Eddie Jones says it’s a total rabble with Wallabies mess more like a bad reality TV show

I have a great idea for the Australian Rugby Union ... create your own reality drama show, Lord Of The Link, and base it on Queensland’s Stradbroke Island.

Former Wallabies coach Eddie Jones during a NSW Waratahs Super 15 RU team training session at Moore Park, Sydney.

I HAVE a great idea for the Australian Rugby Union ... create your own reality drama show, Lord Of The Link, and base it on Queensland’s Stradbroke Island.

The similarities between the Wallabies and the classic novel Lord of the Flies, where boys on an island try to govern themselves with disastrous results, is uncanny.

At the moment, there appears to be no leadership structure within the ARU.

Like Ralph in William Golding’s book, ARU boss Bill Pulver talks a good game.

He has stuffed up the Wallaby structure by having no checks and balances. For example, how could a rugby team have a business manager yet no team manager?

Rugby teams always need a respected team manager. Former Waratahs manager Chris Webb would be perfect.

He won’t save you $600,000 like the ex-business manager but he will look after the image of the Wallabies, which is worth a hell of a lot more.

A bad performance against the All Blacks could endanger Ewen McKenzie’s position.

There appears to be no leadership within the team itself.

Ewen McKenzie seems more concerned about staff welfare and cutting costs than player welfare, development and performance.

“Link” might also be likened to Ralph, who was supposed to hunt but caught no food.

There is no consistent message from the ARU or team. There are media leaks everywhere from the CEO to the captain.

The Reds boys support Link whereas the NSW Waratahs support Kurtley Beale.

It is a rabble, a total rabble.

So there you go Fox Sports and the ARU ... make some money with the Lord Of The Link concept.

More seriously, there is a Test on Saturday night.

A big All Blacks weakness exists in the defence channel around halfback Aaron Smith with No.10 Beauden Barrett, a very passive tackler, and inside centre Malakai Fekitoa, a poor reader in defence.

If the Wallabies can win some good first-phase ball and exploit this area, they are a hope of pulling an upset

Australian rugby needs a High Performance Manager to look beyond today.

I was lucky to have Brett Robinson until 2004. We had many a fight but everything we argued about was to improve Australian rugby. I missed his support in 2005 when I was dealing with a replacement who had no rugby nous.

Teams can bond together in the most difficult of situations and senior players need to drive it.

The ACT Brumbies in 2004 and the England team which reached the 2007 World Cup final are examples where the coach was sidelined by the team and the team ran itself successfully.

A good performance on Saturday night will see Link continue to the World Cup but another bushfire might bring the Wallaby rabble to a head.

Originally published as Eddie Jones says it’s a total rabble with Wallabies mess more like a bad reality TV show