Queensland Reds risk ‘Fevola’ backfire if they go on and sign James O’Connor
THE faltering Reds have reached their critical “Fevola moment” when signing a dynamic player with serial behaviour problems can look a great idea.
Opinion
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THE faltering Reds have reached their critical “Fevola moment” when signing a dynamic player with serial behaviour problems can look a great idea.
No offer has yet been put to game-breaker James O’Connor but the mere fact rugby’s fallen kings are sniffing the breeze is a watershed point.
The Reds have done so much since 2010 to build a brilliant team culture and their interaction with loyal fans that they are still averaging almost 30,000 crowds in a bad year.
Do they now gamble on O’Connor having changed his self-centred ways or is the train wreck as inevitable as when bad boy Brendan Fevola rode into Brisbane?
Fevola was signed by AFL’s Brisbane Lions for 2010 as a goal trump with the X-factor to give the club a real finals glow.
What they got was 12 months of image-denting publicity and a sacking to save the culture of the Lions from the calamitous stuff-up.
The club did not make the finals that year, and they have not since.
One of the first signing headlines Fevola attracted in this paper was: “I Promise To Be Good … Fevola swears off booze for Lions”.
You can almost insert O’Connor’s name and cross the same fingers.
This is no carve-up of O’Connor, who can be engaging and a magnetic king of the kids.
It merely highlights the magnitude of this decision and the diligence needed to assess whether O’Connor has, or even can, change his disdain for authority.
Queensland Rugby Union chief executive Jim Carmichael knows this more than anyone.
“If there was interest it would not come with any ‘you’ve got to be in bed by 9pm’ nonsense,” Carmichael said.
“The coaches choose the talent. My role is with the environment to get the best possible out of a player.
“Quade Cooper is an impressive young man today who has made big strides.
“Like all of us, we grow up. Yes, I’d back our team culture in the case of James O’Connor.”
Reds coach Richard Graham has an open mind about the potential signing, but only as open as seeing O’Connor as a winger.
That’s a potential deal-breaker with O’Connor because he would have to submerge his ego and step back from his preferred playmaking roles with more ball at inside centre or flyhalf.
“I was with him in 2010 in the Wallabies (when Graham was assistant coach) and I thought him the best winger in the world at that time,” Graham said.
“There is absolutely no doubt about his footballing quality.
“Over time, potentially moving from wing or fullback into the inside backs compromised his development.”
When put on the spot about whether O’Connor might purely be a potential back three recruit for the Reds, Graham was clear.
“Based on history, if we went down that path he’d be a winger,” Graham said.
How much or how permanently O’Connor has matured off the field is the first question.
“Well, there’s a history there isn’t there?’’ Graham said. “It’s important as an organisation that we go through due diligence but it’s the same with any player. You check the background.
“We are looking at a huge range of options both in the backs and throughout the back row.”
That’s rebuilding talk in any language because the Reds’ slide to five straight losses has eroded every pillar of their 2010-13 renaissance.
Fortress Suncorp is no more, the Reds’ once-rattling defence is leaking and every week the team looks short of a game-breaking turbo or two.
What has gone wrong with the Reds and what is the fix?
PLAYER LIST
The Reds bungled with tame recruiting. Graham had charge of contracting and the big deficiencies exposed now were there before the season. The Waratahs signed Jacques Potgieter, the sort of abrasive 115kg import at flanker-lock that the Reds desperately needed for more go-forward. Not finding a big, line-busting winger to replace the departed Digby Ioane has hurt the Reds every week.
The good news is the Reds have their quality core signed for next season, with Will Genia, James Horwill, Quade Cooper, Liam Gill, Rob Simmons, James Slipper, Chris Feauai-Sautia, Ben Daley and James Hanson locked away.
THE COOPER-GENIA MAGIC SHOW
Former Wallabies coach Eddie Jones was pilloried on the opening day of the season for daring to suggest the Reds were too reliant on the Genia-Cooper show and would miss the finals. He was spot on.
Rivals are swamping Cooper and Genia, who is running far less. There is too little alternative firepower to strike elsewhere. Hot-and-cold Cooper has thrown close to 10 forward passes this season. Opponents now read his moves far better.
DEFENCE
The chest-beating bedrock of the 2011 title win still gave up just 23 tries in 16 regular season games last season.
Eleven games into this season, 35 tries have been conceded and some of the defensive misreads out wide have been terrible. Head coach Graham runs the defence and has taken blame for not working hard enough on it recently.
Defence is about attitude so clearly the Reds have receded there.
COACHING
Ewen McKenzie was not the only coach to move on last year. Under-rated attack coach Jim McKay left for the Wallabies too.
One plank of this year’s attack was Cooper, as quarterback, hitting the best option from four rushing runners in midfield with a split-second pass. It worked a treat when Aidan Toua ran in a brilliant 55m try from that play in Canberra in Round 1. Toua only played the first five of 11 games because of injury and the attack has spluttered ever since.
Graham is more conservative than McKenzie. The Reds have looked uncomfortable kicking away so much ball at times. They have done it poorly too often, which is not the coach’s fault.
Senior players James Horwill and Will Genia have backed Graham.
The coach is safe, for now but he has to get runs on the board early next season or the heat will be turned way up.
Belated use of the blindside and sliding Cooper to second receiver to throw a wide ball in J.J. Taulagi’s try last weekend was sharper variation.
THE PLAYERS’ VIEW
“Poor defence has let us down because it has been the backbone of our success,” Will Genia said.
“We haven’t been as patient on attack as we’ve needed to be either because you create chances by holding the ball. We haven’t.”
EXPERT VIEW
“Having been there myself, a tough draw and losses on the road to start eroded some confidence,” Reds great and former coach Jeff Miller said.
“Everyone can see how much a Digby-style player has been missed because it creates so many more alternatives in attack outside of Will and Quade.
“Quade is playing a bit deeper and not hitting as many holes on the line with his passes.”
THE FIX
Reds boss Jim Carmichael is adamant “we have the nucleus of a championship team”. He is only right if the Reds sign a turf-shredding Ioane-style winger and a brawny backrower who can bullock over the advantage line.
There’s a lot to like about signing former NFL tight end Hayden Smith as 116kg of import clout.
Playing a fit Feauai-Sautia at No.13 to add much-needed size to the centres and more passing subtlety to the backline outside Cooper are other imperatives.
The Reds can be finals material again next year.
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