New NSW Waratahs Dan McKellar has reiterated his single-minded focus to the side as the Wallabies await a decision on Joe Schmidt’s future.
McKellar admits the move back came sooner than expected, having parted ways with Leicester a year into his deal.
Watch every game of Super Rugby Pacific live, exclusive and on-demand on Stan Sport.
The former ACT Brumbies coach has spent time at the national level as an assistant and was seen as Dave Rennie’s successor before the appointment of Eddie Jones.
With Schmidt yet to confirm his future beyond the British and Irish Lions tour, McKellar has made his position clear on whether he’s eyeing off the role.
“No, I'm just head down, bum up, just getting stuck into this,” he told media in his first press conference at the club.
“I'm genuinely keen and excited. I think if we can get things right here, that's going to help Rugby Australia and I've come back to help.
“I'm contracted here for the next three years, so that's all I'm worrying about. We'll give Joe the space that he needs to make his decision and crack on.”
McKellar is excited by the opportunity that presents itself at Daceyville with over a dozen players with Wallabies experience.
“I was genuinely interested in this (role) and excited about it because of the talent that's available here,” he explained.
“You look at the facility that we work in every day, we’ve got a beautiful stadium and I know there's a rugby community in New South Wales that's crying out to get behind a team which you can see in Shute Shield and the crowds they get at club Rugby.
“We've just got to give them a reason to get behind us…They're as determined as anyone to turn things around and it's going to take some time.
“We need to be patient and understand that there's a lot of talent out there. This group's never played a game of rugby together, and we've never coached them in a game of rugby yet, the majority of them so, we need to be patient. But I think the most impressive thing has been their attitude and their character.”
Setting and maintaining standards has been critical for McKellar in the first weeks of the job, and the Waratahs instantly noticed a response.
"To be honest, I haven't seen the team work this hard in a long time,” centre Lalakai Foketi told Rugby.com.au
“It's not because obviously the coaches are pushing that, but also players want to get better and boys want to work hard for each other, and that's a big thing.
“Obviously having a few pre-seasons under my belt, that's the biggest thing I've seen is that boys are taking ownership of their own performances on the training paddock, but then also looking after their stuff off-field.”
“I'm big on standards and discipline and being really clear on what you stand for as a group off the field as well as on the field and being really good professionals,” McKellar reflected.
"It's your sleep, it's your diet, it's the choices you make away from here. We train a lot but we're only in here very few hours of a week so it's what you're doing away from here, they're the things that I went after. I did the same in any team that I'll coach, you've got to have high standards.
“You can't just flick a switch on Saturday and all of a sudden become this really disciplined side. So that's probably where I saw some low-hanging fruit."
