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Former Wallaby and World Cup winner Dan Herbert will need to hit the ground running as he begins his tenure as Rugby Australia chairman following the ousting of incumbent Hamish McLennan on Sunday night.
It has been a difficult year for Australian rugby, culminating in the Wallabies’ disappointing performance at the World Cup, Eddie Jones’ sudden resignation as coach and the messy end to McLennan’s three-year reign.
Herbert is the man charged by the RA board with getting things back on track and on Monday he outlined his vision for the struggling code and what he thought were the most important issues facing the game.
Centralisation
McLennan has been bullish on RA’s need for centralisation and Herbert agrees it is vital to reform for the Wallabies and other national teams to prosper.
Member unions which expressed their concerns as McLennan’s leadership have all committed to supporting high-performance alignment but the Queensland Rugby Union and ACT Rugby have baulked at the prospect of RA taking commercial control of their businesses. Those discussions will continue in coming weeks.
“It’ll be uncomfortable for some people and it’s not universally popular … but it’s for the greater good,” Herbert said on Monday. “The Wallabies are still extremely important. Not only are they the shopfront window, they drive so much of the revenue that comes through the game that then feeds the rest of the game.
“So if we get that right, we will have a much better opportunity to fund the game better, to attract more people to play the game and it will put us in a position where sponsors want to pay more money to be attached to the game.”
Wallabies coach
Herbert and the RA board will not rush the appointment of a Wallabies coach to replace Jones, who resigned late last month less than 10 months into a five-year deal.
The Wallabies don’t play a Test until July, when they face Wales on home soil, but RA is working towards a February timeline for the new head coach.
Former Wallabies coach Eddie Jones.Credit: Steven Siewert
“We haven’t gone to market … and we won’t until we [appoint] the high-performance director,” Herbert said.
“I’ve been trying to get the message across that changing a coach doesn’t fix what’s going on right now. I know it makes people feel better if we’ve got a certain coach in place for a period of time, but eventually the scoreboard comes into play. That’s when you get found out.”
Head of high-performance role
RA has started interviewing for the head of high-performance position, which will sit over the top of the Wallabies coach.
“You want that person to be front and centre in the process and hiring of the [Wallabies] coach,” Herbert said.
“We can’t take a short-term focus and we have to put the foundations in place and that starts with a good high-performance director.”
Overlooking the Wallabies review
Work is set to start shortly on the Wallabies’ review, which will be run by Andrew Slack, Justin Harrison and Darlene Harrison.
Recommendations will be made to the board, although it is unclear yet whether findings from the review will be made public.
Jones has already contributed to the review following the Wallabies’ worst ever World Cup performance, when they exited in the pool stages following historic losses to Fiji and Wales.
NRL star Joseph Suaalii will switch to rugby in 2025.Credit: Getty
Getting rugby’s house in order
McLennan often spoke of his desire to poach talent from the NRL but chief executive Phil Waugh has made it clear he is not interested in such a raid. Herbert is on the same page as Waugh.
“We’ll be focusing on ourselves and what we need to do,” Herbert said. “I think we’ve got enough on our plate. What the NRL will do and what league does is up to them. We’ve got enough good athletes I think to really focus on that. I think that’s what the rugby people want.”
Asked if RA was considering reneging on Joseph Suaalii’s rugby contract, worth in excess of $1 million per season, Herbert said: “We’re not doing that at the moment, no.”
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