WALLABIES skipper George Gregan once famously sneered that passion was an overrated word in sport.
It appears he doesn't rate compassion too highly either. Or loyalty, or basic common courtesy. Gregan stands condemned today for one of the most appalling acts imaginable by an Australian sporting captain - a heartless silence on the sacking of coach Eddie Jones that will not be easily forgotten.
Jones has never been more emotional or vulnerable in the public eye than he was on Friday as he contemplated life away from the Wallabies helm.
He was gutted that the Australian Rugby Union had moved him on with two years to run on his contract. A combination of factors drove the ARU to making the decision. But Jones' reluctance to rest Gregan and give potential halfback successors a chance to start on the European tour helped fuel official dissatisfaction in the coach.
ARU managing director Gary Flowers was heard to wonder why Matt Henjak, the youngest of the three halfbacks in the party, had played only seven minutes against Ireland during the entire four-Test assignment.
Jones had made Gregan untouchable. Sure, he wanted to dump Gregan a little more than three months ago.
The plan, around the time of the All Blacks Test in Auckland on September 3, was to jettison Gregan before the trip to Europe.
It is understood ARU chairman Dilip Kumar railed against the idea. Gregan had not been given sufficient warning. In the end, he toured, and he played every game as Jones considered his leadership important to younger players.
But Jones knew Gregan's time had passed. If he had kept his job, Gregan would not have been at the scrumbase next year. The coach accepted change was needed, and change has arrived. Only it claimed Jones first.
But Jones had also stuck by Gregan in difficult periods, from the time he slept out of the team hotel the night before a Test against England in 2003 to The Daily Telegraph's repeated calls for a new halfback during the last World Cup.
Time has proved that opinion correct. Even team-mates have not rated Gregan's performances during the past two years, as highlighted by the John Eales Medal voting. Gregan finished 11th in 2004 and 20th this year.
Yet when Jones was choking back tears at ARU headquarters two days ago, the man he defended for so long was on a family holiday on the Queensland Sunshine Coast and did not wish to be disturbed.
There would be no talking for television, no soundbites for radio, certainly no newspaper interviews, not even a quickly constructed sentence or two for release through his management.
Jones was a broken man. But Gregan was on a break. This was his down time and even the downfall of Jones, for so long his ally at the ACT Brumbies and the Wallabies, could not coax a public word of comfort or commiseration.
Gregan's manager Robert Joske said the captain had spoken to the now former coach by telephone. That surely went without saying. Gregan, after all, played more than 50 Tests under Jones. But where was the public recognition?
Other Test players who have not worked so closely or for so long with Jones were ready to offer support to the outgoing coach, including centre Morgan Turinui and hooker Brendan Cannon.
Turinui described Jones in glowing terms, even though his NSW Waratahs boss Ewen McKenzie is favoured to take over the role at Test level.
But not Gregan, whose middle name means The Chosen One. He let the day pass without comment.
Perhaps what it did signal was Gregan's displeasure at Jones' pre-tour plan, later aborted, to cut the skipper loose.
Whatever the truth, Gregan has sullied the Australian captaincy with his decision to stay mum on the Jones axing. It was a callous non-reaction.
Pathetic Gregan apologists suggest he should be handed some sort of staged farewell with a sentimental final Test at the start of next season.
Why? Gregan's time is over and events of the past 48 hours have seen the so-called aura of leadership dulled considerably. Any Test captain worth his salt would have interrupted a holiday to say something, anything, about his long-time coach.
One leading Wallaby made a damning observation during the European tour. The player confided that Gregan never seemed eager "to put his body on the line". It seems he is not big on public shows of loyalty either.
The Sunday Telegraph
It sounds selfish of Gregan not to say anything about the sacking a number of other players have.
