Andrew Slack: Lack of Aussie coach is an indictment on system

If there really isn’t an Australian coach who could take up the role of leading the Wallabies, it’s indictment on what rugby union is doing in this country, writes ANDREW SLACK.

I know each of them reasonably well so I say this with a fair degree of conviction.

Lock the three former Wallaby coaches – Alan Jones, Bob Dwyer and John Connolly – in the same room to discuss rugby matters and it won’t be all sweetness, light and unanimous agreement.

In that hypothetical room there will be a few “out there” views and some vehement disagreement, but the combined intellectual property in regards to rugby would be vast.

When this particular trio are aligned in their assessment, they are definitely worth listening to.

So when they’re all singing from the same playbook in criticising Australian rugby’s enthusiasm for recruiting New Zealand coaches for our flagship teams, the question has to be asked. Is there not a single coach currently doing his stuff somewhere in the Australian system that is not ready for the step up?

Brumbies coach Dan McKellar. Picture: AAP Image/Lukas Coch

If the answer is no, it is an indictment on the system.

Neither Jones, Dwyer nor Connolly lack in self-belief so I’m sure they’d each feel up to coaching the Wallabies, but with none of them likely to be asked, it’s instructive to hear they believe we have other Australian coaches who could measure up.

It’s hard to hear a discouraging word about Dan McKellar, who has done all the hard yards from the Burdekin Canetoads to the Brumbies with lots in between.

Should the likely scenario occur and the Wallabies require a new coach in 2020, a McKellar application, if he were interested, would undoubtedly be hit with the standard, go-to reply of “Is he ready?” What’s “ready” actually mean?

Of course, we’re not the only rugby nation confronted by this issue. New Zealanders are coaching Wales and Ireland and I reckon a few English coaches will feel somewhat peeved that an Australian was put in charge of their World Cup campaign.

It might be the way of the professional rugby world but it begs the question as to whether we’ve scoured the coaching ranks - academy, professional, club or even school - as thoroughly as we might have.

Robbie Deans’ selections were a concern. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

I’m not convinced there aren’t some club coaches who’d be up to the task, but the challenge facing them is similar to the one a university leaver with a bunch of degrees might find as they enter the work force.

How do you get experience without being given experience? Sure, risk would be involved but taking a risk with a homegrown product sounds a better option than taking a risk with an outsider.

I admit to being a supporter of Robbie Deans when he became the first non-Australian to coach the Wallabies after Connolly was shown the door (wrongly, I believe) in 2007, but circumstances have changed a lot in the ensuing 12 years.

Deans’ record shows he is a good coach, he’s a fine person who sincerely cares about the welfare of his players, but ultimately I had an issue with his selections.

There’s no real way of proving this but perhaps as an “outsider” he may not have fully understood the “Aussie way”, if there is such a thing, and this impacted on his selection process.

Either way, any coach given a job by Rugby Australia now has another thing to consider.

The percentage of players of Pacific Island descent is now the elephant in the dressing room of all Australian teams and while there is no “them” and “us” in any happy and successful team, the reality is there are cultural considerations which a coach must manage.

Don’t tell me there is not an Australian, of whatever descent, who can’t do that.