Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Dan McKellar has cautioned against placing unfair pressure on in-form Declan Meredith amid growing hype that the ACT Brumbies playmaker could be the answer to the Wallabies’ troublesome No.10 spot.
Adding extra spice to the Brumbies’ Super Rugby Pacific derby on Saturday night, the NSW Waratahs coach says “a couple of good games” shouldn’t suddenly make Meredith a Wallabies contender.
Yet clearly Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt believes the 26-year-old is.
“Having watched him at Brumbies training, he also is quite commanding in the way that he runs the team, in that others are looking for direction,” Schmidt told Stan Sport last week after also gushing over the late bloomer’s speed and versatility.
“Declan’s done a longer apprenticeship than most coming into Super Rugby. Some of the other guys, they come in very young and it’s hard to see the wood for the trees sometimes at 10, with that step up and pressure.
“And when you get to Test level, that wood’s a lot thicker.
“Having had those experiences and built on them, I think it just allows him to see more, and stay calmer, and be more decisive.”
Proving a worthy flyhalf replacement for Noah Lolesio following the ex-Wallaby’s move to Japan, Meredith has steered the Brumbies to third on the ladder this season.
McKellar is not surprised, having been key to Meredith joining the ACT outfit in 2023.
“He’s a good young man. Declan came down from Cairns and originally was probably a fullback that’s developed into playing at 10,” he said on Wednesday.
“He’s performed well, performed well for them last year.
“I just get nervous for the individual when all of a sudden he’s played a couple of good games, we start throwing in Wallaby chat again.
“Like, when are we going to learn that that sort of pressure on young men doesn’t help them, and it’s been going on for I don’t know how many years now.”
McKellar said he “could rattle off 10 names like that, of players that have played a couple of good games and know what happened”.
“We’ve got string a couple of good seasons together and before you develop and we’re just trying to find the diamond in the rough.
“So Declan’s been good, but I think as a game we need to not apply pressure on him and thinking that he’s going to be the next big thing … Just let him continue to grow as a Super Rugby player to start with.”
Increasing interest in Meredith comes after Schmidt used six flyhalves last year: Lolesio, Ben Donaldson, Tom Lynagh, James O’Connor and Tane Edmed.
“I think we we’re guilty of looking for quick fixes,” McKellar said.
“That’s not going to change.”
Ironically, McKellar himself was accused of being “paralysed by doubt” in an Australian newspaper column on Wednesday after deploying four flyhalves in the past two seasons at the Waratahs: Edmed, Lawson Creighton, Jack Bowen and now Jack Debrezceni.
“Certainly no paralysis, here mate,” McKellar hit back.
“So, no, obviously last year we’ve looked at a number of different options across it and, we’ve got some good young ones coming through.
“And we’ve brought Jack Debrezceni in this year and the last two weeks, and he’s performed really well. ‘Debs’ is still only 32, so he’s got a good few years left in him if he wants them.
“But finding that cohesion and picking and sticking with our 10, it’s obviously an important decision we’ve got to get right over the next period of time.”
