skeepe
Immortal
- Messages
- 48,427
Jones defends Gregan's role
By Jon Geddes
November 30, 2005
AS AUSTRALIA coach Eddie Jones battles to retain his job as national coach, critics cite his failure to drop long-time skipper George Gregan as one reason he should be sacked.
Reflection ... Jones yesterday. Pic: Stephen Cooper
In a wide-ranging interview with The Daily Telegraph, Jones yesterday defended Gregan's selection, saying he played a very important role in the development of the current Wallabies team.
"This team has the nucleus of a squad to go places. We are developing a number of good young players and George's role as captain this year has been outstanding," Jones said.
A defiant Jones said the Wallabies remained strong as a unit despite the pressure they were under.
"You can put a significant part of that down to the good leadership of George Gregan," Jones said.
THE INTERVIEW
Is this the toughest time you have been through in your life?
It's a tough period, but when you are coaching you are always going to have these sorts of periods. Every coach goes through it. I'm prepared for it and working through it.
Do you have trouble sleeping with all this going on?
No, not at all, because as I said it is part and parcel of coaching. You have your good years, you have you bad years. What is the secret to being able to handle the pressure when your job is on the line and constantly being played out in the media?
Look, I don't coach for a job. I coach because I enjoy coaching, and I coach because I like to see players improve. That is the only thing I have been focusing on. The reality is in coaching your job is always on the line. It's one of the most public professions of all and your job is always being discussed in a public way.
Do you find it unpleasant?
I don't find it unpleasant and I don't find it pleasant. I've got a fairly neutral reaction to the whole thing - because it's something that I don't control.
Why are you the man to take the Wallabies to the next World Cup?
I think I am still a good coach. I have the ability to select the right people - you've only got to look at some of the young players coming through at the moment, who are going to be very good players in the future. I think I can coach well and I can manage a side well. So in all those three areas that makes me still the right person to coach Australia.
Are you feeling confident about holding your position?
I feel confident I can still do the job. I don't make decisions on whether I continue in the job or not.
How do you answer the critics who point to one win in the past nine Tests?
I take full responsibility for the record and it is not a good record. We have lost games that we should have won but in the end the record is not good.
What do you put it down to?
There are a number of issues involved, but I'd rather not go over them because they will come out as excuses. We just haven't played well enough over the last period of time.
Do you think anyone has let you down?
No, I take full responsibility for the performance.
Are you happy with your support staff?
Like all parts of the team's operation we need to review it.
Do you think the time might have come for some of old stagers in the team?
The records show very clearly this year we introduced 14 new caps and that is the most since 1971, so that process is in place.
If you had your time over, would you change things?
There are a couple of things. They are not major issues. In essence in most of the games we've lost, we've certainly been in the majority of those games in a position to win - we just haven't been in a position to close it off.
Could you tell us some of the specifics?
I would prefer not to go over those. The only thing I'm looking at now is going forward.
In general terms, would they be part of the game plan or selections?
Our game plan has been pretty sound. Definitely we have been found wanting up front and that is an area that we will certainly need to put more resources into. In the last couple of games the forwards have done pretty well if you take out the penalty try against Wales, which was debatable. Certainly our scrum and lineout in the last two games have been very good. England scrummaged particularly well and dominated that area. We are just a little short of technique in those areas at the moment.
Assuming you keep the job, what changes would you make before the World Cup?
We have to prioritise our scrum and driving play. If you look at the rest of our game it is reasonably sound.
The headquarters at Coffs Harbour has come under scrutiny. Is it still the right environment to prepare the team?
Every international side has an excellent training facility. Just because we've lost a number of the games there's no reason to query an excellent training facility. People criticise it but don't come up with any other solutions.
If you hold onto the job, are you prepared to change your coaching style if that's what they want?
I don't think it's a matter of changing coaching style, it's a matter of improving your coaching. Like everyone, the team needs to improve, the players need to improve and the coaches need to improve. As head coach I'm the one who needs to improve the most. It's a continuous process. You are looking at improving the way you set the tactics, the way you train, the way you manage your staff and your players.
There have been suggestions a brains trust could be put together for the World Cup to work with the coach. Would you be amenable to that suggestion?
Whatever resources we have that allow us to put the best prepared team on the field should be used. But like anything, you can have so many voices and it is just the way you manage those voices.
You have a reputation for working hard. Do you think that might work against you? An outsider might think you push people too hard.
I'm not sure who they are talking about. In any sporting organisation that aims to be high performance, you have to have a very high work ethic. There is not a successful team in the world that doesn't have a high work ethic.
http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0,8659,17408876-23217,00.html
By Jon Geddes
November 30, 2005
AS AUSTRALIA coach Eddie Jones battles to retain his job as national coach, critics cite his failure to drop long-time skipper George Gregan as one reason he should be sacked.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Daily Telegraph, Jones yesterday defended Gregan's selection, saying he played a very important role in the development of the current Wallabies team.
"This team has the nucleus of a squad to go places. We are developing a number of good young players and George's role as captain this year has been outstanding," Jones said.
A defiant Jones said the Wallabies remained strong as a unit despite the pressure they were under.
"You can put a significant part of that down to the good leadership of George Gregan," Jones said.
THE INTERVIEW
Is this the toughest time you have been through in your life?
It's a tough period, but when you are coaching you are always going to have these sorts of periods. Every coach goes through it. I'm prepared for it and working through it.
Do you have trouble sleeping with all this going on?
No, not at all, because as I said it is part and parcel of coaching. You have your good years, you have you bad years. What is the secret to being able to handle the pressure when your job is on the line and constantly being played out in the media?
Look, I don't coach for a job. I coach because I enjoy coaching, and I coach because I like to see players improve. That is the only thing I have been focusing on. The reality is in coaching your job is always on the line. It's one of the most public professions of all and your job is always being discussed in a public way.
Do you find it unpleasant?
I don't find it unpleasant and I don't find it pleasant. I've got a fairly neutral reaction to the whole thing - because it's something that I don't control.
Why are you the man to take the Wallabies to the next World Cup?
I think I am still a good coach. I have the ability to select the right people - you've only got to look at some of the young players coming through at the moment, who are going to be very good players in the future. I think I can coach well and I can manage a side well. So in all those three areas that makes me still the right person to coach Australia.
Are you feeling confident about holding your position?
I feel confident I can still do the job. I don't make decisions on whether I continue in the job or not.
How do you answer the critics who point to one win in the past nine Tests?
I take full responsibility for the record and it is not a good record. We have lost games that we should have won but in the end the record is not good.
What do you put it down to?
There are a number of issues involved, but I'd rather not go over them because they will come out as excuses. We just haven't played well enough over the last period of time.
Do you think anyone has let you down?
No, I take full responsibility for the performance.
Are you happy with your support staff?
Like all parts of the team's operation we need to review it.
Do you think the time might have come for some of old stagers in the team?
The records show very clearly this year we introduced 14 new caps and that is the most since 1971, so that process is in place.
If you had your time over, would you change things?
There are a couple of things. They are not major issues. In essence in most of the games we've lost, we've certainly been in the majority of those games in a position to win - we just haven't been in a position to close it off.
Could you tell us some of the specifics?
I would prefer not to go over those. The only thing I'm looking at now is going forward.
In general terms, would they be part of the game plan or selections?
Our game plan has been pretty sound. Definitely we have been found wanting up front and that is an area that we will certainly need to put more resources into. In the last couple of games the forwards have done pretty well if you take out the penalty try against Wales, which was debatable. Certainly our scrum and lineout in the last two games have been very good. England scrummaged particularly well and dominated that area. We are just a little short of technique in those areas at the moment.
Assuming you keep the job, what changes would you make before the World Cup?
We have to prioritise our scrum and driving play. If you look at the rest of our game it is reasonably sound.
The headquarters at Coffs Harbour has come under scrutiny. Is it still the right environment to prepare the team?
Every international side has an excellent training facility. Just because we've lost a number of the games there's no reason to query an excellent training facility. People criticise it but don't come up with any other solutions.
If you hold onto the job, are you prepared to change your coaching style if that's what they want?
I don't think it's a matter of changing coaching style, it's a matter of improving your coaching. Like everyone, the team needs to improve, the players need to improve and the coaches need to improve. As head coach I'm the one who needs to improve the most. It's a continuous process. You are looking at improving the way you set the tactics, the way you train, the way you manage your staff and your players.
There have been suggestions a brains trust could be put together for the World Cup to work with the coach. Would you be amenable to that suggestion?
Whatever resources we have that allow us to put the best prepared team on the field should be used. But like anything, you can have so many voices and it is just the way you manage those voices.
You have a reputation for working hard. Do you think that might work against you? An outsider might think you push people too hard.
I'm not sure who they are talking about. In any sporting organisation that aims to be high performance, you have to have a very high work ethic. There is not a successful team in the world that doesn't have a high work ethic.
http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0,8659,17408876-23217,00.html
