‘For Australia to thrive, we need the Waratahs to thrive. I think that I can help’

He was raised as a NSW-hating Queenslander, played as a NSW-hating Queensland prop and began a successful coaching career at the NSW-hating Brumbies.

But when Dan McKellar was approached, and later hired, to coach the Waratahs, he didn’t get a single shiver about the thought of wearing sky blue.

“No, none. Not at all - honestly,” McKellar says. “I’m pretty passionate, and I’ll be passionate about any team that I play for or that I coach. I was passionate about the Brumbies, and I still have an enormous amount of love and respect for that organisation and always will.

“But I can promise you I’ll be just as passionate – if not more – about the Waratahs. As a coach, you become connected to not just the organisation as a whole, but to the people within it.

“Once we build those relationships as a group, with the players and the staff and the rugby community as a whole throughout New South Wales, you just want to pour every ounce of energy that you’ve got into it. I’m honestly so driven and excited about helping turn it around.”

Welcome to the Waratahs’ Dan McKellar era, where, in the space of a 30-second answer, it’s clear passion will never be in short supply at Daceyville.

New Waratahs coach Dan McKellar has just returned from England.Credit: Janie Barrett

McKellar was recruited in July as the new coach of the Tahs, after a wooden spoon season saw Darren Coleman depart and a broom swept through Australia’s biggest – but consistently underperformed – rugby state.

Country-wise, at least, it is a homecoming for McKellar after the former Brumbies head coach, and Wallabies forwards coach, returned from one-and-done season with the Leicester Tigers. The English club and McKellar announced a mutual split in late June, leaving Michael Cheika to take over and the Rugby Australia-owned Tahs to swoop on McKellar. The 48-year-old was announced as NSW coach two weeks later.

McKellar sidesteps detail about the Tigers split but believes he has returned as a better coach, and was immediately drawn to the job of helping lift the Waratahs back up.

“I really enjoyed it, the Premiership’s a good competition. I have definitely come back a better coach, there’s absolutely no doubt,” he said. “I learnt plenty over there. I have come back a better coach and for me that’s a win.

Dan McKellar left Leicester after just one season.Credit: Getty

“The Waratahs are a proud club with a rich history, and they play a massive role within the rugby landscape. I’ve spoken many times before about how passionate I am about the game in Australia.

“We all know that for Australia to thrive we need the Waratahs to thrive, and I think that I can help. So that’s why I jumped at this quickly.”

Having only just relocated his family back from the UK, McKellar doesn’t hit the grass as Tahs coach until pre-season begins November 1. But he has wasted no time already formulating his vision for NSW, and helping Waratahs officials shore up the recruitment of staff and players.

McKellar was known for a forwards-heavy game style at the Brumbies and though occasionally criticised, it was successful. But he said he won’t be cut-and-paste job at NSW.

Dan McKellar coached at the Brumbies for nine years.Credit: Getty

“We’re going to play a style that suits the playing group,” McKellar said. “We’re going to have a powerful and skilful team. We’ll have powerful front-rowers that can play, and a decent amount of strike in the back line as well. We want to make sure those players get the ball in their hands. I think attack will come pretty naturally to this group.

“But at the same time, you’ve got to be able to roll your sleeves up and put your head in a dark place and be comfortable doing it. We’re going to be a team that loves the dark arts, and we’re going to love defence. We’re going to be a team that wants to stick in the fight, in the 78th-79th minute, to defend your line, and to fight and compete for every scrap.”

McKellar said the woes of the Waratahs in 2024 appeared to stem from a “horrendous injury toll” and a string of narrow losses that led to a death-spiral.

“There’s no lack of talent with the group,” he said.

Wallabies prop Taniela Tupou has signed for the Waratahs on a one-year deal.Credit: Brendan Hertel/RugbyAU Media.

A refreshed roster is all but finalised, though, with the Waratahs announcing a suite of signings and re-signings in recent weeks.

Young NSW talent like Max Jorgensen, Teddy Wilson, Jack Bowen, Tane Edmed and Henry O’Donnell are all on board, but the new attractions are a handful of ex-Rebels signings, most of whom are all Wallabies, too. Taniela Tupou, Rob Leota, Isaac Kailea, Andrew Kellaway and Darby Lancaster will all be in sky blue.

McKellar hopes to draw the best out of Tupou via a relationship forged during his time as Wallabies forwards coach.

“You’ve got to understand what makes him tick and what motivates him individually – Taniela plays his best rugby when he’s happy and he’s got a smile on his face,” he said.

Another star in McKellar’s squad is NRL convert Joseph Suaalii. The incoming coach said he hadn’t spoken to the big-money recruit yet but was confident he’d make a smooth transition.

Asked if he had a position in mind, McKellar said: “I’ve got a bit of an idea but I won’t make it public at the moment. Look, he could play no.13, wing, fullback - he could probably play at 12 as well. He is a special athlete.”

McKellar is well aware of the pressure that will soon fall on his shoulders as Waratahs coach. The old cliche used to go that regardless of the season before, NSW would book the premiership tickertape parade in the pre-season.

“I understand that it comes with the territory and I look forward to that challenge,” he said.

“I don’t think anyone puts any more pressure on me than I put on myself. I’ll demand high standards of my staff and my players, but the highest standards that I’ll demand of anyone will be of myself.”

Dan McKellar on ...

COACHING JOSEPH SUAALII

“Peter Hewat coached him when he was in the Australian Under-18s and beat New Zealand a few years back, and I remember he was talking about him then when we were at the Brumbies together. There’s no surprise that he’s become a superstar. He brings a real point of difference, he’s a big body, he’s got good skill and he’s got a grounding in rugby and the basics. Now it’s teaching him how to play the game at a professional level.”

CHASING ZACH FITTLER

“There’s nothing locked in there yet. But one thing we’ve got to do at New South Wales is - and I’ve been on the other side of the fence for so long trying to pick the eyes out of the talent up here - is we’ve got to keep our best young players. Whether it’s Zach or Toby Brial or whoever it might be, we need to ensure that we provide an environment and a program where they look at it and go, ‘that’s close to home and I know I’ve got the best chance of being the best rugby player I could possibly be by being involved in that club’.

If we do that, then we make the decision pretty easy for them, and then moving away from home for an extra 10, 15 grand, whatever it might be, doesn’t really come into it. That a real focus for me. We’re going to make sure that our academy and our pathways programs are humming and we get our identification of talent right, because it’s probably harder when you’ve got so much choice.“

GETTING THE BEST FROM TANIELA TUPOU

I’ve got a relationship with Nela from my time with the Wallabies. He’s a player that is, on his day, as good as any in his position in the world. And he plays a position that’s incredibly important, it’s the cornerstone of your scrum and your maul. When he gets it right, he’s incredibly destructive.If you provide an environment where he’s happy and he feels like he’s being valued, then I think you’re a good chance of getting the best out of him. You’re not going to be able to sit there and yell and scream at Taniela and hit him with a stick. He’s a player that appreciates being challenged and he understands that hard work’s important.”

HIS ASSISTANT COACHES

“I actually had a conversation with Catty (Mike Catt) at Leicester, when I knew he was leaving Ireland. But that wasn’t the right role for him. I remember him saying back then at the time that his wife’s got family in Australia and Australia’s a pretty good place to live and Sydney’s a beautiful city. So I thought I’ll keep that in mind. It worked out well and he sees a really talented group of rugby players that he can help make a difference.(Locky) McCaffrey was always a player that I knew would make a very good coach. Smart, smart rugby player. Someone as a coach who you lean on. It’s a great opportunity for him. If Laurie Fisher didn’t give me an opportunity back in 2013 I wouldn’t be sitting here either. I think as coaches we’ve got that responsibility.Dan (Palmer) was with me at the Tigers and is a NSW boy originally, and so too is (S & C coach) Tom Carter, who lives and breathes the Waratahs and has done superb stuff with the Aussie women’s sevens in the last few years.”