Stirling Mortlock warns a mass player turnover would have "horrific" consequences for the Wallabies, while putting the onus on Rugby Australia bosses to learn from past mistakes to lift the game to its previous heights.
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So if 80-Test Wallabies great Mortlock could wave a magic wand to fix Australian rugby, where would he start?
"There's too many things to focus on, that's the biggest problem, to be honest," Mortlock said.
The Wallabies need a new coach after Eddie Jones walked out 10 months into a five-year deal, while the team is reeling after Australia's earliest World Cup exit. Pressure is mounting on RA chairman Hamish McLennan and Super Rugby clubs are fighting against RA's push towards centralisation, with the ACT Brumbies likening it to a hostile takeover.
But Mortlock is confident the Wallabies can prosper in a four-year cycle featuring a British and Irish Lions tour and a home World Cup which officials are banking on for major financial windfalls.
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Jones invested in youth ahead of an ill-fated World Cup, declaring Michael Hooper and Quade Cooper were not the right role models for the Wallabies. The decision backfired, but now Mortlock says a new coach has to continue the investment or the year that was becomes "an absolute waste of everyone's time".
"A big thing from my perspective, and this is a little bit different now that Eddie is not at the helm, but they've done a huge rebuild process that has happened this year and it was really put in overdrive for that World Cup. A lot of the team were green and we went with youth," Mortlock said.
"From my perspective, most of that team who were in the World Cup, I'd love to see them be the core of this team for a long period of time. If we have continuity with those players and we're developing in those players, we'll be in a really strong position for the British and Irish Lions in two years' time, and even better position for the World Cup in four years.
"But if we don't, and we're constantly cycling through spine players and really important players and there's no continuity of player development, combination development, and cohesion in the team, that's going to be horrific. We need similar from a leadership point of view and a coaching point of view. That's the biggest issue, they've been doing this for a while now."
The game's administrators are committing to the cause with McLennan adamant the game would be worse off if he was speared, vowing to lift Australian rugby to a better position, while RA chief executive Phil Waugh filled the void left by Andy Marinos in June.
![Former Brumbies and Wallabies great Stirling Mortlock has called for stability. Picture by Sitthixay Ditthavong Former Brumbies and Wallabies great Stirling Mortlock has called for stability. Picture by Sitthixay Ditthavong](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/36vwtM5n3dmMVgNPycRBEHz/d51a21e5-e8ba-4bc1-8b06-c746e7b60721.jpg/r0_98_2848_1785_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
McLennan and Waugh are now tasked with finding a coach capable of inspiring a playing group carrying the scars of Australia's worst World Cup campaign, after bowing out in the pool stages for the first time in history.
With the likes of Brumbies mentor Stephen Larkham and Dan McKellar featuring in discussions, Mortlock says RA must turn to a coach who has "runs on the board" at the elite level.
"The reality is [the players] already are [scarred]. They've already gone through that, you never forget those tough moments. You wear them, and the best thing to do is to make sure you learn from them," Mortlock said.
"It's important for all the participants from that campaign there is an actual opportunity to review that - how do we get better, how do we learn from that, and how do we make sure we don't go into a situation like this again?
"That needs to happen or it's an absolute waste of everyone's time."
Mortlock's call comes as his XV Capital business enters a strategic partnership and equity agreement with CoachMate, a sports technology company based in New Zealand looking to redefine community sport across Australia.
CoachMate has produced a grassroots sport coaching app which provides mums, dads and teenage coaches with coaching programs and other tools which has been specifically designed for community sports.
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