Welcome to the Sideline Eye.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
It has been a crazy week in Australian sport from Jarryd Hayne quitting a $900,000 contract, to Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie announcing he was stepping down after his side’s one point loss to New Zealand last Saturday.
Throw into that mix a fantastic Sydney derby in the A League soccer and there has been no shortage of sports conversation.
Hayne has been allowed to leave the Parramatta Eels despite still having a year remaining on his current contract.
He has left the Eels in search of NFL (American football) stardom, a mammoth task for anybody let alone an Australian just starting out in the sport.
At first I thought he was crazy.
Hayne recently shared Dally M Player of the Year honours with Jonathon Thurston and passed up a contract extension at Parramatta worth more than $1 million a season.
At the top of the game, it seemed the rugby league world was at Hayne’s mercy.
It wasn’t until I heard an interview with Hayne stating it had been a dream of his for a number of years to play in the NFL that I started to understand where he was coming from.
He had talked of leaving for America back when Ricky Stuart was trying to coach the Eels a number of years ago.
That’s how long he has been planning his assault on one of the hardest games to break into.
Hayne is under no illusion how difficult it will be and that there is no guarantee of earning a contract.
This is why he has now become a personal hero.
He isn’t chasing money, he is chasing his dream.
He didn’t sign for a big rugby union or Aussie Rules contract.
Hayne has headed over to the US on his own dollar with a plan in place to give him every chance of succeeding.
There is no doubting Hayne’s athletic prowess in the NRL, but American football is a completely different monster.
Hayne is 189cm (6ft 2 inches) and 100kg.
Compared with star Minnesota Vikings running back (Hayne’s desired position) Adrian Peterson who is 185cm (6foot 1 inch) and 98kg, it looks pretty good for Hayne.
He has a lot to learn and it will be a hard trek.
But he will not be sitting in his arm chair wondering what may have been.
- - - -
Ewen McKenzie took over the head coaching role of the Wallabies rugby union team from Robbie Deans on July 8, 2013.
Both Deans and McKenzie enjoyed a very successful domestic coaching career before taking charge of the Wallabies with some indifferent results.
McKenzie only enjoyed a 50 per cent win record from his 22 tests but was expected to guide Australia through next year’s World Cup.
His resignation comes on the back of three losses, although it seems these had little to do with his resignation which caught most people off guard.
Australian rugby has been embroiled in controversy since the end of September with the highly publicised spat between Kurtley Beale and Di Patston.
McKenzie was forced to deny any intimate relationship with Patston because he missed the first Wallabies training in Argentina to accompany her to the airport when she left the tour after the fight with Beale.
The nature of their relationship is irrelevant and it would have been remiss of the Wallabies if nobody accompanied Patston to her flight.
As to whether it should have been McKenzie is another matter.
Beale has a long list of infractions on his record and is known to be a troublemaker.
There is no doubting his ability, but at what cost do you keep a player who sows disharmony amongst the squad?
McKenzie resigned from his role because of what is going on behind the scenes in the Wallabies squad and he feels there is a lack of support from the Australian Rugby Union (ARU).
I want the Wallabies to succeed but I can’t see that happening without some major changes starting at the top of the ARU.
Two very successful domestic coaches have failed to turn the Wallbies’ fortunes around.
Is Michael Cheika, NSW Waratahs Super Rugby winning coach and McKenzie’s likely successor, going to do any better in the same environment?
I hope so but I doubt it.
- - - -
Peter Kirwan, who has a strong connection to Parkes, is a fine golfer who I enjoy a hit with occasionally.
Peter lives in Cowra and some friends and I have a great time when we head over there for a game of golf or when we welcome him here in Parkes.
Peter is the current Cowra Open Champion, Cowra Club Champion and is always in the running for the major events there and throughout the central west.
This highly successful player who has a handicap of zero, won the NSW Country Two Man Ambrose Championships with his partner on Sunday.
They broke the previous scoring record by a mammoth four shots.
That was not before the superstar of the Cowra club, nicknamed The Phantom due to his bald head, barely hit his tee shot on the par three 16th hole more than 50 metres, around 130 metres short of the green.
Golf has a funny way of putting people in their place, even one of the excellent players and good guys.
If golf doesn’t, usually your mates will.
Sometimes you just have to keep thinking positive thoughts.