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Surely a man of Joe Schmidt’s track record could find something better
It can’t be the money?
Surely a man of Joe Schmidt’s track record, contacts and acumen could find a cushier role than this?
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A nice number advising a club from afar or a backroom high-performance gig would have to be better than this?
I get why Rugby Australia wanted him as Wallaby coach, even if the initial two-year term isn’t as easy to fathom.
I just can’t understand why Schmidt would be interested.
If he’s as keen as he says he is, in raising the level of rugby in Australia, then the Wallabies isn’t the place to do it. It’s on the Rugby Australia staff, installing and overseeing participation programmes at community level and coaching coaches so that the SOS doesn’t have to be sent for a New Zealander every few years.
Until then, as countrymen such as Robbie Deans and Dave Rennie can tell Schmidt, every Wallaby coach is doomed to failure.
There’s a part of me that says good on Schmidt. Coaching rugby is in his blood and has been for decades.
Long before he came to coaching prominence with Ireland, Schmidt was a revered schoolboy coach with seemingly little interest in the limelight of the professional game.
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That’s one of the curiosities of him choosing to throw his lot in with Australia.
Schmidt, as he’s mentioned many times, has a son with health problems. In declaring he would retire as Ireland coach after the 2019 Rugby World, Schmidt said his family needed to come first.
The same upon his return to New Zealand. He was coaxed into helping out the Blues and then the All Blacks, but not in a forward-facing role. He didn’t want to be the front guy and be doing media and glad-handing sponsors.
Head coaching no longer suited him or his family’s circumstances.
Am I glad Schmidt will now coach the Wallabies? Yes, on the whole.
He’s a terrific coach and I would support any recruitment decision that made that team more competitive.
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I don’t know if Schmidt can do that, but I’m sure he’s more likely to than any of the Australian options out there.
But I don’t get what’s in it for him.
Just take the Andy Farrell factor for a minute. Farrell, Schmidt’s longtime assistant with Ireland, succeeded him as head coach and arguably did a better job.
Farrell’s now coach of the British & Irish Lions team, who tour Australia in 2025 which, unless there is a contract extension, will be Schmidt’s Wallaby swansong.
Is Australia going to win that series? It’s hard to imagine right now.
Equally, what better way for Schmidt to bow out than beating Farrell’s Lions? Maybe that had an appeal.
I hope Schmidt can do well with the Wallabies. Just as I wished Deans, Rennie and Eddie Jones, for that matter, every success.
I think New Zealand rugby is better when Australian rugby is too. If Schmidt can achieve genuine parity between the Wallabies and All Blacks, then accepting the position will have been a masterstroke.
It’s just that, for the time being, I really don’t understand why he’s done it.
He definitely sees it as a challenge and why not, for his part he had a big impact on the All Blacks when they seemed to be floundering around. As has been said if he brings up the quality of the Wallabies that is only to the betterment of the All Blacks, as muchas I would hate to see the Wallabies take the bled it would definitely bring up the competition level. Good luck to him
A great reply mate 👍🏽👍🏽
People seem to forget that when Schmidt took over Ireland they were ranked 8th in the world, a team that hadn’t beaten the All Blacks in 111 years of trying. He took them to number 1 in the world and not only beat the All Blacks, but set them up to beat them regularly. He’s now taken over Australia, who are ranked 9th in the world and haven’t won the Bledisloe against the ABs in 22 years. This seems like a challenge made for the man. PS I’d rank taking the team from 8th to first as a better record than the guy who took them over and still got knocked out in a quarter.
It's a challenge isn't it. Australia are in a bad way but they are a sleeping giant. It's probably an exciting prospect for a coach to potentially take Australia from rock bottom back to the top.
Can any one say why Foster and Schmidt didn't take up the vacant role in Fiji?
The headline says it all…. A sniffy article from across the ditch. How unusual. Existing relationships involving mutual respect with the new high performance manager, the new advisor, the new Reds coach. Nowhere to go but up. A genuine rugby man taking on a high profile position with a home Lions tour and WC on the horizon. Why on earth indeed. Surely he could find something better than being involved with the Aussies. I have some ideas as to why “you can’t understand”.
Getting paid a million dollars a year to undermine Australian rugby, at it’s lowest ebb, where any micro improvement will look great, is a no brainer for Bilbo Schmidt.
A few Zoom calls from his Smial in NZ, while laughing all the way to the bank. What could be more fun ?
Select a few more Tah players to keep his sponsors happy and see Australia fail under a kiwi coach, again. The dream job.
Australia are not impressed by know it all kiwis. End of story. Hard as that is for kiwis to accept.
Great opportunity for Joe with Australia on a record low international profile the only way is up and he will have the chance to be as a coach in the driver seat of change
There is nothing to lose and everything to gain for Joe wounded animals are dangerous there is great rugby talent in Australia who are ready to play and make the difference
Really looking forward to seeing the Wallabies play in 2024 under his guidance and hopefully get back in the Rugby pecking order on the international stage
Maybe it’s the only job on offer? If he’s so amazeballs, why isn’t he being retained in the AB setup?
Australia have two problems - they need to be competitive immediately, and they need to be competitive long term.
Schmidt is the perfect man to help them with problem 1. The turnaround in the ABs backline after he took over was night and day. I think about how much better the ABs could have been if he was installed after the disastrous NH tour of 2021, instead of persisting with Moar/Plumtree for another year, who despite being successful coaches in their own right had the ABs well off the pace.
I have no doubt the Wallabies that will play the Lions in 18 months will be much better than the Wallabies who played during the World Cup.
They have also found a great solution to problem number 2 - David Nucifora has just moved from Ireland back to Australia in an advisory role - He has been the Irish High Performance Coach for close to 10 years when they have undergone a huge transformation and now have incredible depth across the squad and at U20s. Peter Horne with similar credentials and has been implementing high performance structures in a number of countries including Fiji, has been appointed Australia’s high performance coach.
These three appointments will do more to improve Australian rugby than anything they have done in the past 10 - 15 years as they have gotten progressively worse.