OPINION: Joe Schmidt's cards have been so close to his chest they’ve almost been tattooed onto him but it reflects the magnitude of the decision. However, it was that thing inside Joe’s chest that pulled the hardest that he had to listen to.
Schmidt’s departure was confirmed on Thursday, set to leave at the end of the Bledisloe Cup series against New Zealand.
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It’s almost 12 months since his appointment but after a rough period under Eddie Jones, he was the perfect coach to turn them around.
The players had created a special bond with Schmidt and it continued to blossom on the Spring Tour with wins over Scotland and Wales along with pushing Ireland all the way in Dublin.
It left fans, whether rusted on or casual, drawn to the new boss and therefore disappointed when the worst fears many had accepted (or chosen not to) came true.
But this is more than a coach leaving for another opportunity.
People will over-exaggerate and call his revival of the Wallabies a minor miracle but it’s the work Schmidt was doing off the field that should enact this reaction. He has been managing to get the best of the Wallabies going between New Zealand and Australia whilst his youngest son Luke continues to deal with serious epilepsy.
Schmidt's interview with RNZ from 2023 gives a perfect insight into the situation he dealt with, let alone the added stress of being the Wallabies coach.
"Before his last surgery in 2015 Luke was having between 100 and 200 seizures a day, some of them were very small and you could hardly see them, others were full tonic-clonic," he said. "So, compared to that he can now go a number of days in a row where he doesn't have seizures.
"It's really tough for Luke and it's hard to describe for me. It's frustrating because you can't solve it, all you can do is support them.
"...Luke is 19 now and he's lived with epilepsy for 15 years. As a teenager he wants to get out and about and have a lot more freedom than he's able to have.
"He's got to be within reach of his mum or me or one of his siblings because we know best how to look after him when he does seize. It's very life-limiting from that perspective.”
It’s a credit to Schmidt as a person first and a coach second that has been able to balance it but ultimately, it can only happen for so long.
The constant pushing back of the deadline shows how much Schmidt cares about the current squad and trying to make it work, but this is what is best for Schmidt and his familt.
The former Irish boss has given Rugby Australia and the Wallabies an extra three months beyond the British and Irish Lions tour as the search begins for a new head coach.
The current front-runners all seem to be local options, adding another layer to Super Rugby Pacific in which names will be thrown up as each Australian team makes their move up the ladder.
It also raises the question of whether Schmidt is completely done with Australian Rugby, with reports circulating that he is open to an advisor role.
RA CEO Phil Waugh has noted multiple times in the past their openness towards a ‘creative’ solution so the idea of Schmidt having some involvement, albeit in a reduced role, is seemingly very much on the table.
Ultimately, it will be up to the coach they select and whether they are comfortable with his presence overseeing the squad.
Schmidt has worked with Les Kiss in the past and if they go for the Reds head coach, it’d be an inverse of what their relationship was like in Ireland.
The job is far from over, and two big opportunities are on the horizon for Schmidt and the Wallabies.
If he can deliver either a British and Irish Lions series win or a Bledisloe Cup whitewash, he goes down as one of the best coaches of the modern era.
Delivers both, we exit dreamland and he ends his tenure as an all-time great of the Wallabies.
But in the end, Schmidt will leave Wallabies like he attend: trending upwards and in a better place than he found it.
