Rugby Australia boss admits the sport became ‘entitled’ and compares Joseph Suaalii to Tom Brady

Bullish Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan believes that the sport had become too ‘passive and entitled’ in Australia and needed to take a stand and fight.

McLennan, who has got under the skin of many rugby league identities due to his aggressive tactics and constant criticism of the NRL, has been praised by many as returning rugby to the golden years.

The outspoken McLennan, who clearly takes great delight in annoying his rival code and is not afraid of making headlines, poached former schoolboy rugby prodigy Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii from the Roosters for an eye-watering three-year, $1.6million-a-season contract beginning at the end of 2024.

Hamish McLennan believes that the sport had become too ‘passive and entitled’ in Australia

McLennan compared former schoolboy rugby prodigy Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii to Tom Brady, saying he will bring fans back to the code

Although some see the signing as a waste of money that could have been spent better elsewhere, McLennan sees it as a worthwhile investment.

‘He’ll sell out stadiums,’ McLennan told the Herald.

‘He’s like the Tom Brady of rugby. I acknowledge that the headline number seems a lot, but he’s a once-in-a-generation player and I think he will bring more fans back to rugby. 

‘He’s absolutely worth it.’

McLennan also moved quickly to snap up Eddie Jones for the Wallabies job after the coach was sacked by England earlier in the year.

‘We couldn’t believe the RFU had let him go without a non-compete in his contract,’ McLennan says. ‘I was always obsessed with getting Eddie back because our cultural and rugby DNA had been destroyed in recent years. 

‘As they say, a fish rots from the top, and so unless we got somebody of his calibre and understanding about our game it was going to be very hard for us to move the needle.’

McLennan wooed Eddie Jones back into the Wallabies job after the coach was sacked by England earlier in the year

The Wallabies (pictured) are currently preparing for the opening Test against the Springboks

McLennan has turned the embattled code around in recent years, which he says was on the brink of budget despair during the COVID-19 pandemic.

‘At the time when I stepped into rugby a lot of people said, ‘why are you – or why is the board – so hands-on?’ But it was like watching your child running for a plate-glass window and needing to jump in and intervene,’ he says.

‘I reckon we were a week away from going under – we were openly canvassing insolvency scenarios and turning the game from professional to amateur, which is just extraordinary. 

‘We didn’t have a broadcast deal for the following year, we’d lost Qantas as a front-of-jersey sponsor and debts were piling up left, right and centre.’

McLennan says the ailing game in Australia needed a bold agenda – and he was the one to implement it. 

‘Rugby had become too passive and entitled, and had taken the game for granted, in my opinion,’ he said.

‘We had been walked over for years and we needed to take a stand and fight for what’s ours. We really believe in what rugby has to offer – boys and girls, men and women. 

‘It’s a wonderful global game, and yet no one was really advocating a position for it.’

The Wallabies are currently preparing for the opening Test against the Springboks in Pretoria on July 9.