Can Tana Umaga fix the Blues?

Tana Umaga at the announcement for the Blues coaching staff for the 2016 season. Photo / Jason Oxenham

The ink is barely dry on the contract and already a region - a success-starved region sick of a decade of underperformance, hard luck stories and excuses - wants to know if Tana Umaga has the ability to fix the Blues.

No one has the patience or desire for yet another floundering head coach to blunder through three years repeating the same mistakes of their predecessor and then blaming all the same failings on the wider talent identification and development system.

Umaga, not even a day into the role, immediately presents as something different, as
potentially the first coach since Graham Henry to understand the holy trinity of young men and the politics of the wider Auckland region and high performance culture.

Equally important is that Umaga has the gift of being able to speak plain English. It's one thing to have knowledge and a vision, another entirely to explain it in the matter of fact detail that allows players to understand it, buy into it and then deliver it.

Some of Umaga's predecessors talked in riddles - making impenetrable statements about pathways, environments, cultures and learnings.

The modern rugby player has all sorts of impressive functions and features but the hardware still operates best when fed the most simple instructions. What it comes down to for every player - All Blacks most definitely included - is being sent into battle with concise, clear, simple objectives.

Whatever else has or hasn't happened at the Blues in the last decade, the one consistent failing has been a disconnection between players and coach and an inability of the former to spell out exactly what it is he wants.

Umaga is articulate but not elaborate, giving him the necessary flexibility to communicate as effectively with his players as he can the board, media, fans and sponsors.

Umaga knows the importance of clarity and, equally, he gave every impression at his unveiling today that he knows the value of preparation, research and analysis.

He talked of the region's enormous talent base and it's potential but also warned against the dangers of believing talent alone can win games and titles.

His take from afar has been that the players, or the majority of, didn't lack a work ethic this year - they lacked direction and understanding of their individual roles and how they fitted into the collective.

In his time with Counties Manukau, Umaga has shown he can not only explain his gameplan, but that there is also sophistication to his strategical thinking.

Perhaps what should be of most satisfaction and comfort to the region's rugby followers is that Umaga had no interest in making grand statements. There was no bold prediction about where the club would be in three years. That's not his style.

His only promise was that he'll give all he's got and that, despite his long association with Wellington and the Hurricanes, Auckland has been his home for the last five years and is where he and his family want to be.

A hallmark of the Umaga reign might be under promising and over delivering - which would be a most welcome change given that in the last 12 years every one of his predecessors has done the opposite.