Super Rugby season 2015: Waratahs coach Michael Cheika puts the trophy out of view
AFTER fulfilling a 19-year quest to get their hands on the Super Rugby trophy, the Waratahs have a special spot in mind to exhibit it in 2015: the spare closet.
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AFTER fulfilling a 19-year quest to get their hands on the Super Rugby trophy, the Waratahs have a special spot in mind to exhibit it in 2015: the spare closet.
The Tahs currently hold Super Rugby’s silverware after winning their maiden premiership last year but in an effort to keep his troops motivated, NSW coach Michael Cheika said he had no plans to put the trophy on display at their Moore Park headquarters.
Indeed, Cheika said he would actually prefer his players walk past an empty cabinet each day as a reminder of the job that lies ahead, and not past glories.
“You don’t need to see the trophy to know what you’ve done, it is about learning from that but then taking it to another level,” Cheika said.
The Super Rugby trophy has barely sat still since it was won last year, touring the state for promotion, media duties and travelling to various pre-season launches.
It bounces between offices but asked if he would prominently exhibit the trophy in the Waratahs’ building when the season begins, Cheika said: “Absolutely not. No.”
“If anything, you should have an empty trophy cabinet. Because you have to put something in it,” he continued.
Cheika’s unique stance came yesterday as the Waratahs launched their season with a lunch at the Ivy, and though there was plenty of vision of last year’s title-winning heroics, one word continued to be conspicuously absent.
Just as with all the pre-season advertising and marketing, the word “champions” was nowhere to be seen and insiders say this is no oversight. The hand of Cheika was involved and the coach has been at pains to point out while last year’s win is proudly celebrated, the 2015 squad has no claim to the title of champion unless they earn it again in six months’ time.
The team emerged to an onscreen message “New season, new team, new era, same belief, and the season marketing theme is a simple “Playing for NSW”.
“What happened last year will give us nothing except the learnings that we took from it, as players and coaches. That’s the continuum,” he said.
“Unless you are content with just doing that (winning one), and I am certainly not. None of the players are either. If that attitude exists, you see it in the effort. You see a short cut here and a short cut there, and I certainly haven’t seen that.”
No Australian side has ever won back-to-back titles, but bookies have the Waratahs equal $5 favourites with the Chiefs and Crusaders to carve off another slice of history and win again.
Cheika and players have stuck firm to the line they are not contemplating another title but the coach said more success will come with a cost to those who won the 2014 Grand Final.
“For us to be successful, we need to have two or three lads who weren’t in the starting team last year — sorry to those guys in the starting team — we need two or three of those guys to step up and put pressure on and claim a place in the side. We have to move forward and be competitive with each other,” Cheika said.
Meanwhile, Cheika yesterday rubbished reports as “ridiculous” that his likely successor as Tahs coach — current assistant Daryl Gibson — may not get the gig because he’s a Kiwi.
“It is not up to me. I am not the king or anything. I don’t get to anoint a successor but I genuinely think he is the man to do the job,” Cheika said.
Halfback Nick Phipps added: “He is the driving force of the club, first in and last out every day. If it a question of his work rate and work ethic, I couldn’t endorse Daryl more. If he got the opportunity to take the team onwards, I think the boys would be stoked. He’d do a great job.”
Originally published as Super Rugby season 2015: Waratahs coach Michael Cheika puts the trophy out of view
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