“And then it’s just the hypocrisy, of some of the people involved, annoys me as well. Some of these people have been involved in the administration and made some of the mistakes, going back some way. It’s very easy now to sit on the outside and throw stones in. It is more self than it is game.”
Wallabies teammates console each other after losing to Wales at the World Cup.Credit: AP
Though tension exists with some state unions and RA leadership, there does not appear an appetite among the member unions to spill the Rugby Australia board, according to state sources with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Stooke and Marks were part of a National Technical Advisory Committee put together in 2020 by former RA chairman Hamish McLennan, to advise on coaching and pathway matters. Other members included Nick Farr-Jones, Bob Dwyer and Roger Gould, but with little engagement with RA, some members exited in early 2023, and the rest resigned this year.
Herbert said while he respected the members of group, he’d given “direct and honest” feedback after taking over as RA chair that the committee needed more diversity, with no professional experience among the members and no women.
“And there were a few other things as well. I had that conversation and that wasn’t taken particularly well,” he said. “Sometimes people see themselves as the solution and if you don’t share that same point of view then sometimes they don’t like that.”
Rugby Australia CEO Phil Waugh.Credit: Louie Douvis
Asked why he and CEO Phil Waugh should be trusted to lead the game given they were on the board that made a call to sack Dave Rennie, hire Eddie Jones and sign Joseph Suaalii on a huge contract, Herbert indicated there had been dissenting views and McLennan was in the driving seat.
“What I would say is you don’t always get your way. There are always divergent views on a board or in a selection committee and whatever decision is ultimately taken you have to move forward with that,” he said.
“There was certainly strong debate over a lot of those decisions but going back to the change that came about in November, what drove that and remembering what was said by the member unions: lost trust, the chair (McLennan) acting outside of his role with undue influence and judgement, and player poaching of players from another code, were things that I also agreed with.”
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