Why Dave Rennie didn’t receive a pay cut
The arrival next month of new Wallabies coach Dave Rennie is one of the most anticipated and needed events on the Australian rugby calendar this year.
For a game in need of a good news story, Rennie’s expected midJuly move will generate the right headlines. World-class coach touches down on Australian soil, sets to righting Wallabies ship.
That’s about all a Wallabies fan needs to hear to start believing there are better times ahead.
So it is all the more unfortunate that the subject of his salary – a rumoured but unconfirmed $1 million per year – has emerged as a point of tension before he’s even left Scotland.
Player sources have told the Sydney Morning Herald of growing unrest about Rugby Australia’s decision not to ask Rennie to take a pay cut when his contract starts on July 1. Interim RA boss Rob Clarke confirmed the news this week.
‘‘Dave hasn’t started yet, so he will be excluded from that,’’ Clarke said. ‘‘All other staff over a certain threshold will be invited to take a five per cent pay cut.
‘‘It’s a legal requirement and so we’ll be following the law there. I’m confident that the staff coming back will want to help to continue to play their part in the financial sustainability of the game. We don’t anticipate a full workforce coming back until October.’’
The issue is sensitive in light of the sackings of 47 of 142 RA staff this week, and further cuts flagged in a second restructure aimed at the Super Rugby franchises. Players and coaches across the game have been put on the Job Keeper scheme with pay cuts of up to 70 per cent.
RA sources and those close to Rennie say it’s a moot point while the coach is not on the payroll. They also say it’s likely the issue will be revisited when he starts work.
Rennie has been putting in unpaid hours as Wallabies coach since his appointment at the end of last year. For the past six months he has fulfilled his commitments with Glasgow in the daylight hours then settled in for video calls with his Australian assistants overnight, a work pattern that didn’t stop when the footy did back in March.
The job comes with enough potential for controversy. New Zealanders haven’t fared so well in Australian rugby over the years. Robbie Deans endured the worst but, five years later, sections of the rugby establishment held former chief executive Raelene Castle’s nationality against her from the start.
Rennie flies to New Zealand in coming days to serve his quarantine period and catch up with friends. RA hopes he will be on Australian soil by the middle of next month.
Rennie is easily the brightest spot on the Australian rugby horizon. He does not need to come under scrutiny before he’s set foot in the country.