Former Australia captain John Eales believes new Queensland Reds coach Eddie Jones can help turn the franchise into a major force in Super 14 over the next three years.
Jones, a former Wallaby boss, took over the reins from Jeff Miller and will be hoping to reverse the fortunes of a side which has not reached the finals in Super rugby since 2001.
The Reds will kick-off the new campaign at home to the Hurricanes on Saturday and Eales is confident that it will be the start of a promising new era for Jones’ outfit.
"The Reds have probably wasted six years by not following through with coaches, having players leave and losing continuity," Eales told the Courier Mail.
"The 2007 team is not going to be fancied, but the players have the chance to turn around Queensland rugby and make it great in three years of building under Eddie.
"The players will be learning from Eddie every day. They are going to enjoy it."
Eales has also cited Jones’ insistence on introducing a more disciplined culture at the club as an important factor ahead of the new campaign.
An example of this discipline was highlighted in Jones’ decision to suspend centre Lloyd Johansson and fly-half Quade Cooper for the season opener after the pair arrived 25 minutes late for training.
"These players were seriously late for an important training session, which demonstrated a lack of commitment as professional rugby players and a lack of commitment to the team," Jones said.
"We want to take things forward at the Reds and to do that we must have total commitment by the players."
