Cheika arrived at the Waratahs’ Daceyville base less than 48 hours after the Roosters’ title victory, signalling an immediate commitment to a team that has missed the Super Rugby finals in each of the past three years.
“I had the Monday off but was in there straight away ... I wanted to show them I mean business,” he told Christy Doran in a report published by the Sydney Morning Herald, Brisbane Times and WAtoday.
The former Wallabies coach, who guided the Waratahs to the 2014 Super Rugby title, believes the squad’s central challenge is learning how to win.
“I don’t think there’s anything with the skill set,” he said. “I think that self-confidence and self-belief is really important.”
Cheika argued that players need clear direction about the standards required for success, while acknowledging that improvement alone cannot guarantee results against strong opposition.
“Even that may not be enough because there’s other good teams there,” he said. “But this is what we can do from our end.”
The Waratahs have reached the Super Rugby semi-finals only once, in 2018, since Cheika left in 2015. His return as Dan McKellar’s replacement follows repeated changes of head coach since 2020.
Stephen Hoiles, a member of Cheika’s championship-winning Waratahs side, will serve as his assistant. Hoiles had been applying for the top job before Cheika was recruited.
Cheika said he had not expected to return and that the appointment came together quickly. He considers himself more experienced and more self-assured than when his previous stint in Australian rugby ended after the Wallabies’ 2019 World Cup exit.
His immediate commitments also include Lebanon’s World Cup campaign. The Cedars face Tonga on Friday after losing their opener 42-18 to Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby. Tonga beat England 30-12 in their opening match.
“We’ll be the underdog for pretty much every game we play, but that’s OK,” Cheika said.
The overlapping assignments follow a season assisting Roosters coach Trent Robinson and a stint taking Leicester Tigers to the 2025 Premiership final. Cheika acknowledged the workload, but described coaching as something he enjoys rather than a chore: “The plates are spinning, though.”