Super Rugby: Five areas the NSW Waratahs must improve to turn fortunes around in 2018

AS they prepare to finish one of their worst seasons in history, the NSW Waratahs need to face some hard truths before planning a turnaround for next year.

AS they prepare to finish one of their worst seasons in history, the NSW Waratahs need to face some hard truths before planning a turnaround for next year.

They have been plagued by same failings over and over this year, yet the inability to correct these mistakes is both alarming and damning.

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These are the five areas NSW must address in the off-season if they are any chance of threatening for another premiership and winning back countless disillusioned fans.

1. COMMUNICATION

It doesn’t matter what revolutionary, whiz-bang plans the coaches and players come up with for next year, none of it will matter if people are on different pages.

That has been the key issue this year; the messages are not sinking in.

Head coach Daryl Gibson conceded this week he and his staff had tried to communicate to players in a number of different ways. Nothing worked, and that is a huge worry.

Michael Hooper says the Waratahs’ players are right behind coach Daryl Gibson.

NSW captain Michael Hooper says there is no question Gibson is the man to turn things around.

“There is no ‘was’ about it, he is the guy,” Hooper said.

“I genuinely believe that Daryl is a fantastic coach, a person who is a motivator for the group, great for his coaching staff upstairs getting the right people around to help him, and that’s including from a players’ point of view. Within this building, there’s complete support behind Daryl and he is the direction forward for this club.”

2. DEFENCE

One word: atrocious. The Tahs have conceded a record amount of tries and points this year, just three seasons after winning the competition on the back of the best defence in the tournament. The strange element is they have the same defence coach from 2014 — Nathan Grey. Clearly Grey knows what he is doing, but something has failed to click this year.

Players look confused in the line, have slipped off easy one-on-one tackles, and can’t contain counter-attack plays.

The Waratahs have conceded a record amount of tries and points this season.

Now Grey will move fulltime to the Wallabies, and Gibson will assume the defensive responsibilities himself, largely due to the Tahs being unable to afford another coach. This is a rocks or diamonds move. If Gibson tightens the defence he is a genius, but if they concede a couple of big scores early next year he’ll be a dead man walking.

Hooper said once the season is finished, “we can pick each other apart and say ‘This didn’t work, that didn’t work, this did work and this is how we’re going to start with a solid plan to avoid those things like the slow start and the 40 points deficit’.”

3. FITNESS

The Tahs have been off the pace all season. They are simply not fit enough to play the attacking style they desire, nor keep with the best teams in the competition. Insiders suggest that data backs up the theory that NSW players are not as fit or strong as rival clubs. A tough, no-nonsense pre-season is in order.

4. STYLE

NSW want to be the entertainers of the competition, running the ball from anywhere and scoring spectacular tries. But this approach rarely works, and there are more effective methods of being defensively sound while still entertaining the fans — just look at the Kiwi conference.

Israel Folau is always a threat for defenders when he has the ball in hand.

“We’ll definitely have those discussions about where we think we can play better, where our players are suited to playing, where we’ve done really well this year,” Hooper said. “We’ve had some good points this year, we’ve beaten some of the top teams in halves of rugby, so we’ll look at what we did really well there and just try create that through the whole of the season.”

5. LEADERSHIP

With Dean Mumm and Rob Horne leaving, Hooper needs a new crew of leaders around him and has already touted back-rower Ned Hanigan and hooker Damien Fitzpatrick as additions.

“That’s another thing we’re going to have to review because that wasn’t a success for us this year,” Hooper said. “Good teams are made up of a good leadership group and that didn’t fire this year as well as we would like.”

But Hooper does see an opportunity to turn things around, as the Tahs did from their worst year in 2012 to win Super Rugby two years later.

“I wasn’t here in 2012 but from what I’ve heard the guys saying through the ashes you come through the other end a lot better, those guys talked about how disappointed they were in that season, the feeling would largely be the same here,” Hooper said.

“It’s got to push past the players who have come from this state, who we’ve got a lot of, just happy to be here, or wanting to make something of their time here.

“That’s a switch that if we get right next year, will go a long way to doing some really good things in this comp and shaping the waves in NSW.”