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There's a story from over 20 years ago, involving Grizz Wyllie, which may shed a bit of light on the drama affecting former All Black coach and Western Force coach John Mitchell in recent times.
Grizz came onto the field at halftime in the famous Ranfurly Shield match
in the 1980s when Auckland won.
He walked out, looked at the team, said "F***" turned around and walked off. You'll remember Canterbury came back strongly and nearly snatched it.
Mitch - I must make clear he is a mate of mine - is cut from similar cloth. He's old school and he calls a spade a spade and then some.
I am not going to defend Mitch too much as he has already said publicly he has changed his coaching style after the Force responded to mutters of mutiny by the team by asking a retired judge to head up an inquiry - with the results yet to come.
It is also fair to say that Mitch does not always get things right - right from the first time he took over the All Blacks when the media dubbed what he was saying as "Mitch-speak". His days in the UK didn't help him and he talks in riddles or jingles sometimes. He's also the first to admit that his relationship management could use a bit of work.
However, these disputes are never one-way things and I think the players or some of the players have some blame here.
It's clear that the Force have a discipline problem. There have been problems like the punch thrown by halfback Matt Henjak that broke a team-mate's jaw last year. You just don't do that. Then there was the drama over some Force players worse for wear chucking around the little furry quaggas like they were footballs on Rottnest Island.
From what I understand, Mitch's burst at the team last season at halftime during the game against the Brumbies in Canberra also ruffled some feathers.
John Mitchell is a hard man. When he was a player, he trained harder than anyone else and he played hard too. He left it all on the field; he was like Mike Brewer - they shredded themselves out there. But he was the first to open a bottle of beer after the match and have a joke with the opposition. He likes to let his hair down or, in his case, his eyebrows...
He still believes - as do I - that there is still room in the game for a beer afterwards but he'd make sure he recuperated properly then he would punish himself to make sure he was in shape for the next game. I think some of these guys have seen Mitch having a beer and a good time and have then seen themselves and some of the fringe players punished for disciplinary reasons.
The All Blacks used to have a saying: You can go to the edge, have a look, but you never fall. Some of these Force players fell, I'd say, when it comes to broken jaws and furry animals.
The other thing is that Mitch was brought up in days when you played club rugby and provincial rugby for each other; for the camaraderie. These days they play for money. In Mitch's day, if it all got too much, you just gave up and went back to work. In professional rugby, these guys have no work to go to - and the politics are greater.
Again, I am not excusing Mitch, some of these things may be seen to be his fault and, as I say, he says he has already changed his style. I have also heard that some factions within the Force management lent their ear to the whispers of disgruntled players and that's the worst thing you can do. It creates dissension.
Mitch is a blunt, honest and forthright coach. If you were injured in one of his teams, you went into an injury group. You did an extra two hours' training to get right in the morning and an extra two hours' at night. You didn't do that for just one week, even if your injury came right. You were there for three weeks. You didn't fake injuries in John Mitchell's teams.
So it will be fascinating seeing what will happen to Mitch and how the Force fare after this saga. It could be they'll do all right. Upsets like this can work to pull a team together. We'll see.
