While most of the media has been
concentrating on the sacking of the Wallabies’ coach (done) and captain (as
good as done), there are other worries bubbling away.

Tucked away in Peter Jenkins’ slicing and
dicing
of George Gregan’s character in the Murdoch fishwrappers on Sunday was
the claim that Eddie Jones had in fact decided to dump Gregan after the
Tri-Nations:

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
… In the end, he toured, and he played every game.

If true, it doesn’t say much for the
character and strength of the national selectors that they rolled over for the Sydney businessman
on such an important selection.

Then there’s the question about who this Dr
Peter Davis bloke is? He’s the man conducting the Wallabies review and finding
a new coach, alongside former coach Rod Macqueen.

Davis was appointed as the ARU’s “general manager of high performance” in
June, hired from the US Olympic Committee where he was director of coaching and
sports sciences, living in Colorado for the past five years. He is an Australian, having previously
been manager of sports sciences at the AIS.

Davis is a PhD type doctor, an “exercise physiologist,” not one of that
old breed of rugby-playing medicos, but the ARU says he did play the game while
at the Riverina College of Advanced Education in Wagga and the University of Oregon.

At this stage, with the jury out, it’s good
that Macqueen is involved.

And then there’s the next coach. Something
that’s been overlooked in the rush to anoint Waratah’s coach Ewen McKenzie as
Eddie’s replacement is that the Wallaby front row that was demolished by France
and England was the Waratah’s trio – they’ve been McKenzie’s responsibility as
much as Eddie Jones’ for the past two years.

Yes, it will need to be a team effort.