The reaction to Hamish McLennan’s recent actions has been interesting. Many people feel that McLennan lacked humility and did not bring people together. However, it’s important to note the response to McLennan’s actions from the QRU.
While McLennan lacked humility and failed to bring people together, the QRU made a confusing press release. Their chairman, Brett Clark, expressed concerns about Queensland’s regional rugby community and admitted losing talented young players to other sports. Clark’s contradictory assessment of rugby problems in Queensland highlighted the mishandling of funds and the lack of financial resources for grassroots development.
The problem, according to Clark and the QRU, is the lack of national assets causing a loss of talented players to other sports and the inability to support high-performance programs. Geoff Parkes suggested that the problem lies in the structure of Australian rugby and the need to align business models between different entities.
It’s clear that the QRU lacks a cohesive vision for Australian Rugby and sees different entities as competing families or communities. This view has led to repeated failures and confusions within the organization. McLennan’s actions have only brought into focus the deep-rooted problems within Australian Rugby.