Pretty damning indictment of Cheika from Jackman

theKramer

http://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/lsquoi-donrsquot-believe-any-player-at-the-end-of-his-career-deserves-to-be-treated-like-a-piece-of-meatrsquo-2408620.html
Explains a little bit the end of Leinster season last season....

On Wednesday morning, I told him I was sure I was ready to retire because I didn't think I would be able to do myself, or the team, justice over the final few matches of the season.

And then he went crazy on me.

"You don't decide when you retire!" he told me. "I decide when you retire!"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I'll never forget those words . . . "I decide when you retire . . . I decide when you retire . . . I decide when you retire!"

I was supposed to do the press conference with Girvan Dempsey that afternoon, because he and Mal O'Kelly are announcing this week that they are both retiring at the end of the season.

Girv and myself were going to announce our retirements simultaneously. Our PR man, Peter Breen, had completed all of our career stats for the media and everything was ready for the pair of us to say our official goodbyes and do our photo-calls for the next morning's papers.

But Cheika told me he was pulling me out of the press conference. He told me I was dropped from the squad and he told me to go home.

I was in a state of shock. It was pathetic from someone in his position.

randomname2005

theKramer wrote: »

http://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/lsquoi-donrsquot-believe-any-player-at-the-end-of-his-career-deserves-to-be-treated-like-a-piece-of-meatrsquo-2408620.html
Explains a little bit the end of Leinster season last season....

Wow. Bad form on the part of Cheika.

The Rooster

theKramer wrote: »

http://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/lsquoi-donrsquot-believe-any-player-at-the-end-of-his-career-deserves-to-be-treated-like-a-piece-of-meatrsquo-2408620.html
Explains a little bit the end of Leinster season last season....

Managers arent supposed to be nice guys.

I love Jackman, but telling the manager one morning that he's announcing his retirement to the media that very same afternoon (with all his PR background stuff done!) was very bad form. He should have told Cheika about his retirement and the conference as soon as he began to organise it, not a couple of hours beforehand. I don't blame Cheika one bit for losing the rag.

As for explaining the end of season.....Last season, Leinster were the second best team in the Heineken Cup and suffered a hangover from that Toulouse defeat against Ospreys in the Magners final. What that has to do with Jackman's retirement is beyond me???

theKramer

The Rooster wrote: »

As for explaining the end of season.....Last season, Leinster were the second best team in the Heineken Cup and suffered a hangover from that Toulouse defeat against Ospreys in the Magners final. What that has to do with Jackman's retirement is beyond me???

Read the rest of the article, where he talks about Mal only finding out he was surplus to requirements when someone told him Leinster were looking for a 2nd row in Ulster, and also he points out people felt badly treated in contract negotiations. Of course this is all Jackmans point of view, and it looks like he is plugging an autobiography, but their heads might not have been in the right place at the end of last season....

Otacon

The Rooster wrote: »

Managers arent supposed to be nice guys.

I love Jackman, but telling the manager one morning that he's announcing his retirement to the media that very same afternoon (with all his PR background stuff done!) was very bad form. He should have told Cheika about his retirement and the conference as soon as he began to organise it, not a couple of hours beforehand. I don't blame Cheika one bit for losing the rag.

As for explaining the end of season.....Last season, Leinster were the second best team in the Heineken Cup and suffered a hangover from that Toulouse defeat against Ospreys in the Magners final. What that has to do with Jackman's retirement is beyond me???

How was Cheika exactly surprised?

From the article...

I've known that my professional career was ending since last January when Leinster told me that they would not be renewing my contract. Six weeks after that, they changed their minds and we were discussing the option of a one-year contract extension, but I failed a subsequent medical examination and Leinster took the offer off the table.

Also, he told him the day before that he was going to announce it.

Last Tuesday, I went to Cheika. He was a little late that morning, but, when he arrived shortly after 8.30, I was waiting for him in the corridor and asked if I could have a word.

He probably thought I was going to give him a piece of my mind for not getting any game-time against Toulouse, but he brought me into his office. I hadn't expected him to be surprised by my decision. I expected him to treat me with a bit of understanding, and humanity. That's how I think he should have behaved.

bamboozle

heard a few weeks back thru the grape vine his upcoming autobiography was going to be pretty hard hitting especially towards Cheika. Looking forward to buying it!

The Rooster

Otacon wrote: »

How was Cheika exactly surprised?

From the article...


Also, he told him the day before that he was going to announce it.

Sorry, I thought the quote in the first post was the article.

Still, organising the press conference prior to getting Cheika's agreement wasn't a clever ploy, and clearly it had taken a while to organise.

There's a lot of stuff in the article that seems harsh, but this is professional sport. Hardly anyone will get the contract they think they deserve, everyone will be replaced eventually, and nobody will get consulted about new players being brought in to challenge for their position.

wixfjord

Smells of trying to sell books on Jackman's part tbh.
Lost a bit of respect for him after that.

Otacon

What exactly did Jackman do wrongly here though?

He was not going to be getting a new contract from Leinster, his body was giving up on him. Cheika must have known this.

He then discussed it with Cheika himself who told him to think on it. Cheika then blew his top when Jackman decided to wanted he wanted, and had also decided to announce his retirement with his teammates.

What could Jackman have done differently?

The Rooster

Otacon wrote: »

What exactly did Jackman do wrongly here though?

He was not going to be getting a new contract from Leinster, his body was giving up on him. Cheika must have known this.

He then discussed it with Cheika himself who told him to think on it. Cheika then blew his top when Jackman decided to wanted he wanted, and had also decided to announce his retirement with his teammates.

What could Jackman have done differently?

Well we don't know the ins and outs, so can only speculate.

From Cheika's point of view he might have seen his second choice hooker was annoyed because he didnt get any game time in the big match on Saturday, and then he comes into his office on Tuesday in a bit of a huff and announces he's retiring.

Cheika takes the non-confrontational line of "think about it for 24 hours", presuming that Jackman would calm down and see out what was left of the rest of the season.

Jackman didnt take the hint and the following day says he's retiring and he's holding a press conference in a couple of hours! I think a lot of managers would have hit the roof in such circumstances, especially the week that was in it.

Would Jackman still have wanted to retire on that Wednesday if he'd come on for the last quarter against Toulouse?

If yes, then he should have told Cheika much earlier.
If no, then you can see why Cheika might have thought he was acting rashly.

Jackman has been a superb servant for Leinster, and really put his body on the line, but I think his timing wasnt the best in this instance.

Otacon

The Rooster wrote: »

If yes, then he should have told Cheika much earlier.

Why did he need to though? Cheika must have known that Jackman was on the way out. His contract wasn't being renewed and his body was giving up. Retirement was inevitable.

The Rooster wrote: »

If no, then you can see why Cheika might have thought he was acting rashly.

Though, we know from Jackman's comments this was not the case anyway, as you say, this is professional sport. It may seem harsh or rash from Jackman but it was his decision.

The Rooster

Otacon wrote: »

Why did he need to though? Cheika must have known that Jackman was on the way out. His contract wasn't being renewed and his body was giving up. Retirement was inevitable.

But Cheika's problem wasn't that he was retiring, it was that he was retiring with still a few matches left in the season.

I'm guessing Cheika couldnt fathom why he wouldnt wait until the end of the season, and he may have thought it was a reaction to being an unused sub v Toulouse.

thomond2006

wixfjord wrote: »

Smells of trying to sell books on Jackman's part tbh.
Lost a bit of respect for him after that.

Interesting timing indeed.

phog

The Rooster wrote: »

But Cheika's problem wasn't that he was retiring, it was that he was retiring with still a few matches left in the season.

I'm guessing Cheika couldnt fathom why he wouldnt wait until the end of the season, and he may have thought it was a reaction to being an unused sub v Toulouse.

So a player shouldn't announce their retirement until after the last game of the season?

According to the qouted article Girve and Mal were also announcing their retirement that day so why was it wrong for Jackman but not the other two?

Tim Robbins

phog wrote: »

So a player shouldn't announce their retirement until after the last game of the season?

According to the qouted article Girve and Mal were also announcing their retirement that day so why was it wrong for Jackman but not the other two?

Wasn't the rumour that Hickie was retiring early because he didn't like Cheika?

phog

Tim Robbins wrote: »

Wasn't the rumour that Hickie was retiring early because he didn't like Cheika?

Haven't a clue and never heard that rumour, tbh, I pay very little attention to rumours but I was very surprised that Hickie retired from all rugby when he announced his retirement, I would have thought he could have given at least a couple of more years to Leinster.

Username37

Without knowing the ins and outs of this particular incident I can't really comment but it wouldn't suprise me if true. I always got the feeling that Cheika was a "my way or the highway" type of person who held grudges and took any disagreement as a personal insult from how he carries himself.

That said I know the younger lads really liked him but I believe he wanted to bring a certain blindside prospect with him over to Stade Francais, he was very persistant about it. Almost bullying to get his way. Which was probably showing his true character, older lads like Jackman probably were more used to it.

Then again, Jackman's trying to flog a book here. Wouldn't suprise me if true but I'll hold judgement as I simply don't know and have heard conflicting reports.

Trojan

Re: flogging a book... when else would this come out? Or should he just ring Thornley and tell him he wants an interview so he can slam Cheika?

It's pretty standard fare for sports people to write autobiographies at career end, and for those to have controversial content which any publisher in their right mind will publicise. Give the man a break, it's not like he was on £120,000 a week.

anonymous_joe

Cheika's well known for being a bit of an asshole. That's what made him such a great coach.

Or, more accurately, a lot of traits that a manager/coach/whatever needs - ruthlessness, pragamtism, etc, are often going to be at the expense of compassion, etc.

[Jackass]

Say as many controvesial things as possible to get extracts from your autobiography in the paper to raise awareness and to tease people into buying the book for all the scandal.

I hate when sports people write heat magazine gossip articles like this to sell books. Jackman and Jade Goodey are cut from the same mould it would seem. I thought you were better than that Birch.

Username37

[Jackass] wrote: »

Say as many controvesial things as possible to get extracts from your autobiography in the paper to raise awareness and to tease people into buying the book for all the scandal.

I hate when sports people write heat magazine gossip articles like this to sell books. Jackman and Jade Goodey are cut from the same mould it would seem. I thought you were better than that Birch.

What if its true? In fairness hes a right to be pissed off if so.

Or maybe Cheika said to him, put in whatever you want, make as much money out of it as you can, **** it, im off to France anyway!

shaungil

The other article I say was about Comntemponi and how he hated Munster. Looks like the most interesting parts of the book has been published already and might not be his choice but just a teaser to buy the book.

Looks like they all has strange relationships with Chieka but they did win a HC and he gets credit ans presumably a big contract in France good for him.

It's unfortunate the way the media bumps up the gossip side now but that the way of the world now

phog

It's not just me: Mal O'Kelly heard from his mate in Ulster, Jeremy Davidson, that Leinster were looking for another second-row.

Compared to Mal, who's been here nearly all his adult life, I'm only a blow-in. But surely my five years of service deserve some respect? What are the young lads like the McFaddens and the O'Malleys going to think when they see Leinster treating players like this at the end of their careers? Leinster, ultimately, will pay a price for this sort of behaviour.

If this is true it's an awful way to repay the service he gave to club, province and country.

Mal played for the Babarians in Thomond Park and got a huge reception from the supporters and yet his own coach dealt with him like this.