“I hold the Wallabies coaching role in high esteem. It’s a privilege and a responsibility. I don’t believe you should just walk in there and get the job. You have to earn the right.
“Right now,I’m really enjoying my time with Queensland. We feel we have built a quality program here and that’s where our focus remains.
‘If the opportunity presented itself at the right time later down the track,I would be honoured to coach the Wallabies.’
Brad Thorn
“If the opportunity presented itself at the right time later down the track,I would be honoured to coach the Wallabies,but that’s for other people to make that decision.”
Right down,despite Thorn holding a 7-6 edge over McKellar in five years of Super Rugby games in which they have been rival coaches,it is fair to say McKellar has the edge with the people who will “make that decision”.
Said one highly placed Rugby Australia source:“In the context of getting greater changes around high-performance coaching,Thorn has not been good to work with. He has not been a team player. A decision doesn’t have to be made now but he had better turn that around – and quickly.”
There is no question that Thorn has been his own man entirely at the Reds,but in doing so he has inadvertently assisted other Australian franchises.
Quade Cooper,James Slipper and Karmichael Hunt all were moved on from the Reds by Thorn for a variety of reasons. Slipper and Hunt,who went on to become central players for the Brumbies and Waratahs,slipped up badly because of cocaine but Cooper’s crime seemingly was that he was . . . well . . . Quade Cooper.
Nor was there any second chances granted when Izack Rodda,Isaac Lucas and Harry Hockings all rebelled against COVID-induced pay cuts. These days Rodda,after a stint with Lyon,is a mainstay for the Western Force,while Lucas and Hockings are high on Darren Coleman’s recruitment list for the Waratahs next year.
Despite all this – or perhaps because of it – the Reds have become Australia’s reigning Super Rugby champions. Thorn’s narrow lead over McKellar might never be broken because the Reds’ most recent victory over the Brumbies,which many Queenslanders believed let the ACT off lightly,may well be his last showdown with McKellar. Unless their two sides are drawn against each other in the finals this year,that will be it for the Brumbies boss.
And while McKellar has been widely praised for developing a host of outstanding young players,so too has Thorn. His handling of Taniela Tupou from his early days as a member of his Queensland Country side has been a model of restraint aimed at giving the Tongan Thor at least a decade of top-line international rugby.
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But he also has brought on a host of other stars – Jordan Petaia,Hunter Paisami,Tate McDermott,Harry Wilson,Fraser McReight and Lukhan Salakia-Loto. Counterintuitively,he also saw the good in veteran James O’Connor and gave him a second – or was it a third? – chance.
Together,Thorn and McKellar are significantly raising the number of quality players contending for places in the Wallabies. It’s only fair that they both be considered when Rennie does decide to move on,most likely after next year’s World Cup.