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Waratahs officials have rejected suggestions Michael Cheika's return to Daceyville will be merely a sugar hit, insisting the veteran coach will also work to build stability within the organization and help refine the "Waratahs way". Cheika's return to rugby and the franchise with whom he won Super Rugby title in 2014 was rubberstamped on Wednesday, with the 59-year-old signing a two-year deal with the Waratahs and by extension Rugby Australia [RA], with the second year in his favour. RA owns the Waratahs license, following the move to centralization in 2024. Cheika will begin his role in November once his Rugby League World Cup commitments with Lebanon have concluded, giving him a shortened runway to next year's Super Rugby Pacific season compared with his competition colleagues. Immediately, the Waratahs feel better placed for 2027, even if the team's major signings to this point are 36- and 37-year-old former Wallabies, and a rugby league player whose last game in the 15-aside sport was way back in 2014. But then there is the issue that has long plagued NSW rugby and the Waratahs: mismanagement. The Waratahs as a franchise that has underperformed given their access to talent, losing players to rival Australian teams, overseas and, at a younger age, rugby league. So while Cheika's record as a coach who has immediate success is well known, concerns about what he will leave behind in either 2028, or 2029, are not unjustified. "I've only met Michael a couple of times and don't know him really well, but I think if you know him a little bit better, he's not here for a sugar hit," Waratahs director of high performance B-J Mather said. "He'll have a lot of say in a lot of things and he'll steer that direction pretty well. He's got some fairly firm beliefs, I think, in how the game is played and what success looks like, and that's what we really want from him." With just three winning seasons, and three finals appearances since Cheika departed at the end of the 2015 Super Rugby season, it's little wonder the Waratahs have gone back to the future in appointing their only title-winning coach. Across that stretch the franchise has had four different head coaches - there was also a two-man interim team following Rob Penney's sacking in 2021 -- while Dan McKellar was most recently shown the door two years into a three-year deal with a winning record of 39%. The franchise has essentially lurched from one failed season to the next and is yet to seriously challenge for the Super Rugby Pacific title; Darren Coleman twice took the Waratahs to the postseason in the competition's bloated former eight-team finals format. With the playing resources at its disposal, the Waratahs should be a continual threat for the finals and not sink to the eighth-place finishes the team did under McKellar, let alone the lows of Coleman's final season in 2024 when NSW claimed just two wins from 14 games. "Without going into details around the structure, we're putting things in place so that we have some continuity and stability, not just around the men's coaching team, but also around the academy," Mather said when asked about the club's longer-term plans. "Looking at defining our culture in what we call the 'Waratahs way', so that it's pretty clear the values and standards that we stand for and how we're going to recruit players and how we're going to deal with players and deal with other people. "So there's a little bit of work that we need to do in order to define ourselves and be [really] clear with everybody about who we are. And once we have that, then we'll start looking at the stability and bringing the players through to fit that, so that we can put the right product on the field." The Waratahs are hoping to finalise Cheika's coaching team in the coming weeks, with all reports suggesting former Waratahs and Wallabies back-rower Stephen Hoiles will also return to the franchise. It is believed Hoiles would then succeed Cheika in either 2028 or 2029, with Mather keen to solidify the franchise's coaching pathways so that it can avoid the mass turnover that has belied its existence. "I think one of the main things that we're trying to create in the very near future is some stability and some continuity," he said. "So Cheik signed a contract for two years to be with us, one [year] plus one, and we'll look at the structure of the organisation to try and make sure we have some continuity from within so that we can then start building on that. "As Tony's [Waratahs chairman Tony Crawford] sick of hearing me say, in the last 25 years, the Waratahs have had 12 head coaches, and the Crusaders have had about four, I think. So we need to start building that and some longevity in our coaching team and our coaching structures." Former Wallabies No. 8 Wycliff Palu, who has been coaching in Japan, is also reported to have been sounded out by Cheika, while Mather could not guarantee the future of Lachie McCaffrey or Dan Palmer, who will lead the Waratahs in Super Rugby Aus next month.