Michael Cheika maintain a positive approach ahead of Wallabies’ crunch clash with Pumas
FOR a man whose job could be in jeopardy if Australia lose to Argentina, Michael Cheika is surprisingly upbeat. So is the Wallabies coach a visionary or delusional?
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FOR a man whose job could be in jeopardy if the Wallabies lose again this week, Michael Cheika is surprisingly upbeat and certainly not showing any signs of panic.
If anything, the Wallabies coach seems to be even more buoyant than usual, saying he’s sure Australia will knock off Argentina this weekend.
“We’ll get that (win). We don’t need it, but we’ll get that,” he said.
“We’re very, very sure about what we need to do every week we go out there.
“Sometimes it doesn’t happen but if you stay true to what you believe it will happen on the field.”
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Cheika’s confidence isn’t backed up by Australia’s rotten record over the past year.
They’ve lost eight of their last 10 Tests and are at the bottom of the Rugby Championship standings.
The last time they played Argentina, they lost. At home. Just three weeks ago.
So who is Cheika feeling so bullish? He says it’s because he just loves the challenge and what’s happening now will benefit the Wallabies in the long run.
“You can’t look to go and crawl in a hole when you’re under the pump,” he said. “It’s about believing in what we’re doing and enjoying it.”
Depending on who you ask, that makes Cheika either a visionary or delusional.
His supporters insist he’s the right man to lead Australia to next year’s World Cup while his critics want him to go now.
The only thing both agree on is that Cheika never loses faith, even when the situation looks hopeless.
“Everything happens for a reason and I know that might be an easy thing to say in retrospect but some of the pain we’re going through this year is going to pay off for us later on, I promise you,” he said.
“What we’re going through, this tough time, is going to make our players and our people in the squad a whole lot tougher and ready for battle.
“We’ve got to be ready to take some of the pain that we’ve felt over this season so far and use it in the right way.”
Not everyone will buy Cheika’s philosophical argument that things will soon get better, but he says he doesn’t even mind the criticism because he understands it’s well intended.
“All Aussies want the national team to do well but people express themselves in different ways,” he said.
“Some want to give you messages of support and say ‘just hang in’, actually a lot of people do that and are maybe not heard.
“Then some people want to be critical but only to get a better outcome for the team.
“You’ve got to make sure when there’s a challenge there you step up, you take it and you do it in the right way that represents this team for what it is.”
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Originally published as Michael Cheika maintain a positive approach ahead of Wallabies’ crunch clash with Pumas