Michael Cheika – One of the more “colorful” characters in Super Rugby
From the Coogee stairs to the Super Rugby semis, with a smashed door, poker face and sideline stoush in between, it’s been one hell of a ride for the Waratahs under Michael Cheika.
The fiery coach has helped transform NSW from Super Rugby cellar dwellers to contenders, setting the wheels in motion by lighting a fuse under the underperforming Tahs when he took over the reins last year.
But it’s his second season at the helm that has been the real highlight, and not just because he’s helped steer the Waratahs to the Super Rugby minor premiership and within one win of the grand final.
Along the way the fiery former Randwick forward, renowned during his playing days for his aggressive play on field, has grabbed his share of headlines for some interesting off-field antics.
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We track the mad, mad world that has been Michael Cheika’s 2014 season.
CLIMBING STAIRS
Pre-season training. Is there anything worse?
The balls stay in the kitbag, you’re told “bring some runners” and then there’s the stairs. The brutal, brutal stairs.
So what must it have done to the Tahs to see their head coach, all 46 years of him, dragging himself up the calf-burning climb at Coogee. Another coach would have been content standing at the bottom, slapping his charges on the backside as they turned for yet another tortuous trip. But not Cheika.
Here was the former Randwick hardman, back in his old hood, building trust and belonging among the playing group as he pushed through the pain barrier in the scorching Sydney sun. Trust is a two-way street, and Cheika earned it from the Tahs on the stairs at Coogee.
Cheika with his ‘Poker Face’ sign in the NSW dressing room
POKER FACE
Lady Gaga fan? Cards enthusiast?
These questions — and more — were raised when footage showed Cheika in the Waratahs dressing room holding up a piece of paper emblazoned with a roughly-drawn stick figure and the words “Poker Face”.
The incident was captured in the build-up to NSW’s derby clash with Queensland back in round three at ANZ Stadium, and whatever the message was it must have worked as the Tahs went on to thump their fierce rivals 32-5.
So what did it mean? It turns out it wasn’t a reference to the Gaga song, or a guide to playing the tables at The Star, but a direction on how to approach the interstate stoush with Queensland — a historically feisty fixture laced with verbal attacks from both sides of the border.
“There was a lot of chat out there and he didn’t want to turn it into a usual NSW-Queensland derby, whether it be union or league,” halfback Nick Phipps later revealed. “It was good for us to keep chipping away at it, and not respond at any cracks at us or any chat on the field.”
A man inspects the glass door to the coaches box at Canberra Stadium
BROKEN WINDOW
He’s certainly not the first coach to lose his cool, nor is he the first to take some frustration out with a good old-fashioned door slam.
It was round five and with his side slipping towards their first loss of the season Cheika could finally lost it as yet another scrum decision went against his side.
He got up, stormed out and, in what was later described as an accident, closed the door so forcefully he cracked a window. Get a feeling about how much Cheika wanted to beat the Brumbies in Canberra, about how badly he wanted the Tahs to succeed? The folks at GIO Stadium were planning on sending the reported $700 glazier’s bill to Waratahs HQ.
We’re not sure if it was paid.
Cheika on the sideline at Kings Park
CAMERAMAN ‘COPS IT’
A 32-10 loss to Sharks, coached by former Brumbies boss Jake White, was tough for the Waratahs to take. But worse was to come as Cheika.
A couple of days after the Durban defeat it emerged that Cheika was under investigation by SANZAR for allegedly abusing a cameraman on the sideline at Kings Park.
The investigation would take nearly a month to complete, and Cheika eventually pleaded guilty to the charge of having used “crude, insulting or abusive language or gestures”. He was hit with a suspended six-month ban and fined $6000.
FAMILY FEELING
“I don’t think I’ve ever been so close to a team as far as feeling them as part of my family,” Cheika said at the start of the week.
That’s an amazing transformation for a club that’s been known to have more individual egos than an NFL franchise. “It’s the people in the team, and the staff. Sometimes that just clicks, you can’t fake it,” he continued.
Cheika has certainly “clicked” with the Waratahs. If you take Cheika as the father of the Waratahs, he’s been able to keep all 30-odd of his sons in line – on and off the field.
And like any good Dad, he’s praised the side for the good and been quick to point out the bad. “No matter what happens around the end of the season, I’ll always respect that from this team of players.” The Tahs aren’t “playing happy families”, they actually are — at least for another 24 hours anyway.