Michael Cheika will remain as Wallabies coach through to the Rugby World Cup but he will have a new boss after Scott Johnson was unveiled as Rugby Australia's new Director of Rugby.
In what looks a good move for the longer-term health of Australian rugby, Johnson will oversee a new National High Performance model in a similar mould to the one he currently occupies in Scotland and those already in place in both Ireland and New Zealand.
Rugby Australia chief executive Raelene Castle and chairman Cameron Clyne fronted the media on Monday, coming good on their promise to deliver some changes by Christmas. But two key issues remain: that Johnson won't actually be a boots-on-the-ground presence until mid-March and that, as it stands, there are no changes to Cheika's Wallabies panel outside of the fact that he will report into Johnson himself.
Attack coach Stephen Larkham, his forwards counterpart Simon Raiwalui and team manager and close Cheika confidante Pat Molihan were all rumoured to be in the firing line but they have all been granted a stay of execution until Johnson begins his role in mid-March.
That is unlikely to appease frustrated Wallabies fans who had demanded immediate action following the slide of the national side under Cheika, which included just four wins from 13 Tests in 2018.
Given Rugby Australia's parlous financial position Cheika was always thought to have been likely to survive the axe himself, but that didn't stop the calls for at least some form of shake-up of the wider Wallabies panel.
Castle and Clyne instead chose to laud what Johnson's appointment - as well as a new National High Performance model and "Fighting Fund" - would mean for Australian rugby, insisting that the changes would not only leave Australian rugby best placed for the long-term future, but also have the Wallabies in a better position for next year's Rugby World Cup in Japan.
"We are confident that Michael is the right man to lead the Wallabies into the Rugby World Cup and the appointment of Scott Johnson will support Michael and his coaching team as they prepare for the tournament in Japan next September," Castle said Monday.
"In his recent review Michael Cheika identified potential changes to the current Wallabies structure, and he and Scott will work their way through these recommendations. Scott and Michael will also be joined next year by a third independent selector to make up a new national selection panel that will oversee the Wallabies squad and team selection."
In declaring it a "milestone day" for Australian rugby, Castle said the move to an aligned National Performance Model would help deliver greater success for the Wallabies into the future.
In referencing the models used in Ireland and New Zealand, where each of the provinces [Ireland] or Super Rugby teams [New Zealand] fall under the national body's umbrella, Castle said the setup meant that all stakeholders needed to see the Wallabies' success when executing their own individual visions.
As to why such a model has taken so long to come to fruition, Clyne said it was resistance on the part of the State Unions and Castle should, in fact, be lauded for her work in breaking down those barriers with the governing body.
"Well we run a federated model which is always a challenge and the States are very proud; the States existed long before Rugby Australia did," Clyne said. "The challenge in these models is that the teams play with an individual character; so there is a distinct way the teams like to have that identity, be it a Waratah, be it a Rebel or a Red.
"But I think it's taken time and there's been a number of attempts over the years to achieve greater alignment. But full credit to Raelene, she's been able to build the trust to say that we need to get to this model; this is a proven model, it demonstrates success. But you also need to give them the confidence that someone's going to help with the alignment and actually understands how to do it and that's where Scott [will be critical].
"While we've been working on it for 12 months and talking about the type of changes that would deliver it, I think the key element here was actually getting someone of Scott's capability who's actually delivered this sort of program."
There is of course the small matter of Johnson's contract with the Scottish Rugby Union, which both Clyne and Castle said they wanted to treat in the right manner. Once Johnson does return, he appears to have a clean slate and added resources - including the Fighting Fund which will be used to keep the code's best young players in the game -- to plot the improvement of rugby in Australia on the whole.
But Rugby Australia also expects Johnson and Cheika to be involved in discussions about the Wallabies before the former Test assistant coach returns home when the Six Nations come to an end in mid-March.
Cheika's assistants won't exactly be resting easy until then, with the head coach having presented some recommendations about the Wallabies environment during his review last week.
With just four, or possibly five Tests to play, before the World Cup, it doesn't allow much time for any of those proposed changes to be ratified by Johnson, and then given time to take shape.
Yet that is of little concern to Rugby Australia.
"Michael's already got, as you would understand, significant planning in place as to what 2019 is going to look like and the plans have been well signed off and established before this change in structure was finalised," Castle said. "So we believe it will add additional support to what Michael has already got in place."
In other words, it's still Cheika's show.
In Johnson's appointment and the National High Performance model, Rugby Australia may have come good on its word to unveil some changes by Christmas, and in doing so set in place a plan for the good of the wider game moving forward.
But when it comes to an immediate change of course for the Wallabies, something fans have been crying out for throughout the second half of 2018, very little has seemingly changed at all. Johnson's arrival is still three months away, leaving him just six months to build a working relationship with Cheika and even less to help bring the Wallabies out of the abyss before the World Cup.