MANAGERS make good gossip as far as football clubs are concerned.

The same is not always true of cricket but when you're a six-feet six-inch Australian with a big smile and reputation on your side then the headline writers get busy.

Tom Moody came second for the national Academy post, but is now in line for the Indian national job.

If successful it would raise to six the number of Aussies coaching national sides. Australians are clearly in vogue, but there's a little more to it than just following a trend.

Tom has been good for Worcestershire. The team might have been yo-yoing between divisions, but the cricket has been positive, individual players have developed and quality cricketers have wanted to join what they perceive as a professional set up. It could well be that Tom will stay to continue this process.

However, I reckon like any Aussie, Tom fancies his national coaching job and with Steve Waugh's public backing he's got a pretty good chance of making the Indian vacancy a stepping stone to the big one.

So where will that leave Worcestershire? Well, I reckon appointing Steve Rhodes to the coaching staff on his retirement last year was a pretty shrewd move.

Many years ago his signing as a wicketkeeper from Yorkshire was responsible for Peter Moores moving on to Sussex. He subsequently coached them to their first championship and now moves onto the Academy job.

If 'Bumpy' were to get the job he would bring to four the number of Yorkshiremen coaching different counties. Not quite in the Australian league, but what is it that these guys have got; what makes a top coach?

Respect is the key and that can come in different ways, but team players need someone to play for, who takes them out of themselves and gives them confidence and purpose. The coach is the apex of the team triangle giving shape, point and direction. He sets the tone.

Whatever is happening off the field, Stephen Moore appears to have kick-started the next phase of the season with a wonderful innings.

How often do such changes in fortune hinge on a dropped catch. Jamie Pipe's drop -- down the order in his case -- has galvanized his batting too, while Chaminda Vaas has taken his Sri Lankan silkiness in the opposite direction.

All will need to be in good fettle for the C&G second round match away to Yorkshire this week, before Worcestershire take on Ronnie Irani's Essex in Chelmsford.

They have an opening bat even taller than Tom Moody in Will Jefferson. So we lose the tallest man competition but which of the coaches will come out on top?