Waratahs have always had great roster but didn’t have right coach until Michael Cheika took over

THE Waratahs have always had one of the most talented rosters every year but they needed to find a puppet-master - enter Michael Cheika.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - JUNE 23: Waratahs coach Michael Cheika speaks to players during a Waratahs training session at Kippax Lake on June 23, 2014 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

I HAVE always thought they’ve had one of the most talented rosters every year, but the Waratahs have just needed the right puppet-master to pull the strings.

They have finally found that master puppeteer in coach Michael Cheika.

I’m sure Cheika is not everyone’s cup of tea at Waratahs headquarters, but he’s got that attitude of ‘Get on board or step aside’ that ensures everyone is pulling in the same direction.

In his 18 months at Moore Park, Cheika has managed to get rid of the bad habits and negative culture at the Waratahs.

What I like is that there is nothing political about Cheika; what you see is what you get.

From the outside looking in, he has done some pretty dramatic things at that place, and has got the team playing an exciting brand of footy.

When NSW rugby is strong, Australian rugby is strong.

Sydney is a winner’s city, and when the Tahs are back in vogue and have their mojo back, people flock back in droves to the game.

For far too long the fans have been suffering from near-misses and short-comings.

But it appear that Cheika has a playing group that, refreshingly, believe in themselves again.

They are nowhere near as consistent as they need to be, but they have rapidly narrowed the gap between the highs and lows of previous failed campaigns.

There is not a massive difference between a good and a bad performance from NSW these days, and the great sides have that trait.

Is this Tahs side as good as those of the past?

They could be, but the real test will be how they go for the remainder of the season.

They have not achieved the holy grail of winning the title yet, and until they do so, they can’t be judged as any more successful than the sides of 2005 and 2008 that actually made the grand final.

I read with interest Bob Dwyer’s comments this week regarding possible tinkering to the starting team next week against Queensland, which Cheika had hinted to with his backrow, and I agree that there should be no such thing the week before the playoffs.

I know from having come off the Tahs bench in that 96-19 drubbing by the Crusaders in 2002 how important momentum is to take into the finals.

We were guaranteed a place and Dwyer decided to rest a few of us from the starting side in Christchurch, and the Crusaders just murdered us.

Our psyche changed completely; we were in the finals but mentally we were done.

The psychological scars of that loss cut deep, the hurt was hard, and our fragility was exposed.

The next week, playing in our first finals game in Super Rugby, we were pumped 51-10 by the Brumbies.

Players need consistency. If they are lethargic, lighten their training load, but don’t rest them from games.

If NSW are to win the premiership this year, there are certain areas they must improve.

One is the set-piece. They cannot afford to have a moment’s lapse in the scrum, because one man out of eight who loses concentration for a split second will give the opposition an opening.

The other is phase play. The Tahs work well with Bernard Foley and Kurtley Beale working in tandem as playmakers, and that makes phase play easier, but in the pressure cooker of finals footy, accuracy and speed are vital.

I love the Tahs forwards at the moment; it is a pack of hitmen.

Wycliff Palu is playing career-best rugby, Will Skelton is destructive off the bench, Kane Douglas is a hard, raw-boned bugger, Michael Hooper is just a dynamo with endless energy, and Tatafu Polota-Nau is relishing the tough stuff.

Add to them Jacques Potgieter, who in my opinion has been the signing of the year.

It is wonderful to see a foreign player so well accepted by the other players, but he has also brought an undeniable hard edge to the team with his physicality.

Potgieter’s style is Cheika 101; unflinching and unforgiving.

Originally published as Waratahs have always had great roster but didn’t have right coach until Michael Cheika took over