The chaotic Eddie Jones saga has finally and firmly come to an end. In unveiling Joe Schmidt as new Wallabies head coach just over a year to the day it announced Jones, Rugby Australia [RA] has drawn a line in the sand and closed the book on what many consider the worst chapter in Australian rugby history.
Determined not to rush the process and put the "right people in the right positions", RA CEO Phil Waugh finally put all the pieces into place with Schmidt's appointment completing the puzzle as he joins new high-performance director Peter Horne and consultant David Nucifora, both of whom the Kiwi has worked with previously.
Credited with turning Ireland into the force they are today, expectations will be high that Schmidt can do the same in Australia and return the Wallabies to the Test power they once were. But with just five months to get his "feet under the desk" and prepare for the Wales series in July, the former schoolteacher has plenty he needs to get done before the first ball is even kicked.
Admitting the Wallabies role hadn't even crossed his radar until Horne's appointment in December and considering himself "retired" when he returned to New Zealand in 2020, Schmidt will have to get up to speed quickly on just where the Wallabies are at, while one of his first tasks will be to create the right team to support him.
The third New Zealander to coach the Wallabies, questions will be asked of Schmidt's ability to rediscover the 'Wallaby Way', but any worries he may look outside Australian shores for assistance have already been laid to rest. Like Rennie before him, Schmidt has plans to look to Australia's budding coaching ranks for support while also developing the next crop of elite coaches.
It's not something new to Schmidt, who did similar while in charge at Ireland.
"I'd most like to leave it just at as an Aussie flavour," Schmidt at his first press conference as Wallabies coach. "At the moment I'm very keen that it's predominantly Australian... that's one of the things about getting into the Super Rugby franchises and trying to ascertain who might be interested and might be keen.
"One of the things that we did in Ireland is guys like Felix Jones and Ronan O'Gara, we took those guys away on tour with us for a week at a time when we were on tour so that they got the experience and also contributed to the coaching group at that time.
"There may be opportunity if there aren't guys immediately involved that we start to feed them in through that experience, they can get a bit of being hands on and right at the coalface of that match week preparation."
That approach has already proven its worth with Jones and O'Gara going on to achieve success as coaches with South Africa and La Rochelle respectively. In the long term for Australia it could mean the next crop of coaches are prepared and ready to take the Wallabies forward.
But most importantly for Schmidt will be his ability to rediscover the Wallabies identity.
Watching from the All Blacks' coaching box through 2023, the 58-year-old saw an Australia team with little direction, one largely in complete disarray, describing their appearance at the World Cup as "not an Australian team that I recognised".
Falling to a 2-7 record under Eddie Jones with wins over Portugal and Georgia and a record-breaking 40-6 loss to Wales, it remains to be seen whether that embarrassing night in Lyon has left lasting scars on the playing group.
While Schmidt remains optimistic Australia's cohort will come out galvanized, he'll need to build trust quickly and right the wrongs of last year.
"I'd like to think that they'll emerge with an experience that they're desperate not to repeat, so they'll work hard toward getting the cohesion amongst themselves.
"We're going to have some players who will have been put on the back foot by that... I think what we've got in front of us is going to be really challenging and I'm excited about trying to help those, especially those young guys, try to help them build their confidence."
It's a huge job for a man who had plans to put his coaching hat away to spend time with his family; there's plenty of risk too with Schmidt tasked not only with turning the Wallabies around but also reviving a code that has fallen to its knees in Australia over the past 12 months.
But with RA already at rock bottom, and his previous experience of pulling Ireland out of their own hole, surely the only way is up for the Wallabies and their new man.