It is not that the Wallabies coach necessarily shares the canniness and occasional grumpiness of the former king of Manchester United but that he also views the argument you "win nothing with kids" as nonsense.
That was the accusation lobbed at Ferguson before he famously brought through a generation of young stars and won dozens of trophies with United, and Jones appears to be embracing the same approach
He has named 24-year-old halfback Tate McDermott as captain, replacing injured prop and stand-in skipper Allan Alaalatoa, for the Bledisloe Cup test in Dunedin tomorrow, promoted prop Pone Fa’amausili for his first start, and stuck with rookie first five Carter Gordon after he had a difficult night in the 38-7 loss Melbourne last Saturday.
The show of faith in McDermott is notable as the Reds No 9 was not even in an initial Wallabies squad a few months ago.
"We need to regenerate the team," Jones said in Dunedin yesterday.
"He’s got a good head on him. He’s calm, shows good direction on the field and has got all the attributes of being a very good captain."
Jones is no stranger to entrusting a halfback with leadership duties.
He worked with the great George Gregan with both the Brumbies and the Wallabies and sees some of Gregan’s attributes in McDermott, who becomes the fourth Australian captain this year.
"I don’t think we need to compare him to George.
"But certainly that steeliness that George had — Tate’s got that. He’s got a strong determination to win, and he’s a tough little bugger, which are all good attributes of a captain at 9."
McDermott looked calm but quietly chuffed yesterday as he digested the biggest news of his rugby career.
He was also brutally honest about how he has found life as a leader with the struggling Reds.
"I’ve learnt a lot the last two years, and I’ve really learnt a lot in the last month," McDermott said.
"Being here, in this team, just how quickly we can solve problems is probably the biggest one I’ve learnt.
"It’s so easy to be a captain and pick up the negative parts of a game, particularly given how poor the Queensland Reds played the last two years.
"For me, every day was a bit of a challenge. But for where I am now, that’s prepared me to step into this role."
McDermott said the rotating captaincy — Michael Hooper and James Slipper were the designated co-leaders before Alaalatoa got his chance — highlighted the depth in leadership in the Wallabies.
He was also looking to Samu Kerevi and Andrew Kellaway in the backline to help him guide the team.
Fa’amausili gets his first test start as both Alalaatoa and Taniela Tupou are sidelined, while Richie Arnold replaces Will Skelton at lock, Fraser McReight is introduced as openside flanker and Tom Hooper shifts to the blindside.
The backline is unchanged in a starting XV that has just 277 caps — the seventh-lowest total in the professional era.
"We’re definitely remodelling the team," Jones said.
"We need to change the team from where we’ve been. This is a period when we’re finding out a lot about the team, finding out what’s good and what’s not so good.
"I’ve decided to improve the team through promoting young players. That doesn’t mean the senior players don’t have a crucial role to play."
Jones was in a mostly cheery mood yesterday — though he had one spiky exchange with a reporter who asked about Gordon’s struggles last week.
