Mark Robinson\u2019s successor as chief executive of our governing body is yet to be confirmed, but the job to me is simple. Be in charge, give an air of actual authority. Let everyone with a stake in this great game know that you have a plan and are executing it. Don\u2019t just muddle along and make decisions on a reactionary basis.<\/p>\n
The same applies to the All Blacks. Scott Robertson<\/a> doesn\u2019t appear to command respect from anyone.<\/p>\n Brian Lochore, Alex Wyllie, John Hart, Laurie Mains, Graham Henry and Steve Hansen are but a few of the All Black coaches of my lifetime. They had presence and charisma, they led their teams, and they took the rest of us on the journey with them.<\/p>\n Robertson risks coming and going as an All Black coach without ever owning the role. I have no idea what he\u2019s waiting for.<\/p>\n Discernible improvement: The All Blacks are treading water, and that\u2019s hardly surprising, given the leadership vacuum at NZR and the team\u2019s coaching ranks.<\/p>\n The team doesn\u2019t seem to know what it\u2019s doing, because those in positions of responsibility above them don\u2019t either. You can\u2019t prosper in that situation.<\/p>\n Players need structure and boundaries. They need achievable tasks to tackle. Give a man a defined set of expectations, and he\u2019ll do his best to meet them.<\/p>\n All I see is a muddle.<\/p>\n South Africa <\/p>\n New Zealand <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ditch sabbaticals: This would be leadership. This would be saying to Ardie Savea<\/a>, for instance, your presence at Moana Pasifika<\/a> again next season is more important than another stint in Japan.<\/p>\n The success of that franchise and the whole Super Rugby Pacific<\/a> competition relies upon your continued participation, and that trumps whatever the reasons you\u2019ve returned to the Kobe Steelers. NZ Rugby are his primary employers, after all.<\/p>\n I\u2019d certainly sit up and take notice if the greater good was given preeminence over the whims and fancies of a prominent player.<\/p>\n A reputable trans-Tasman opponent: I don\u2019t care if it\u2019s a Super side or the Wallabies themselves, our teams need stiffer competition from Australia.<\/p>\n Our rugby is tied to Australia\u2019s, but I don\u2019t feel we get much benefit from that relationship.<\/p>\n A Barrett-less team: I\u2019ve hesitated about this, but I think maybe, just sometimes, it would be okay for the All Blacks to play a few games without the Barretts.<\/p>\n Fine players that they\u2019ve been \u2014 and hopefully will continue to be \u2014 our reliance on the talent and leadership of one family doesn\u2019t say a huge amount for the depth of our rugby.<\/p>\n One\u2019s the captain, another a vice-captain, with the third running the team from first five-eighth. When fit, they all play. I just wonder if, from time to time, we might risk having a look at what others could do in their place.<\/p>\n It wouldn\u2019t be up for discussion if the All Blacks were a dominant force. Unfortunately, they\u2019re not.<\/p>\n If you desire different outcomes, sometimes you actually have to pick different people.<\/p>\n All Blacks to be proud of: I want to like the All Blacks, and I want them to win.<\/p>\n I can handle the odd loss, as long as I feel the team is playing good rugby or showing character.<\/p>\n I\u2019m afraid I find the All Blacks a tough watch a lot of the time, and sometimes I wonder how invested the players are in the whole thing. I assume they enjoy being All Blacks and would like to do well, but I don\u2019t get a sense that defeats wound them too much.<\/p>\n They\u2019ll still get paid, most of them will continue to get picked, and there\u2019s always next week.<\/p>\n I doubt men such as Sean Fitzpatrick<\/a>, Wayne Shelford and Zinzan Brooke<\/a> were quite that philosophical about failure.<\/p>\n Merry Christmas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I only have a few things on my list of rugby Christmas wishes from Santa this year. None…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-356957","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1766096172_99_815.png.webp\"\/)
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