{"id":339404,"date":"2023-10-18T00:45:29","date_gmt":"2023-10-18T00:45:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=339404"},"modified":"2023-10-18T03:01:50","modified_gmt":"2023-10-18T03:01:50","slug":"why-eddie-wont-back-proven-centralised-model","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=339404","title":{"rendered":"Why Eddie won't back proven centralised model"},"content":{"rendered":"

If the Wallabies<\/a> are to ever be Rugby World Cup<\/a> winners again, everyone needs to be on the same page.<\/p>\n

However, that doesn't mean centralisation, according to Eddie Jones<\/a> \u2013 who has urged for greater "alignment" across the sport.<\/p>\n

New Zealand Rugby<\/a> and the Irish Rugby Football Union<\/a> have both proven centralisation to be successful, but Rugby Australia<\/a> has yet to show much interest in such a move despite repeated calls for change from opinion leaders.<\/p>\n

Watch all the action from Rugby World Cup 2023 on the home of rugby, Stan Sport.<\/strong><\/em> Every match ad free, live and on demand in 4K UHD<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

As it stands, each governing body at the state and territory level is independent of Rugby Australia. Across the ditch, for example, the respective rugby provinces answer to New Zealand Rugby.<\/p>\n

Fundamentally, all players, coaches, and support staff are contracted to New Zealand Rugby. In Australia, contracts are held with the state or territory.<\/p>\n

\"Eddie<\/p>\n

There has been something of a move towards centralisation in recent months with Rugby Australia announcing a "strategic reset" with the aim of alignment. Though that won't see Rugby Australia take control, per se.<\/p>\n

Part of that strategic reset will see Rugby Australia oversee a national high-performance plan and system that will be deployed across top-level teams, covering pathways, development programs, as well as player contracts and essential high-performance staff. That's fine, according to Jones, who said there doesn't need to be one figurehead.<\/p>\n

"Aligned is different than centralisation," said Jones.<\/p>\n

"Centralisation is one person at the top telling everyone what to do. Aligned means that you have a number of discussions, you work out what's the best route forward, and then you take the nation forward.<\/p>\n

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"I think for the last 20 years in Australia, we've spoken about getting more aligned. We've had a federated system and I think we need to get everyone more aligned," he added.<\/p>\n

"You've just got to look at the World Cup in 2023 \u2013 two of the most impressive rugby countries at the moment, France and Ireland, they've both got a united system, an aligned system and they both weren't good enough to make the semi-finals of the World Cup.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"To make the semi-finals of the World Cup and to win the World Cup in 2027 we need the whole country to get aligned that's from the grassroots all the way up."<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

It's evident at least one state isn't interested in centralisation.<\/p>\n

Queensland Rugby Union CEO Dave Hanham told 4BC's Wide World of Sports Radio<\/em>, "In short we've worked hard to strengthen our balance sheet.<\/p>\n

"Our view is that there is an advantage of having good strong local knowledge in how you drive your local business, that doesn't mean we won't work with Rugby Australia.<\/p>\n

"As I've said they've (Rugby Australia) been respectful of that and they're aware that's not a priority for Queensland, and if they have to help other clubs out in different ways, we are supportive of that but that's not something we are going to enter into."\ufeff<\/p>\n

Although Jones isn't interested in centralisation, The Sydney Morning Herald report NSW Rugby \ufeffhas entered into an agreement with Rugby Australia that will see the NSW Waratahs owned by the top governing body.<\/p>\n

Rugby Australia may yet take over the five Super Rugby teams, although there is pushback from the Queensland Reds and ACT Brumbies.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Off the back of their woeful Rugby World Cup campaign in France, the Wallabies coach sees the next phase as an opportunity to mend the sport.<\/p>\n

However, he does admit he's not the man to figure out how.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I'm just a basic coach," Jones said.<\/p>\n

"I go out there with a whistle, I blow the whistle and yell and scream, put an arm around the player every now and then \u2013 so I can't tell you how to do that and I'm not gonna try to tell you how to do that. That's for smarter people than me."<\/p>\n

One concession he's willing to make is that rugby union has slipped behind the NRL and AFL in terms of player retention.<\/p>\n

Rugby Australia has been forthright in trying to bring back players from the NRL who might have played rugby union at school-boy level.<\/p>\n

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It's one thing to get them back, but Jones said there needs to be early intervention.<\/p>\n

"I don't think it's dying, but I think we're in a difficult situation," he said of rugby union on the whole.<\/p>\n

"If I look at when I left, the difference between the NRL and the AFL to where I was is massive, and that's definitely affected our talent pool, definitely.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"So we've gotta work harder at those areas and that's what I mean, we've gotta get aligned because we've gotta fix things at the top level, we've gotta fix things at the talent identification, recruitment, development level. We've gotta get more players in the game, better players in the game. At the moment, NRL are stealing them all."<\/p>\n

\"What<\/p>\n

Jones is committed to Rugby Australia as the Wallabies head coach.<\/p>\n

One of his greatest allies, Mark Ella, urged Jones to "bloody pull his finger out" over the next four years to get the Wallabies back to their best.<\/p>\n

In response, Jones, who is good friends with Ella, labelled him a "cheeky bugger" for the comments, but later added that he mightn't be the only one who needs to pull-finger.<\/p>\n

"You look at what Ireland has done, they are probably the model country for rugby, aren't they? Small rugby country, but they've used all the resource to put together a great national team and even in the heat of the moment, they still couldn't win that quarterfinal," said Jones.<\/p>\n

"So what have we got to do to win the World Cup in 2027? We've gotta get together, we gotta work together as Mark said, pull our finger out \u2013 mightn't be just me, might be a few other people need to do that as well to get to where we want to be. Otherwise, you know, we're gonna have the same disappointment."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If the Wallabies are to ever be Rugby World Cup winners again, everyone needs to be on the same page. However, that doesn't mean centralisation, […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":339406,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339404"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=339404"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":339408,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339404\/revisions\/339408"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/339406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=339404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=339404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=339404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}