Cool operator back in from the cold

It's hard to credit the flak which has been heaped upon George Gregan up until last week's redemptive semi-final victory for the Wallabies.

He has, after all, been a Wallaby World Cup winner, played a key role in downing the Lions and winning a Super 12 title with the ACT Brumbies, is set to eclipse David Campese as Australia's most capped player if he continues playing next year and is their captain.

Yet he simply isn't that popular. Or hasn't been up to now.

The palpable impression is that the Aussie media, and by extension the Aussie public, have never really warmed to him. Perhaps because he seems a little too coldly clinical and aloof.

There's a wall around Gregan, typical of the Wallabies but presumably self-imposed to some degree. He's reputed to be a great mime, and superb fun within the squad, but nobody really knows him.

A supreme competitor, he's very self-assured and knows how to maximise his earning potential. Visit his website and there are invitations for would-be investors to jump aboard the GG bandwagon. With his wife, Erica, he owns four coffee shops, called GG Espresso, around Sydney and is opening a fifth. He's also planning to launch the GG clothing range, in upmarket casual apparel.

He further distanced himself from the media and the rugby public earlier this year by claiming passion had nothing to do with rugby, that the game was about "efficiency" and "executing under pressure", the sort of buzz words and business terminology which have infiltrated the game but are not easily accepted by rugby diehards. He's had it rammed down his throat continually, as if indicative of a passionless Wallaby team, and has had to backtrack a little too.

Yet, through the World Cup, he's taken the flak with good grace, answering questions thoughtfully and considerately.

"It certainly hasn't been a dull year," he concedes. "There hasn't been a dull day. I just kept positive through it all. Being involved in major sport, you know you're going to have success and you're going to have failure. You have to be able to deal with both those emotions, and you have to deal with analysis, accolades and criticism in the same manner.

"I've certainly known about that through my career and that has stood me in good stead. It also probably clarifies in your mind what is important in your life. For me, sport is massive and this Australian team means so much to me. But my family is always an important part as well, and that provides required balance to my life."

Essentially he seems a fairly private, withdrawn family man, devoted to his wife and two children, Charlie and Max.

"I'm one of many in the team who are really family-orientated, and am fortunate to have a good support network, which is vital. You are judged every week. I'll be judged again in a few days' time. And that's what makes it exciting, as well as making the captaincy a very lucky job indeed."

Yet the tide has turned back towards him and his Wallabies, as it had to do after their semi-final win over the All Blacks, and they surely cannot round on him again after the final. Clearly Eddie Jones and himself pressed all the right buttons, not just in tactics but, ironically, in suddenly raising the emotional pitch and white-hot intensity of the Wallabies to levels undreamt of in the last year or two. Now, unlike anyone in the English camp, who will not allow you to take them one minute beyond tomorrow's full-time whistle, Gregan admits he is human and has allowed himself to dream a little.

"It will be awesome. It is the ultimate in rugby. I'd love to do it, but I know it is going to take a massive effort. It's a big carrot, that's for sure. This is a totally different experience to the 1995 and 1999 World Cups. Although I was in a leadership role at the last World Cup, I wasn't the skipper.

"Obviously being the captain now, there is a lot more involved. To win it will be great, not just for me but for everyone involved in this team. It will just prove the hard work was all worth it."

In this era of transmitted refereeing commentaries and a more hands-on style from referees, there's been more tolerance of increased communication between captains and referees. The most obvious examples are perhaps Gregan and England's Martin Johnson, although it was noticeable during the World Cup how much Keith Wood has assumed that role even more, especially with Paddy O'Brien in the game against Australia, when the Wallabies got up to all manner of scrummaging trickery.

However, one referee you don't mess with is Andre Watson, who tomorrow will be the first official to oversee his second (consecutive) World Cup final. Gregan has irked opposing players and fans with his constant questioning of referees' decisions, and it transpires the referee he has most antagonised over the years is Watson.

Their most celebrated clash occurred in Dunedin two years ago during a Super 12 match between the Otago Highlanders and the ACT Brumbies. In response to a comment by Gregan, Watson retorted: "Don't you ever speak to me like that ever again."

Even when a touch judge during last weekend's semi-final between Australia and New Zealand, Watson was becoming agitated. When Gregan said to referee Chris White, "I'm not telling you how to referee, but it's a few times now," Watson's voice could be heard via the microphone connected to White's earpiece: "get him out of there Chris. Tell him to get out."

When informed of this at Australia's Tuesday press conference, linked from Coffs Harbour to the Sydney media centre, Gregan looked a little taken aback and had to do some impressive verbal gymnastics.

"Basically I won't say much to Andre on Saturday night as I know how he refs. I won't be saying too much to him at all. We pretty much know what he does and we are prepared for it. You do your homework and do your profiles on the referees. With Chris White last weekend you knew you could approach him and he respected that, but you had to go about it the right way.

"Whereas you know the profile with Andre, it is different and you have to adjust. There was an incident in Dunedin where I was probably a bit out of line in saying something - he had penalised us at the breakdown before when we were in attack, and it happened again. I said something along the lines of , 'mate, aw c'mon, you've just pinged us.' He wasn't happy about what I said. We were on the run, one-on-one, the cameras were on us, and then all of a sudden it was a blow-up. But we've moved on since then. I now get on fine with him. Just fine."

At least he hopes that's the case.