S
sanzar
Guest
Surprised no one's raised this:
Someone needs to shut him up... take that microphone from him and beat him with it until he can't open his fat mouth again.
Do we all agree?
In with the old (me), out with the new: Jones
Phil Lutton | October 25, 2007
ALAN Jones says the over-coached, overstaffed Wallabies need to replicate Argentina's raw approach if they are to return to rugby's glorious heights after a dismal World Cup campaign.
Jones has been thrust back into the frame as a possible candidate to replace John Connolly as Wallabies coach, with Queensland Rugby Union chairman Peter Lewis yesterday renewing his calls for the talkback radio host to come into serious consideration.
Lewis's suggestion came from far left of left field on Tuesday but he said yesterday he was deadly serious.
He also suggested the Wallabies coach need not be full-time and that Jones, who famously coached the Wallabies during the Grand Slam tour of the UK and Ireland in 1984, was the perfect man to bring a fresh approach, despite not coaching since 1988.
"It is a radical idea but if you look at the current list [of coaches], they're all currently professional coaches. Look at the game - is any one of them doing anything radically different that has revolutionised the game and is an absolute winning formula? No," Lewis said. "And that's what this thought was about. When Jones came in last time he changed the way line-outs were played, the Campeses and Roger Goulds of the world were given a free hand, Mark Ella was brilliant.
"He had good people to work with. But the talent we have today is no different. It's what you do with it."
Jones, 66, said he had had only informal discussions with Lewis and was flattered by the suggestion, which he would happily take further if more of the game's powerbrokers joined the crusade.
"Obviously, Australian rugby supporters and sponsors and players are looking for a rehabilitation of the game. My own view is that's not difficult," Jones said.
"If there are influential entities within the game … who believe that I can make a contribution, then I believe I'm obligated to think about it and say, 'Let's go to the next step,' whatever that next step is.
"But I feel we're in such a state - and it's not a difficult problem to resolve … We don't have a problem with players, we just have a problem with method, and in that context I think what I've said today is that I'm interested in going to the next step."
Jones, though a fan of Connolly, said the system needed a shake-up and the national side would be well served to follow the example of World Cup semi-finalists Argentina, who impressed with their flair, hunger and courage in France.
He said paring back the double-figure Wallabies coaching ranks would be his first task, as well as advocating a return to the daring, running back-line play that personified Australian sides during the glory days of the '80s.
"Argentina is a classic case. There's a team that doesn't have expensive training camps, 17 coaches and all the rest of it," said Jones, who admitted he had his enemies but insisted his passion for the game still burned brightly.
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Someone needs to shut him up... take that microphone from him and beat him with it until he can't open his fat mouth again.
Do we all agree?