By Sam Ryan

Everyone knows someone a little bit like Uncle Eddie. 

He’s the funniest or the crankiest person in every room he walks into and when he talks, people listen and more often then not, he’s right. 

When it comes to the Wallabies and our Uncle Eddie, I’ve got no doubt that he’s right. 

And I can’t see any point in thinking any differently. 

We’re a few weeks out from the World Cup. And if you’re reading this, there’s a pretty good chance you’re a rugby fan. 

If you’re lucky enough to be heading over to France, those flights were bloody expensive and if you’re not, you’re probably going to be waking up in the middle of the night for six weeks straight to watch the Wallabies, regardless if there winning or losing. 

So a few weeks out from the World Cup, I can’t think of one reason why we shouldn’t all believe that the Wallabies are going to win the World Cup and win over the hearts of the Australian public. 

As the Matildas have shown us, there are few things better than large groups of people getting behind a common goal, even if results don’t always go your way. 

And remember, just like Uncle Eddie, they were calling for coach Tony Gustavsson’s head after the Matilda’s group stage loss to Nigeria.  

A few days later, he’s one of the greatest coaches we’ve seen. 

There’s nothing like an early crow, is there? 

But if you need more then blind faith before you jump completely on the Wallabies bandwagon, I also think there are aspects of both Bledisloe performances that should have Wallabies fans giddy. 

Yes, we lost both games. 

But we played with more physicality for periods of those two matches than any Wallabies side I can recall in more than a decade, probably longer. 

We’ve never had an issue scoring points, or playing “running rugby.” But we’ve struggled consistently to match other side’s physicality. 

Sure, they weren’t complete performances, but we’re not at the World Cup yet. 

Uncle Eddie has spoken multiple times about splitting the World Cup campaign into two seperate periods. 

For the first half of the World Cup, most of the Wallabies games are played in the south of France. The weather will still be relatively warm and conducive to expansive, free flowing rugby. 

Importantly, the Wallabies quarter final will also be played in the south in Marseille (check our Le Balleti, a pub on the water run by the local rugby players,  if you’re there).

When we win our quarter final (remember, you’re on the bandwagon now), we head to Paris. It’s now late October and it’s cold and dark. 

Stade de France is a slow, heavy track. A Heavy 9 on a good day for the punters out there.  

To win in Paris, you need to play hard, physical rugby. And that’s why I’m excited. 

I think Uncle Eddie has planned all of this from the start. He knows the Wallabies can score enough to points to get through the pool stages and with a bit of luck, win a quarter final. 

That gets us to a semi final in Paris and that’s where the physicality kicks in. 

I’m convinced Uncle Eddie has spent the last three months trying to get the Wallabies squad as big and physical as possible for the final two weeks of the tournament. 

And the physicality the Wallabies showed at times in the Bledisloe – a trait they haven’t shown for years – suggests that might be working. 

I’m no sports scientist, but most people have a decent understanding these days of training loads and freshening up for matches on a weekend. 

I think Uncle Eddie has thrown all of that out the window during the Rugby Championship and trained his side as hard as possible, not to win in July and August, but to win in October. 

Go back and watch the first Bledisloe in Melbourne. Samu Kerevi and Andrew Kellaway looked slower than I’ve ever seen them. They aren’t slow, I think they were running on very heavy legs. They looked like they’d been in the gym all week. 

A lot of the Wallabies looked like that, particularly towards the end of both matches. 

Before the Dunedin Bledisloe, Uncle Eddie put the Wallabies through a 90 minute team run. 

Those that watched it said they’d never seen a team exert more energy the day before a match in the professional era. 

Does that sound like a coach trying to win now, or a coach trying to get his side ready for the World Cup? 

And if Uncle Eddie is right, there is an unbelievable amount of upside in this Wallabies squad, who still have two whole months of training before the knockout stages of the World Cup begins. 

Sure, a lot needs to go right to make it through to the World Cup semi finals. Even more has to go right to go on and win it. 

But just as much has to go right for New Zealand or France or Ireland.

The reality is, we’re a red hot chance of winning the World Cup. 

And even if you don’t agree with Uncle Eddie or any of the dribble above, it’s a whole lot more fun cheering with us then it is cheering against us. 

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