Genia "glad" Cheika is staying

Veteran Wallabies and Rebels scrumhalf Will Genia is happy that Wallabies head coach Michael Cheika has retained his role in the national set up and says the addition of Scott Johnson is a logical move for Australian rugby.

Genia has enjoyed some of his career-best Test form under Cheika and said he was pleased that the national coach would be able to see out his contract through to the end of the Rugby World Cup.

Despite speculation and calls for his head, Cheika's role was not changed and he oversaw a Wallabies pre-season camp in Sydney last week.

“(I'm) just glad that Cheik's still going to be the boss,” Genia told RUGBY.com.au.

“He's one of the best coaches, if not the best coach, that I've had and he's been in place for a while so he's obviously got a plan as far as what he wants to do and he's had that plan from the get go, as far as 2019 being the goal, and he's a really good coach.

“He's putting stuff in place that I know will pay dividends by the time we get to the World Cup.

“From a stability perspective as well, it's nice to have that consistency in and around the coaching staff too.”

Genia has had little to do with the incoming Johnson, who is set to officially start in March after finishing his current role with Scotland, but the 31-year-old said the structure was one that had been successful around the world and it was a sensible decision for Australia.

“I think when we played Scotland I shook his hand but that's about it," he said.

“I think just the fact that it's been a model that's been used all around the world with success, it's nice to see that obviously we try to bring in some form of change because what we're doing at the moment isn't working from a results perspective and we're ultimately judged by wins and losses.

“So, the fact that teams around the world are using it and using it with success, it's nice to see that we're taking that leap.”