{"id":501258,"date":"2026-05-06T02:55:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T02:55:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=501258"},"modified":"2026-05-06T04:23:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T04:23:09","slug":"alarm-bells-after-meekest-performance-of-nsw-coachs-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=501258","title":{"rendered":"Alarm bells after 'meekest' performance of NSW coach's career"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NSW Waratahs<\/a> are under pressure to deliver a season-saving response after delivering what Morgan Turinui called the "meekest" performance he had ever seen from a Dan McKellar-coached team.<\/p>\n

Waratahs great Turinui delivered the stinging verdict on Stan Sport's Between Two Posts<\/em><\/a> in the wake of NSW's flat 20-17 loss to the Western Force at Allianz Stadium.<\/p>\n

It was NSW's first loss to the Force in Sydney for five years<\/a> and left them eighth of 11 teams on the Super Rugby Pacific ladder.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific season with every match streaming live and on demand<\/strong><\/em> on the home of rugby, Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Joey<\/p>\n

\ufeff"There's a huge disconnect between the messaging of the coach and what the players are putting on the field," Turinui said.<\/p>\n

"So that's what they need to fix. Why and what is that disconnect, because that's the meekest Dan McKellar-coached performance I've seen from a team ever. It's the most laissez-faire performance from a Dan McKellar-coached team I've ever seen."<\/p>\n

McKellar is a former Wallabies forwards coach who had a successful run with the ACT Brumbies before moving to the Leicester Tigers and then the Waratahs.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Who is choking now? Arsenal storm into Champions League final<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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\"Waratahs<\/p>\n

Turinui \ufeffnoted McKellar's demands for breakdown ferocity and accuracy were nowhere to be seen against a Force team that is coming home with a wet sail with four rounds to play.<\/p>\n

"They were so far off the pace in anything that involved contact," Turinui said.<\/p>\n

"They didn't look like they were coached by Dan McKellar… it looked to me like the Force were actually waging psychological warfare on the Waratahs team. I thought it was a tactical masterclass from Simon Cron and Ben Donaldson.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/omny.fm\/shows\/between-two-posts-1\/postys-pietschure-therapy-is-in-session\/embed?style=Cover&media=Audio&size=Wide<\/a><\/p>\n

"They knew all they had to do was dominate territory – and they pretty much couldn't lose the game. The Tahs weren't brave enough to risk losing the game to try and win the game.<\/p>\n

"They played no footy out of their own zone. They used none of the quality they had out wide. They never tried a plan B, they never tried anything different, and they went meekly off into the night with a loss."<\/p>\n

The Waratahs also missed the finals in McKellar's first season in charge last year.<\/p>\n

\"Creighton<\/p>\n

They play the ninth-placed Highlanders in Dunedin on Saturday in what shapes as a genuine must-win for both sides.<\/p>\n

The Waratahs, Highlanders and seventh-placed Fijian Drua \ufeffare all locked on 20 points – but NSW have a game in hand over those sides.<\/p>\n

Both Turinui and NSW legend Michael Hooper called for McKellar to switch Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii from the centres after he was nearly invisible against the Force.<\/p>\n

\"Joseph<\/p>\n

Turinui said the back three should feature Suaalii, Max Jorgensen and Sid Harvey with Triston Reilly slotting in at No.13.<\/p>\n

That would see Wallabies veteran Andrew Kellaway drop out of the starting side.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"I think it's time to shelve that 13 experiment (for Suaalii)," he said.<\/p>\n

\"Sean<\/p>\n

"I understand at the Wallabies it might be different, but at the Waratahs, they've got to be selfish now, and they've got to find a way to free up space.<\/p>\n

"He's a get the ball in his hands early guy, and let him create doubt. That's the way I've said it all the way along, and I haven't seen any evidence to change my mind."<\/p>\n

McKellar will name his team at 2pm AEST on Wednesday.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The NSW Waratahs are under pressure to deliver a season-saving response after delivering what Morgan Turinui called the "meekest" performance he had ever seen from […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":501260,"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\/501258"}],"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=501258"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":501266,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501258\/revisions\/501266"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/501260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=501258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=501258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=501258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}