Michael Cheika: ‘I want another crack at the Wallabies’
Former Wallabies coach Michael Cheika says he wants another crack at leading Australia to victory in the World Cup.
Former Wallabies coach Michael Cheika has revealed he wants another crack at leading Australia to victory in the Rugby World Cup.
“I think that in a different set of circumstances things would be different,” Cheika told The Australian. “We were very close to winning it at one time. You have to believe in yourself.”
The man who resigned from Rugby Australia last December after a tumultuous period on and off the field, is emphatic about his love for the Wallabies despite coaching against them in this year’s Tri-Nations tournament.
Indeed when Australia plays Argentina on Saturday Cheika’s four kids will be wearing the green and gold while the “external adviser” to the Argentinians will be managing his mixed emotions.
“I don’t want Australia to lose, I just want us to win,” Cheika said in his first public comments about his decision to coach against the team he directed for five years.
“When I decided to help the team (Argentina) out, the kids asked me, ‘who do we go for?’ I said, ‘you don’t change where you are born, just because I am doing this, you can’t support Argentina’.”
The Tri-Nations is the first time he has coached against his own country and he admits it’s been difficult at times. When the teams met in Newcastle on November 21, he “tried to shut it out. If I let it affect me emotionally it would be selfish. I had a role with the team.”
It’s been a big year for Cheika. He helped out at the Sydney Roosters NRL club, took the consulting role with Argentina, and more recently announced he would coach Lebanon in the 2021 Rugby League World Cup.
He’s fulfilling his ambition to work “across the matrix” but he’s not done with Australian rugby yet. In an exclusive interview with WISH magazine this Friday he rejects the idea a return bout might be unrealistic, given the relentless criticism he attracted as the Wallabies’ fortunes nosedived, ending with a quarter-final exit in last year’s World Cup.
“So, no business person has ever failed and not come back, not achieved a target and not come back?” he says. “People focus on the negatives. We had plenty of wins. I still want to coach now. I love it, I love being part of the sport.
“When we made the World Cup (in 2015) and lost the final, my thoughts were about succeeding in 2019. It didn’t happen. But do you sulk about it or let it beat you or come back stronger? Everyone moans that people are not resilient. Why would I ever try to resile from the past, from the honour of coaching an international team? Maybe that’s where society has positioned itself – go hide under a rock if something doesn’t go your way. As a leader, if I am not showing fight and resilience, how can I expect others to be resilient?”
There’s a precedent in play. Former Wallabies coach Eddie Jones left Australian rugby after his own stint in charge turned sour. Jones’s star has gradually risen after he guided England to the RWC final. When Cheika’s time ended many thought Jones should be rehired by Rugby Australia.
Cheika is philosophical about events at Rugby Australia and the tensions that he felt with then CEO Raelene Castle and the then chair, Cameron Clyne.
“It can’t be plain sailing all the time,” he says. “Sometimes you’ve got to fight for what you believe in.”
He argues rugby needs to “get back in touch” with the people who love the game.
“We need to repatriate our grassroots, our people,” he says.
He hopes the Lebanese rugby league campaign next year will include a camp in Lebanon as a way to boost the sport in that country. The son of Lebanese migrants, he says it will be great to give Lebanon a moment in the spotlight.
He says the jobs with the Roosters and Argentina are the first times he has not been “the boss” and it has given him a new perspective on coaching.
“I have only ever been the boss,” he says. “But I wanted to do this as part of my own development.’
Full Michael Cheika interview available WISH magazine in Friday’s The Australian
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