How father’s courage inspired Michael Cheika's career

Michael Cheika used his father’s fearless approach to life as his inspiration when he set about transforming the Wallabies from a demoralised side in 2014 to World Cup finalists the next year.

Joseph Cheika was 20 when he said farewell to his parents for the last time as he left Lebanon over six decades ago to travel alone to Australia.

The young man had virtually nothing to his name but, true to his character, climbed his way up the ranks from work in a sewing machine company to running his own business. He even received an award from Queen Elizabeth II.

“I don’t think it’s so much about what he achieved, I think it is more about the fearless approach to you leaving your family at 20,” Michael said of his father Joseph.

“To go to a place which you don’t know and may never see your family again, which he didn’t — his parents died — that takes courage.”

Ahead of the Wallabies clash with Ireland, Cheika underlines his father’s fearlessness as an important example to his side.

“There is a certain fearlessness which I associate with my old man. Blending all that with our indigenous culture is interwoven into our identity, so everyone is clear enough what we are about when they (new players) come in.

“When you are defending on your line it’s not about how you trained, it’s about who you are defending with on your line. They’re the important things I want to pass on to the lads,” he said.

That streak of courage was clearly inherited by Michael, as seen when playing for Randwick almost 30 years ago. Within seconds of being swatted away by Wayne “Buck” Shelford, Cheika bounced back to his feet and was snarling at the legendary All Black: “Is that all you’ve got, mate?”

The only coach to have won both the Heineken Cup and Super Rugby title, Cheika reached another peak when he won World Rugby’s Coach of the Year award in 2015.

A man clearly proud of his heritage, Cheika intends to pass that pride of identity down to his four children, three of whom hold Irish passports.

Meanwhile Kane Douglas says the Wallabies culture has changed since a controversial Dublin drinking incident three years ago, when then coach Ewen McKenzie gave six players one-week suspensions while sanctioning nine more.

“I was out that night,” Douglas told the Sydney Morning Herald. “Things had to change within the Wallabies culture and I think we’ve become more professional since then.”

“We haven’t got any rules with Cheik anyway ... we’re all adults,” Douglas said. “It’s been good from the leadership group and I feel like I’m getting pretty old now anyway.

“I’m 27, I’ve got a wife and kids and everyone just wants to be in the right position come Saturday that we can play our best footy. I think the Wallaby culture and a heap of the boys have grown a lot since then.”