Describing himself as "boring" and "pragmatic", new Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt has called for patience from fans as he prepares to kick off a new Wallabies era that will see much less drama in front of the cameras.
Taking over the head coach role following Eddie Jones' sensational departure at the end of a disastrous World Cup campaign and controversial move to Japan, Schmidt has told media at his first press conference as Wallabies coach not to expect the same theatrics they'd witnessed throughout 2023. Instead, he said he'd be focusing on building a team fans can get behind.
"I'm not great at selling dreams, dreams are not tangible," Schmidt said on Friday. "I'm a pragmatic sort of individual, probably characterised as boring. I don't have the charisma that Eddie [Jones] has but I'm really keen to get into clubs.
"I'll probably be a little bit narrow focused on trying to get to know the people, get to help them perform at their best, combine it at the best that we can as a team because I think the flagship will drive some of that interest and that interest will get kids aspiring to be part of what they see.
"That can take a while, but it certainly happened in Ireland in a very competitive place for players and I think it's even more competitive here, it's tougher. But I still think there's a chance that we can attract enough positive attention, that people will be positive about being involved in the game, supporting the game, and hopefully back in a team that's really competitive."
After a year that saw the Wallabies plunge to ninth on the World rankings, fail to reach the quarterfinals for the first time with their youngest World Cup squad and win just two from seven matches, Schmidt labelled the group as "not an Australian team that I recognized".
With just three months to prepare for the upcoming Wales series and with eyes on next year's British and Irish Lions tour he knows patience is needed from both fans and administrators.
"I'd like to think that they'll [last year's Wallabies] emerge with an experience that they're desperate not to repeat, so they'll work hard toward getting the cohesion amongst themselves. The only thing I'd probably ask is sometimes you got to be a little bit patient with that.
"We're going to have some players who will have been put on the back foot by that and if we can grow through the couple of Welsh games and the Georgia game ... I think what we've got in front of us is going to be really challenging and I'm excited about trying to help those, especially those young guys, try to help them build their confidence and the repeatability of really positive performances.
"But I do think it's also a little bit of a rebuild that will take a little bit of time. I can't promise anything other than I'll be working really hard to try to make it as successful as it can be and trying to get some early wins on the board, and those wins may be just that that we perform better even if we don't quite get the outcomes we're looking for."
Signing a two-year deal, Schmidt said it wouldn't be a "hit and run" job, revealing personal reasons for why he had signed on for the short time, while he said he was "desperate" for the Wallabies to return to winnings ways when asked why he took on the job.
"I'm desperate for the Wallabies to be competitive and if I can help that's why I'm here," Schmidt said. "I think the global rugby family is desperate for the Wallabies to be where they need to be.
"The British and Irish Lions, they want to have a fantastic series, so we want to build toward that and give them exactly what they want and not make anything easy for them and two years after that you've got a home World Cup. I'm desperate that the Wallabies are really competitive in that World Cup and we get through to those really competitive playoff rounds."