Hype springs anew: Why the Waratahs talking a big game is good for rugby

Hype springs anew: Why the Waratahs talking a big game is good for rugby,With renewed buzz and ambitious goals spelt out for supporters and doubters alike, NSW kick off their Super Rugby season on Friday night.

Hype springs anew: Why the Waratahs talking a big game is good for rugby

Addressing a room of supporters at the NSW Rugby season launch earlier this month, Waratahs coach Darren Coleman was quizzed about the high bar he had set for his team in 2023.

Since first telling the Herald in December, Coleman has not shied away from repeating his target for the Waratahs to take the next step after a quarter-final finish last year, and make the top four.

Playing to the room, Coleman made a joke about the CEO demanding a home semi-final but then explained if the team wanted to be successful, they had to set themselves high standards and embrace the pressure.

“If we are not pointing to the fences, then what we are doing?” Coleman said.

The room lapped it up, and it was no coincidence that the size of the function was double that of the last, which followed a winless season in 2021 and welcomed Coleman as the new coach.

The growth in scale will be the same when the Waratahs take on the Brumbies in their Super Rugby opener at Allianz Stadium on Friday night, with a crowd north of 25,000 expected for the Tahs’ first game back at Moore Park in over four years. The round one attendance last year in Parramatta, for a 538-day drought breaking win against the Fijian Drua, was below 10,000.

The Waratahs’ Michael Hooper and captain Jake Gordon back at their home ground, the new Allianz Stadium.Credit:Phil Hillyard/Venues NSW

There is a buzz around the Waratahs again.

“With this group, I don’t know if we have the best roster going around but we have a roster that can do well, so why hide from it?” Coleman explains. “Let’s embrace those expectations, let’s train that way and let’s aim to perform that way.”

But mention buzz and Waratahs in the pre-season and the mass eye-rolling around Australia is almost audible. As the adage goes: if it’s February, it must be time to start organising the Waratahs’ ticker-tape parade again.

Coleman is aware of the reputation and admits he is low-key nervous his bullish hype may come back to bite him on the posterior. But as has been seen with the return of Eddie Jones, there can be no denying a confident, contending Waratahs team fuels rugby’s overall prominence in a crowded Sydney sporting market.

Darren Coleman at the Waratahs’ new headquarters in Daceyville.Credit:Kate Geraghty

While under the radar may suit Kiwi teams and Aussie rivals with barely-there media interest, zero buzz about the Waratahs is an unhealthy canary in Australian rugby’s coalmine. Witness the last three or four seasons.

“I have probably trumpeted more than I would naturally like to, but I think it is important,” Coleman said.

“I am not Eddie Jones or have the same profile, but what Eddie is doing around trying to get eyeballs on the sport is important. Like I say to my guys, if we don’t play a style of footy and play with a level of combativeness and commitment that people want to follow, and people aren’t coming to watch the biggest city’s franchise, then we are letting down the sport.”

Walking after talking is a non-negotiable, however, and Coleman firmly believes his team is capable of success in 2023.

After going from winless in 2021 to a 8-6 record last year, the NSW roster is a year older and wiser, and is deeper, too. Many players graduated to the Wallabies or Australia A last year; there are 16 capped Wallabies in the squad, and Charlie Gamble will soon be a 17th. Coleman points, too, to his unheralded coaching staff of Jason Gilmore, Chris Whitaker and Pauli Taumoepeau.

But while he baulks at comparisons with Michael Cheika’s trajectory at NSW, where he took the team from the cellar to mid-table and then premiers in two seasons, Coleman has always been a believer in the quick turnaround.

“I know it is different with salary-capped sports, and Shute Shield is a little different and all that, but I genuinely feel if you have a team and add four or five guys, and change the culture, stuff can be achieved pretty quickly,” Coleman said.

Mark Nawaqanitawase scores a try at a pumping Leichhardt Oval in 2022.Credit:Getty

“Sustainable success is a different animal, and that’s why I respect teams like the Crusaders and the Brumbies, because they obviously have sustainable success. And it is something I am yet to do in my career.

“And don’t get me wrong, I am a realist. I don’t believe we have the strongest roster in the league, we are not anywhere near favourites. But I believe we have a roster that be at the top end. So why hide from it?”

Describing himself as a “simple bush footy coach”, Coleman says there is no subtle pyschological design behind players being told publicly to aim high. To manifest something, you must first speak it, sort of thing.

Waratahs forward Jed Holloway became a Wallabies mainstay in 2022.Credit:Getty

Coleman says he is just being honest and honesty has worked well in his career so far. Even if one-liners like talking about expectations on big-city teams like the LA Lakers make headlines and eyeballs around the Pacific region spin like Las Vegas slot room.

“You always hear coaches coming in and talking about having a four-year plan or a three-year plan or whatever. Coaches can be so set on maintaining employment and try to talk down expectation,” Coleman said.

“Some coaches may not have the courage to say that because they have job preservation in mind. And don’t get me wrong, I want to keep it for as long as I can, but my results will determine if I keep it or not.

“I am a humble person by nature and I am nervous I have said stuff I may not be able to deliver on. But by the same token, I am a realist.

“If Australia’s biggest rugby nursery isn’t near the top every year, then there is something wrong with the system. If we are not doing that, there is something wrong with how we are identifying talent, developing talent and coaching our figurehead team.

“We have a responsibility around that. We have a responsibility to the game.”

Watch all the action from the Super Rugby Pacific with every match streaming ad-free, live and on demand on Stan Sport. Round 1 kicks off this weekend with Crusaders v Chiefs (Friday 4:30pm AEDT), Waratahs v Brumbies (Friday 7pm AEDT), Moana Pasifika v Fijian Drua (Saturday 2pm AEDT), Highlanders v Blues (Saturday 4:45pm AEDT), Reds v Hurricanes (Saturday 7pm AEDT) and Force v Rebels (Saturday 9:45pm AEDT).