I think it is bullshit to suggest that Deans took over a team that was in shambles as somehow indicating that he did a good job. The team he took was poorly ranked due to a horrific world cup, but it had a huge amount of talent.
The poor ranking wasn't reflective of what had happened in previous years when the wallabies were far superior to the boks and a lot of northern hemisphere teams.
Anyhow, the team that Deans took over was a bloody good one.
AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper), Tuqiri, Mortlock, Gits, Mitchell, Barnes, Burgess, Palu, Elsom, Smith, Vickerman, Sharpe, Baxter, Moore, Robinson.
It also shouldn't be forgotten that he had some solid players in TPN, McMeniman, Horwill, Hynes and Cross (at the time).
Out of that starting 15 only Barnes and Burgess could be considered replacements from the previous era. Also, the scrum was not the shambles that everyone makes it out to be, with Foley having done an excellent job there and continued to do so until he left.
It was Deans' fault that he choose to play a ball running inside centre at five-eighth, despite no experience there; and also play a passing five-eighth with solid defence, but nothing to offer when running the ball at inside centre. For the life of me, I cannot understand the logic of switching Barnes and Giteau. The decision morphed the wallabies from having a direct backline, to one that simply shifted the ball laterally across the field, as every time barnes got the ball he had no option but to pass it, kick it, or make an insipid run. Putting Giteau at 10 really is reminiscent of a recent decision to put another exceptional ball runner at 10.
I really do feel sorry for Barnes, because I think under the right guidance and having been given the time at 10 consistently he could have shone there.
There are countless other decisions that you could rage about deans making - switching prop sides at international level for e.g. - but the thing makes the most upset is how he slowly, but surely eroded our once proud backline into something I don't know how to describe, but comes closest to being nothing. The biggest highlight of this [on the weekend] was that the only try we scored and the only time we seemed capable of anything were due to individual moments of brilliance and not due to teamwork.