Wallabies mentor Eddie Jones insists he will not change his famously intense approach, saying ‘players need to change’ not him as the percentage of Pasifika players continues to go.
The 63-year-old was at his cheeky, passionate and honest best on Sunday morning, and it’s clear from his firm insights that things in Australian rugby are certainly set to change over the coming year.
Not just any year either.
The new Wallabies coach has just five matches until September’s World Cup in France – and in the wake of Rob Valetini remarking he was ‘scared’ (tongue in cheek, of course) about meeting his new mentor, Jones is firm he won’t change his famously intense and passionate approach to rugby.
The cultural dynamics in football of every code are noticeably shifting in Australia, with roughly 50 per cent of Aussie players having Pacific Island heritage.
The famously intense Eddie Jones says he won’t be changing his coaching approach, saying it was important all players bought into the same team values
Roughly 50 per cent of Aussie players, such as Lalakai Foketi (left) and Jordan Petaia (right), have Pacific Islander backgrounds
Jones, who previously coached the Wallabies in the noughties, is keen to improve the culture and cohesiveness of the side
Top rugby pundit Georgina Robinson asked Jones whether that fact would mean he might need to change that famous approach, but the Wallabies mentor was firm.
‘That’s a good question. So 20 years in a two-horse race (Bledisloe Cup) we haven’t won. I was the last one to win it, and also lost it as well. So let’s be balanced about the view,’ he said on ABC program Offsiders on Sunday.
‘Look, I think it’s the same. You come into this studio, Catherine (Murphy, presenter) is from Ireland, you’re (Robinson) from Brisbane, and it doesn’t matter what you do when you come into the studio, there’s a set of values that you’ve got to follow.
‘And the cultural differences are important, because they’re different in terms of some players are different in terms of the way that you learn.
‘Some players are different in the way that you’ve got to manage them, but bottom line is once you get in the team, everyone has to have the same values.
‘And that’s the hard thing to get. Do I need to change? Probably the players need to change,’ replied Jones.
The culture and, subsequently, interest in Australian rugby has, sadly for fans, continued to deteriorate over the last decade.
The Wallabies, pictured after a heartbreaking loss to France last year, will be looking to turn their fortunes around under Jones
Marika Koroibete and Reece Hodge embrace after losing the Bledisloe Cup last year
Result on the field have been poor, the best players have fled overseas and grassroots rugby has been neglected to the point that there was a huge gulf of junior players coming through in such a competitive sporting environment to nab the best talent.
Despite being sacked in December, Jones is England’s most successful coach (73 per cent winning record from 83 Tests) in history; and what he has done for the game in Japan (where his mother if from) is nothing short of phenomenal.
He could have put his feet up and retired – but the fire clearly remains in the belly of the ex-Randwick legend to improve the state of rugby Down Under.
‘We’ve got eight months to the World Cup…we’ll give it everything that we can – we want to resurrect Australian rugby,’ he said.
‘I was just talking to a bloke backstage and he was just saying, ‘I haven’t heard about the Wallabies for a long time’.
‘We need the Wallabies. The Wallabies are an iconic team in Australian sport and we need them to be successful and we need them to be on people’s mouths.
‘So that’s part of the challenge,’ said Jones, who has coached at Wallabies, Super Rugby and Shute Shield in Australia after his storied 210-game career at hooker for the Galloping Greens.
As Jones alluded to, the rivalry Aussie fans get passionate about most of all – Bledisloe Cup – has been become a joke, such is the All Blacks dominance. He was the last one to win it way back in 2002, an astonishing 20 years ago.
Eddie Jones (right) talks to then-Wallabies captain George Gregan in 2002 – the year Australia last won the Bledisloe Cup
Jones, pictured after being announced as the coach in January, is passionate about improving the state of Australian rugby
That being said, for what feels like the first time in forever, the All Blacks are mired in a cultural mess of their own, with coach Ian Foster refusing New Zealand rugby’s request for him to re-apply for his own job.
But Jones won’t be falling for anyone calling the New Zealanders underdogs.
He said there was one crucial difference between rugby in the two countries at the moment – particularly when it comes to the Super Rugby Pacific sides.
‘At the end of the day, the New Zealand sides…it’s not about talent,’ he said.
‘It’s about your ability to keep fighting, (and) keep on the same page ehen you’re under pressure, and keep doing the same thing.’
If any Aussie athletes knows about performing under pressure, it’s ‘Warnie’.
One year on from the shock death of one of – if not the – greatest cricket players Australia has ever produced, Jones had a twinkle in his eye as he recalled a moment where he saw the legend’s iconic talent and cheekiness on display.
The late, great Shane Warne pulls out a perfect delivery to dismiss Wendell Sailor in a 2005 training session between the two national sides
Shane Warne (left) with Wallabies players (L-R) Wendell Sailor, Morgan Turinui and George Smith during the session
‘Well, when I was with the Wallabies a long time ago, we had a practice session with the Australian team,’ he laughed.
‘Our winger, Wendell Sailor, fancied himself as a bit of a batsman. Stuart MacGill was bowling and tossing it up and Wendell was hitting it well there.
‘And then Warne grabbed the ball and said shall watch this. And he threw one up. And next one, bowls a little bit slower and shorter. Gets him stumped, and then he just winked and walked off!’
Of course the Wallabies coaching and leadership structure is still up in the air, despite the World Cup being mere months away.
With ex-skipper Michael Hooper back to his damaging for the Waratahs, he could take the reins back from James Slipper after taking a much-needed time out from the game.
Michael Hooper (centre, celebrating a try in round one) has been brilliant for the Waratahs to begin the season, and may well return to the Wallabies captaincy
But Jones said it was important the Wallabies had a group of leaders they could rely on – something many legends have been critical of the side not having in the past.
‘We’re deciding that (who will captain) now, yeah. Part of it is meeting the senior players (and) part of it is creating a new leadership group,’ he said.
‘Definitely, definitely, definitely (Hooper can be captain). There’s probably three or four really good options there and we’ll work out what it is.
‘But at the end of the day, Australia had three captains last year. With England, I think that we had had four, and with HIA and 12 days out (for concussions) now, we’re going to need a leadership group that has more than one captain.
The old days of having one captain is almost redundant.
‘I think that you have to have a number of people who can do the job. So that’s what we’ll try to create,’ said Jones.
It’s also clear Jones, who has made his desire to poach NRL players who have been union players in their junior days, is trying to create a bit of a rugby league atmosphere among his coaching staff.
Ex-Eels and Tigers legend Brett Hodgson was recently announced as the side’s defence coach, while when Jones was at England, current Manly coach Anthong Siebold filled the same role.
Why, though?
NRL legend Brett Hodgson has joined Jones’ coaching staff – and he probably won’t be the last rugby league figure to do so
Dan McKellar sensationally left the Wallabies coaching set-up after being overlooked for the top gig
‘Rugby league produces plenty of good coaches. We (Wallabies) need coaches who are bright and adaptable and young, because we’ve got a set task – eight months to put the team together.
‘We’ve got five Test matches, so we need people who can come in and work quickly. We can’t have coaches who are too traditional in that sense, because they’re going to have to work under a new parameter.’
In what appeared a sly dig at outgoing forwards coach Dan McKellar, who applied for Jones’ role then left the coaching set-up altogether, the Wallabies mentor said with so little time until the World Cup, he needed coaches who could fall into line.
‘We want people who want to be in the system. We don’t want people who want to be their own head coaches,’ Jones said.
‘There’s only one head coach. So we need people who want to be good assistants. As good of a coach as Dan is, we wish him all the best, but we’ve moved on.’
The Wallabies will play their next Test match in July against the Springboks as part of the Rugby Championship, with all games broadcast live on Stan.
Watch every Super Rugby game and Test match, ad-free, live and on demand on the Home of Rugby, Stan Sport.
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