Raelene Castle’s exit only part of the clean-out Rugby Australia needs with more changes coming

Chief executive Raelene Castle may be gone but those expecting a rainbow and a pot of gold to quickly appear and resurrect Rugby Australia from its perilous predicament will be sadly mistaken.

Phil Kearns is the favourite to replace Raelene Castle as the new permanent RA boss

Even Raelene Castle’s most vocal critics concede her departure won’t be the magic cure to solving Rugby Australia’s failings on and off the field.

The problems are so deep rooted that there’s simply no quick fix, which is why more changes are needed and why more are coming.

Cameron Clyne, Brett Robinson and Ann Sherry have all left the board within the last year and been replaced by Supercars chairman Peter Wiggs, Virgin Blue co-founder Brett Godfrey and former Wallaby Daniel Herbert.

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Phil Kearns is the favourite to replace Raelene Castle as the new permanent RA boss.

It was those three “new eyes” who were instrumental in Castle’s decision to resign because they “crystallised” the need for change, according to the acting chairman Paul McLean, who has forecast more clean-outs in the immediate future.

A former Wallaby captain, McLean will take over as executive chair but not for long, with a meeting of the executive scheduled for Monday to work out the way best forward.

One of the newcomers — Wiggs — will take over as interim executive while McLean plans to step down as chairman and two other board members — John Wilson and Hayden Rorke — are expected to depart before the end of the year.

“If I stand down in July or sooner that'll be 50 per cent change in board and two other members who come up in the balance of the year and if they change, which I suspect they will, we'll have a 75 per cent change in the board going forward,” McLean said.

“The board you saw in December last year and the board you see in December or early next year will be 75 per cent different and that's without including a CEO.”

Kearns after being inducted into the Wallaby Hall of Fame.

Embattled chief executive Castle before her departure.

Phil Kearns is the favourite to replace Castle as the new permanent boss after missing out to her last time though he’s keeping tight-lipped about his aspirations — apart from joining nine other Wallaby skippers in petitioning for change and ultimately triggering her exit.

The appeal of Kearns is that he’s well connected, both in the locker room and the board room, though McLean cautioned about measuring the value of old school rugby ties with business acumen.

“It’s an interesting dynamic and one the board is not set on at this point in time,” McLean said.

“What may influence that is what the next couple of months look like in terms of the world and the game we're going to be playing but I think they’re two very valid areas to investigate.”

That could involve who becomes chairman of World Rugby with RA backing Argentina’s Agustin Pichot to overthrow Bill Beaumont.

Castle’s performance as RA boss has been savaged by several high-profile critics.

That vote will be announced mid May but with no time to waste, McLean said RA had already identified the key areas that Australia needs to address to get through the COVID-19 crisis: finance, broadcasting/stakeholders or the game itself.

With an agreement on player pay cuts finalised, the next step towards short term financial security is to get a loan from World Rugby while talks will soon resume with potential broadcast partners and former players on the board will handle the pressing issue of how the game will look once travel restrictions are lifted.

“From a rugby perspective for example, where we talk about competitions and SANZAAR relationships and World Rugby, my thinking around that will be that Daniel Herbert and Phil Waugh would be key players in that,” McLean said.

“Because they know the landscape and they know the people involved and they know hopefully what’s going to work for the players and the game.”

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Originally published as Raelene Castle’s exit only part of the clean-out Rugby Australia needs with more changes coming