Robbie Deans

[light]

It can stay, I enjoyed that. Hit reality with a thud though.

 

[darkhorse]

I've lost faith that this guy is up there with GH, or Cement Head -Gatland. Just think he hasn;t managed the transition between a club/ franchise side and international level.

Deans will get there eventually - he is doing a decent job now. Unfortunately for us, he'll probably spend 6 years learning his trade with us and then bring it all together with the ABs.

IMO Graham Henry is an evil genius. The ultimate test match coach.

The work he did with Auckland was exceptional. I think he is responsible for the pushing of boundaries/cheating that we all associate with the All Blacks & Auckland. I used to hate him for it - but now I can't help respect him.

If we didn't have Link waiting in the wings I would want him to do the job for us after Deans.

 

[Cardiffblue]

Sometimes I like to imagine that Robbie really is a master tactician playing the long game for the ultimate prize. We already know that ‘play what's in front of you’ is just a guise for Robbie does whatever he wants whenever he wants and doesn’t have to tell anyone about it. So what has he really been up to?

In year 1 he saw our greatest weakness as fitness and commitment in contact, so in year 2 we played helter skelter, hold the ball and play with lots of width rugby. Increasing our fitness and attacking ability while avoiding the commitment to contact. This finally got us over the Boks but composure at the finally moments against the AB’s was still required. We would be needed to play 80 min and trust in each other particularly in defence. Large leads were not advantageous as a young team sought to simply outscore the opposition not beat them with defence and attack.

Finally as time came to meet his maker and face sudden death, through his earlier cunning he had found the ultimate in 1 dimensional opposition to perfect committed, contact loving aggression coupled with a strong defence and self belief (Plan A, red shifted) while totally lacking vision and direction in attack. After many deposits in belief he had a team that could win without the flashy stuff indeed with barely any right to at all, they had reached the opposite end of the spectrum of to the all out attack of Plan A, blue shifted. Now as the Wallabies face their ultimate test between the ever entwined forces of light and dark, Gold and Black he awaits to see the full tecni-colour display laid out across the pitch mostly in hues of deep red but with the occasional flashes of electric blue.

On second thoughts maybe this belongs in the positivity (delusional) thread.

Weird but I think you have some good points. Do you think Australia have any means of re enacting plan A tomorrow?

 

[rotary hoe]

I've lost faith that this guy is up there with GH, or Cement Head -Gatland. Just think he hasn;t managed the transition between a club/ franchise side and international level.

I meet Gatland in 96 whilst on a brief playing stint in Stockholm.He had just secured his first overseas gig coaching Connacht and had brought them over for a pre season trip to play our club and the Swedish national side.I thought then what a masterstroke,boys on the drink and (trying) shagging Swedish girls.Great guy. Can't imagine Dingo with his stuttering MBA speak, group is moving forward crap, quite getting the love of the players that Gatland did on that trip.And he really is incompetent.Any result we may achieve is down to the ticker and talent of the players.

 

[Cardiffblue]

I meet Gatland in 96 whilst on a brief playing stint in Stockholm.He had just secured his first overseas gig coaching Connacht and had brought them over for a pre season trip to play our club and the Swedish national side.I thought then what a masterstroke,boys on the drink and (trying) shagging Swedish girls.Great guy. Can't imagine Dingo with his stuttering MBA speak, group is moving forward crap, quite getting the love of the players that Gatland did on that trip.And he really is incompetent.Any result we may achieve is down to the ticker and talent of the players.

think thassright. The SA game came down to ticker and sheer blind luck, not gameplan.

 

[antimony]

I didn't set out to write the blurb for Robbie's biography, but hey it happens.

I think the 'play what's in front of you game plan' is Robbie's cute way of saying make the right decisions at the right time, meaning that he is always correct and any mistakes are automatically not part of the game plan. It works wonderfully if you have several years and a 5/8 the calibre of Dan Carter. It requires a kind of 'group think' to be able to do it well as a team. I think it works better in NZ where people grow up playing the game and after having just been there everyone from the dairy owner to dairy farmer is able to carry an intelligent rugby conversation. We just don't get that here, so Robbie has spent the last 4 years trying to get the wallabies to be able to instinctively know what the right actions for the circumstances they find them selves in. After depositing all the belief into his players he expects them to react on the fly, from the outside in it is a lack of game plan from Robbie's perspective it is Plan A the ultimate all encompassing game plan.

Cardiff, you are right in that ticker and luck won that game for us. For the WC I think Robbie has imposed some structure into Plan A and that is mostly that you should kick from your own half and your only allowed to attack in the oppositions half. SA tactics where similar and their execution way better so we only got the ball in our half and kicked back to them, badly.

This weekends game should see us get a few opportunities to attack as the AB's will chance their arm a little more than SA did. Whether we see more of Plan A blue shifted depends mostly on the flawed diamond that is QC (Quade Cooper). I'm sure he hasn't forgotten and F***ing hope that he takes his opportunities.

 

[Gnostic]

He should do the honourable and right thing and resign. He is a failure as an international coach. This Wallaby team has been consistently beaten by any side showing enthusiasm and commitment.

If somebody can name an actual real full achievement of Deans during his tenure I will relent. Fact is there is one. A reduced and demeaned 3N doesn't count.

The facts are:-
1) His record in simple terms of win:loss is the worst ever for a Wallabies coach. Ad to that an embarrassing set of record lows, losing to Scotland, Ireland, Samoa, NZ 11 times in a row.
2) Selection is poor eg. Alexander, Elsom and a few others regarded as first choice are were not in form and shouldn't have been selected ahead of players who were.
3) Tactics - have there ever been any? Really? He just isn't up to standard here.
4) The mode of play of the Wallabies has been consistently poor for 4 years. They will play well in patches of game, more due to individual players than any team effort.

If people are happy with this rubbish then support Deans to remain with his equally inept support staff because nothing will change over the next two or three years and the Lions series that is Deans new and improve marker will be a joke.

 

[chief]

I really think it is appropriate too that Deans step down. I know he won't. But now that they lost the RWC, which is apparently was their goal all along. He hasn't achieved anything asides from a Tri Nations victory in a shortened tournament. Reality is he hasn't achieved barely anything. And if I must say the decision to bring Horwill to captain was a mistake. Horwill struggles to make the team. Now I know Genia played like shit tonight, but reality is Genia or Pocock should have been made Wallabies captain. Pocock would have been my preferred option, as he could communicate with the referees far better had he been captain. Horwill doesn't have that ability as he isn't as important as Pocock.

 

[minorbird]

I agree Deans isn't the man, but our current crop of players aren't exactly grand. Or if they are talented, they are inexperienced at test level. Probably haven't lost enough where the stakes are high for it to hurt enough to inspire.

 

[Reddy!]

I have no idea if our props are tightheads or looseheads? I'm seriously so confused. Every prop we had playing tonight has played on both sides of the scrum, are experts are neither sides and push overs on both.

 

[Reddy!]

I agree Deans isn't the man, but our current crop of players aren't exactly grand. Or if they are talented, they are inexperienced at test level. Probably haven't lost enough where the stakes are high for it to hurt enough to inspire.

That's what we said 4 years ago, Deans spent 4 years rebuilding the team, and we are saying the same thing...progress!

 

[minorbird]

I really think we should start selecting props that can 1) scrummage first and 2) be ho-hum around the park. Alexander has a great work-rate, but he got totally reamed. Need more Palmer.

 

[louie]

2) Selection is poor eg. Alexander, Elsom and a few others regarded as first choice are were not in form and shouldn't have been selected ahead of players who were.

Also playing players that aren't in form hoping that they might come good. Gits, for one. Brown, another. Also playing players like Slipper and Simmons who might be world class one day but are not now.

 

[minorbird]

That's what we said 4 years ago, Deans spent 4 years rebuilding the team, and we are saying the same thing...progress!

Then I'd suggest that the problem is systemic, and rooted in deeper problems in Australian rugby beyond what goes on at the test level.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

He should do the honourable and right thing and resign. He is a failure as an international coach. This Wallaby team has been consistently beaten by any side showing enthusiasm and commitment.

If somebody can name an actual real full achievement of Deans during his tenure I will relent. Fact is there is one. A reduced and demeaned 3N doesn't count.

The facts are:-
1) His record in simple terms of win:loss is the worst ever for a Wallabies coach. Ad to that an embarrassing set of record lows, losing to Scotland, Ireland, Samoa, NZ 11 times in a row.
2) Selection is poor eg. Alexander, Elsom and a few others regarded as first choice are were not in form and shouldn't have been selected ahead of players who were.
3) Tactics - have there ever been any? Really? He just isn't up to standard here.
4) The mode of play of the Wallabies has been consistently poor for 4 years. They will play well in patches of game, more due to individual players than any team effort.

If people are happy with this rubbish then support Deans to remain with his equally inept support staff because nothing will change over the next two or three years and the Lions series that is Deans new and improve marker will be a joke.

Gnostic you are right. To your list I would add the following:

"Discovering" McCabe 12 months out form the world cup is no way to plan a campaign. If Barnes had not come good he had no one. McCabe played, I think 1 game at 12 for the Brumbies, this is no way to build a challenge.
Vickerman strolled back in because Deans had done nothing to develop the other blokes. Is Simmons is the next best lock in Oz we are in serious trouble. I have burned on my retina a picture of him watching a ball on the ground against Ireland. brad Thorn should be offered $1m per annum to take every kid aged 18 over 6'1" on a camp to some location with no water or food for 3 months. Catch and kill your own. Respect the pill. Love the game.
Beiber should have been booted from the squad....if not the last time then the first time when he and the other tweeters had a fight in Paris. There is no room for managed egos. Punish them early and they will soon learn what is expected of them.
Most importantly the next coach, whether it is Deans or not, must engage in a conversation with the australian rugby public and explain why it is that Quade Cooper is (a) a footballing genius of prodigious, unequalled talent (b) he is not suitable to play 5/8 for australia. When we all understad that then we can begin the search for someone who can adapt to the game and whose only response to pressure is no hot dogging. Dan Carter could be paid $10m to fill the role of explaining that the most physically gifted athlete is not generally your best 5/8: evidence - Lynagh and Ella...maybe Larkham but he was pretty gifted

 

[louie]

When you have a coach that speaks jibberish and loses to teams you should be beating it's not the players. Coach is the problem.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

I have no idea if our props are tightheads or looseheads? I'm seriously so confused. Every prop we had playing tonight has played on both sides of the scrum, are experts are neither sides and push overs on both.

and all of them were backrowers in juniors

 

[pete88]

I don't think Robbie Deans is the worst thing since unsliced bread, but I wish he hadn't been reappointed. It's unacceptable for us not to be the best team in the world, and when it is categorically proven that we are not, we need to be able to address any and all problems in the current setup after thorough dispassionate review of everything relevant. Robbie could have done better, but he's probably not the only reason we've failed to bring back Bill.

 

[Scarfman]

The best team in the world? I don't really expect that. We were probably ranked #2 or #3 when we won in 1991 and 1999. I just expect us to beat sides like Ireland, so that we give ourselves the best possible chance to beat NZ in the final. ANd when we get there, not to lose our bottle completely.

 

[disco]

But we're building. Just give him another fours years he'll get there just play what's in front of you will work eventually.