Queensland Reds turn to ARU for help in choosing best coach

The Queensland Rugby Union will start interviewing the seven finalists for the Reds coaching position this week.

Queensland Reds general manager Daniel Herbert.

The Queensland Rugby Union will start interviewing the seven finalists for the Reds coaching position this week — and two New South Welshmen will be involved in the process.

Parochial Queenslanders might be aghast at the QRU’s invitation to invite Rob Clarke and Ben Whittaker to help select the Reds coach. Certainly the Queensland Rugby League could not be persuaded any time soon to ask the likes of Gus Gould or Tommy Raudonikis on to the selection panel next time the Maroons coaching position falls vacant.

But the view of the man overseeing the process, Reds general manager (rugby) Daniel Herbert, is that Clarke and Whittaker — respectively the ARU’s chief operating officer and the high-performance general manager — represent not a threat but a valuable asset.

“I don’t see it that way,” said Herbert when asked whether the Reds were surrendering some of their sovereignty to the ARU in extending the invitation. “I look at the ARU as a resource and I think it’s important to work with them.”

Although the ARU is working on a case-by-case basis with the states, it is becoming more involved in the selection of Super Rugby coaches on the grounds that the choices the franchises are making are having an effect on the performance of the Wallabies.

The other members of the panel — Queenslanders all — are former Wallabies Mark Connors, Nathan Sharpe, Brett Robinson, Pat Howard and Herbert himself, alongside University of Queensland academic Cliff Mallett, who has completed detailed research into the characteristics of successful sporting coaches.

Clarke argued that Australia’s six professional rugby franchises — the Wallabies and the five Super Rugby teams — could all benefit from working co-operatively in those areas where there was no competitive tension. And while the ARU still was working towards a more formal structure to assist coaches, he believed the national body could help not only with the choice of coaches but also with their support and professional development.

Matt O’Connor and Nick Stiles, who were appointed co-coaches when Graham was sacked, are automatically on the Reds shortlist but other names are being kept confidential. It is understood former Queensland five-eighth John Mulvihill is one of the finalists while the name of Todd Blackadder, the Crusaders coach since he replaced Robbie Deans in late 2008, refuses to go away. It was thought Bath had secured his services but no announcement has been made by the English club.

Blackadder also has been listed as a contender for the Western Force coaching job, while Heyneke Meyer, who was sacked as Springboks coach following their relegation to third at the last World Cup, has already confirmed his interest in the job.

Having foreigners coaching two of the five Super Rugby teams — Kiwi Daryl Gibson is already in charge of the Waratahs — might not work for the ARU but, conversely, it might help the Force push deeper with its campaign to recruit young South Africans if it has a former Boks coach at the helm.

Meanwhile, talk of unrest at the Melbourne Rebels over Tony McGahan’s coaching style appear to be completely wide of the mark. The rumours stem from reports leaked to the media by a disgruntled player manager of a meeting senior players Tamati Ellison and Scott Fuglistaller held with Baden Stephenson, the rugby operations general manager, last week. Yet rather than plotting a coaching overthrow, the meeting was intended as a debrief to get some parting advice from the two players who are leaving at the end of the season. And the meeting was set up and organised by McGahan himself.