Often there is no perfect outcome. Joe Schmidt has learned to understand that throughout his coaching career.
He will guide Australia through this year’s Rugby Championship and Autumn games but will gradually pull back then, handing over the reigns to Les Kiss in 2026. He does so understanding the deal he made with the game and with life over the last 20 years.
Despite the discussion around keeping him on as Wallaby coach until after the next World Cup, which Australia host, Schmidt has always accentuated family matters.
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During his time with Ireland, Schmidt often spoke to raise awareness about the condition, after years of watching Luke, who is now in his 20s, suffer “debilitating” seizures.
Back then, the 10-year-old had been struggling with the condition since the age of four and had undergone numerous brain surgeries.
In one week in 2014, about a year after Schmidt was appointed as Ireland coach, Luke was hit with 15 seizures in one day.
“He’s had it since he was four when they removed a very sizeable tumour, which caused some tissue damage,” said Schmidt at the time. “But as a result of that, it’s something that he’s learned to cope with.”
To that backdrop, Schmidt will leave the Australian coaching job for New Zealand to be in the trenches with his son and undertake a much tougher job, one with greater emotional burden and reward than even winning a World Cup.
[ Joe Schmidt to step down as Australia head coach in OctoberOpens in new window ]
Schmidt has always had to make a deal with life in general and coaching elite rugby. His north star has been solid and always fixed on balancing family and his agreements with employers at Clermont, Leinster, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia.
All his contracts have, by necessity, been driven by career success and the fundamental imperatives of fatherhood.
Schmidt has always taken both seriously.
Part of his reason for staying in Ireland for nine years with the Leinster and Irish teams was family, where his children were happy and where the school Luke attended was the right fit and caring.
“We have a fantastic school, Stratford National School, that does a good job; we are well looked after by the neurology department in Crumlin Hospital; and surgically, Donncha O’Brien at Beaumont Hospital has done a great job,” he said at the time.
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Then the reason he left Ireland was also family. Before departing, he spoke of a lack of work/life balance.
“I have decided to finish coaching and will prioritise family commitments after the Rugby World Cup in 2019,” said Schmidt.
“I guess I’m my own worst enemy when it comes to working. I tend to be a little bit of a workaholic and so if there’s a competitive advantage that I can find that I can help players attain, then I’m going to be looking as hard as I possibly can.
“That means that I’m out of the house a fair bit or even at home I’m plugging away, looking at things with a microscope. So that’s probably a character flaw.”
After leaving Ireland, Schmidt was quickly back in the game and was appointed World Rugby’s director of rugby and high performance in October 2020, a newly created position that included responsibility on issues related to player welfare, training and education.
He resigned a year later, again to spend more time with his family in New Zealand.
His Australia journey was similar. As always with coaching, it is boots on the ground and with Schmidt’s intensity it is constantly filtering through his detailed mind.
During the final Test match against the Lions, Schmidt had heard there might be lightning and some match disruption.
His response was to have stationary bikes installed in the changing rooms and rugby balls to throw around so the “guys could stay connected” during the 37-minute forced break.
As a coach Schmidt, who has left a mark on every team he has been with, has never been blind to recognise what is bigger and more important than he is.
That level of perspicacity is a rare thing in elite sport, where the motivation to win and be successful is intoxicating and addictive, where desire burns white hot and where the mood of nations tilt on the outcome of matches.
On the pitch and in the locker room Schmidt was tough, demanding and relentless with perspective tightly focused and narrow.
His ability was to create great intensity in the rugby environment, and that heat fuelled teams like Australia or Ireland and made them better. But Schmidt also knew when to stand back and take a holistic, new perspective.
That way he could balance the equation, reach a workable equilibrium between caring and coaching.
Now, as he prepares to leave his role with Australia, his choices will have given him certainty.
When the cards fall into place over a lifetime, his commitment to family affairs will stack up higher than Ireland beating the All Blacks for the first time or winning a Grand Slam.
