Wallaby. While we count down the days to France, unfortunately the focus during the week in the media was again on off-field issues.
It seems that whenever there's a week with not much rugby played these issues raise their heads.
Some of the stuff written recently is damaging to the game and that's a concern of mine.
For the record, I want to make it clear I get on well with John O'Neill. He came in and had a talk to the team on Friday at my request and we had no problems.
Any suggestions about disunity over Andrew Johns coming into camp is totally incorrect - O'Neill and I are delighted with his input, as are the coaches.
Scott Johnson and I are very good friends and over the next few years we'll be working together on other projects if he doesn't continue with the Wallabies. We have a players' committee that is delighted with our training and progress.
It also needs to be pointed out that just two years ago the Wallabies won only one out of nine games. It was a tough year, which can happen to teams because of different circumstances. We have since increased that to a winning percentage of 66, bearing in mind that most of our games have been against South Africa and New Zealand.
We'd love to win more but you don't beat the All Blacks and the Springboks and come within an inch of the Bledisloe unless everyone is working well together. It's been obvious to all there have been massive improvements to our overall width of the game and the defence has always been solid. This has come about from the coaches and players working together.
I can't emphasise enough that the players, the staff and the coach of the Wallabies are united. I want to assure everyone that's definitely the case. Unfortunately we deal with very inaccurate, unnamed sources in news reports at times and most of it has been driven by one individual. I'm sure after this column another serve is coming but I'm sure most people will see it for what it is.
Unfortunately, in this day and age we deal in perception. However, the perception many people are getting is wrong. I was sitting beside someone on a flight back to Brisbane the other day and they said they were sick of reading about the innuendo allegedly within our ranks which had been pumped through the press day after day.
Someone once said to me that the most criticised jobs in Australia are those of the prime minister and the Wallabies coach. This week that has been fresh in my mind.
Over the past few years we've tried to make the Wallabies very accessible to the media. At times you'll get a warts-and-all view and it's disappointing minor issues will be thrown back at you, sometimes six months after the event. We understand the fragility of Australian rugby in terms of depth and we have many challenges. Other nations have great academies, experienced coaches big into sports science, so we are always looking for an edge.
Australian rugby has the unique situation of competing against three other football codes. So it does the game irreparable damage when you get inaccurate reporting.
Honestly, I don't even know what a crisis is any more. I walked into the dining room the other day when one of the players complained he was sick of eating Corn Flakes for three days in a row and demanded Weet-Bix. Is that a crisis? The playing and coaching staff are happy enough to cop criticism, but it needs to be balanced.
Whether you're the Australian coach or a rugby fan, we're in our sport for the love of the game. Things will never be perfect. The ARC is a great example - and an issue that's divided the country. Everyone agrees that we desperately need another level in place.
There's nothing wrong about debate over whether it's the right move or whether it may need to be tweaked in the future but it's wrong to use the issue as a plank to rip each other to shreds.
We will never get 100 per cent of people agreeing with each other all the time, but what we shouldn't deal in is gossip. All I ask for is balance.
This will be the last word on all of this. I want to be able to pick up the paper tomorrow and not see a repeat of what has been published over the past week. We don't live in a perfect world, but we don't need cowardly attacks.
The most important thing I can say is this - rest assured, Wallabies fans, we'll make you proud in France.
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