Robbie Deans

[Inside Shoulder]

Just like he'd be a real dick if he played an injured vickerman when sharpe would have better.
Over the years I have not been a Sharpe fan. In my view he played too wide and too loose.
Evidently he was told that in the last year: he flicked a switch and started playing tighter.
That's a big transformation and I applaud him for it.
It would appear his preparedness to alter his game went unnoticed by the staff.

 

[Lindommer]

Too many underlings not the best way forward for Deans

by: Bret Harris
From:The Australian
October 31, 2011 12:00AM

WHEN Robbie Deans was appointed Wallabies head coach in 2008, the national team moved towards a leaner and meaner coaching staff. The previous head coach John Connolly had three assistants - Michael Foley (forwards), Scott Johnson (attack) and John Muggleton (defence). Deans inherited Foley and added former Wallabies backrower Jim Williams as his second assistant. But over the past three years, Deans' coaching staff has increased to five assistants - Williams, Patricio Noriega (scrum), Phil Blake (skills and defence), David Nucifora (coaching co-ordinator) and Bram van Straaten (goal-kicking). Even though van Straaten is a consultant, rather than a full-time member of the staff, the coaching crew has clearly grown, albeit incrementally. In 2009, former England prop Trevor Woodman replaced Foley but resigned to take up a club coaching role in England before a Test was played that year. Noriega, the former Argentine Pumas and Wallabies prop, replaced Foley, who joined the coaching staff of the NSW Waratahs.

Deans carried a very heavy workload in his first year, looking after attack, defence, skills and kicking. Former Queensland fullback Richard Graham was brought in as skills coach in 2009 to relieve Deans of that duty. But Graham quit last year after he was appointed head coach of Western Force. Graham was replaced by Blake, who added defence to the skills portfolio, which further lightened Deans's load. The ARU decided to add another assistant following a review of the Wallabies' 2009 season. Nucifora, who is the ARU high-performance manager, acted as a coaching consultant to the Wallabies last year before assuming the coaching co-ordinator role, which was the same position Deans held under John Mitchell at the All Blacks and Ewen McKenzie under Eddie Jones at the Wallabies. Nucifora was also coach of the Australian under-20s, which provided a link between the senior and junior national programs. Deans then hired van Straaten as a goal-kicking consultant, relieving him of yet another duty.

Originally a hands-on coach, Deans was moving towards the managerial style of coaching of Rod Macqueen, but he did not go all the way in that direction. As his coaching staff has increased, his style has morphed into a combination of managerial and hands-on. The ARU is planning to conduct a review of the Wallabies' World Cup campaign in New Zealand, where they reached the semi-finals, which was a "pass mark" in the words of chief executive John O'Neill. It will be interesting to see what changes, if any, the ARU makes to the Wallabies' coaching staff for next year. Deans has already been re-appointed for another two years, but there could be changes to his staff. There is speculation that Williams will not be re-contracted. If this is the case, it would give Deans the opportunity to employ a new assistant or give Nucifora more of a hands-on role with the forwards. Noriega's position has been questioned by some, but the Wallabies' scrum has made progress and he is likely to stay. Given the Wallabies' strong defensive display at the World Cup, particularly in the win against the Springboks in the quarter-final, it would be hard to fault Blake's efforts.

The ARU may be in favour of retaining the whole coaching staff for continuity, which would keep Williams on board. But the ARU review offers an opportunity for a thorough re-assessment of the Wallabies' coaching set-up to ensure it is fully resourced and functional. There has been talk of McKenzie acting as a coaching consultant to the Wallabies or even being involved in a more formal capacity, but this is unlikely to eventuate.

The All Blacks coaching triumvirate of Graham Henry, Steve Hansen and Wayne Smith was a unique model, which would be difficult to emulate. Deans needs the right assistants in the right jobs and then consolidate his coaching staff for a period of two years. In his first four years, Deans has had eight assistants overall, which is probably too many.

 

[Gnostic]

The key that Harris misses IMO is that nowhere has Deans managed to select or attract a top line coach, with the possible exception of Pato for the scrum. In the defence of Pato though as I have already proposed on the Spring Tour thread, it is my belief that he has no say in who he gets to form the set piece and has to make do with who is selected and hence he is always struggling. In the negative for Pato is the fact that Ben Alexander has been with squad for three years now and he still has a basic flaw in his set up and hinges more often than not.

Harris also fails to recognise that the main reason reported for why Deans failed to get the ABs gig was his lack of preparation on the front of the coaching team front. The ARU signed him with exactly nil prep. on this subject and it was sometime later that Williams and Graham were announced as assistants. Foley last one season and walked to be an assistant at a Super franchise.

No matter how you look at it the whole coaching set up of the Wallabies is a shambles. When could you turn to one of the Wallabies coaches over the last three years and congratulate them on a magnificent performance in their duties, like Steve Hanson got for the lineout orchestration for Woodcock's try in the final? The only time I can think of is for Phil Blake's solid defensive line in the 1/4 final. However for the first and only time under Deans there has been a holistic approach to a team tactic, it threw away the previous three years and selected purely for defence, with the exception of keeping QC (Quade Cooper) at 10 to allow the only attacking creation option in the backline (on that note why have people bagged QC (Quade Cooper) so much when he had the responsibility of being the only attack threat from the Wallabies, there certainly wasn't any structured attack.).


I agree that too many cooks spoil the broth, but there has to be an effective management structure with an united vision and goal from selection to tactics and execution, allowing for specialist inputs from coaches/consultants on specific skills improvements identified by the core management team (eg Psychologist, Kicking etc). That is Deans major failure, he has failed to build that structure (and many contend he is incapable of the selflessness required to accept genuine input from true assistants) and it is why this team has failed to improve in any area over the last four years.

 

[fatprop]

Alexander hinges at LHP, not THP

 

[Schadenfreude]

like Steve Hanson got for the lineout orchestration for Woodcock's try in the final?

Am I the only one who thought that was obstruction?

 

[Swat]

Am I the only one who thought that was obstruction?

And so we come back around to the ref.... It's the circle of life/rugby

 

[WhoDaresWin]

Am I the only one who thought that was obstruction?

Just emphasise how much credit should be accorded to Hansen.

I cant even remember if any French player complained to the ref or A/ref for that 'obstruction'.

 

[Gnostic]

Am I the only one who thought that was obstruction?

I would think so. It was a beautiful move with the two pods splitting the French perfectly and the runner (woodcock) taking the pass perfectly to take that gap. I cannot see where any French tackler (or even potential tackler) was obstructed, the French were done cold.

I have been racking my brain trying to think where I have seen this move before and I think it may well have been a Brumbies and NSW Tahs move under Macqueen. Lee Grant or Bruce Ross can you help with that?

This is a great example of the sort of first phase move the Wallabies used to excel at. We haven't seen one under Deans reign.

 

[fatprop]

Waratahs did a version of it vs the Reds for Dennis to score, front pod backed up dennis stayed at the front

at 1:50

[video=youtube;5nVIbeHZjQ0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nVIbeHZjQ0[/video]

 

[I like to watch]

No matter how you look at it the whole coaching set up of the Wallabies is a shambles. When could you turn to one of the Wallabies coaches over the last three years and congratulate them on a magnificent performance in their duties, like Steve Hanson got for the lineout orchestration for Woodcock's try in the final? The only time I can think of is for Phil Blake's solid defensive line in the 1/4 final. However for the first and only time under Deans there has been a holistic approach to a team tactic, it threw away the previous three years and selected purely for defence, with the exception of keeping QC (Quade Cooper) at 10 to allow the only attacking creation option in the backline (on that note why have people bagged QC (Quade Cooper) so much when he had the responsibility of being the only attack threat from the Wallabies, there certainly wasn't any structured attack.).

You may well be correct that Robbie is not the best coach in the world, but which backline showed magic and structured attack in the tough end of the tournament?

 

[Gnostic]

You may well be correct that Robbie is not the best coach in the world, but which backline showed magic and structured attack in the tough end of the tournament?

France.

I would also say that with Priestland at 10 Wales showed more than the Wallabies have in the last three years.

 

[minorbird]

To be fair though, at times the Wallabies backline has looked to be one of the best in the world on attack. It's not consistent, but it has been there when the combinations are right.

 

[Gnostic]

The point Minorbird was about structured backline attack. The Wallabies with Beale, JOC (James O'Connor), Ioane and Cooper are perhaps the best counter attack and broken field group in the world. They do not however breakdown a set defence or build something from nothing except against Tier 2 nations and sometimes not even them.

 

[I like to watch]

France = structured attack? I thought their best moments were in counter(in the knockout stages)...
If you can demonstrate why the lack of oomph from the pigs is all Dean's fault then I will jump on your bandwagon.
If not I reserve my right to believe that as we didn't have the pigs to win it, it didn't matter who coached them.
And even despite my repeated moans...who played 10.

 

[I like to watch]

The point Minorbird was about structured backline attack. The Wallabies with Beale, JOC (James O'Connor), Ioane and Cooper are perhaps the best counter attack and broken field group in the world. They do not however breakdown a set defence or build something from nothing except against Tier 2 nations and sometimes not even them.

Nooooo, what percentage of breaks are from 1st phase set phases these days in any top line test match?

 

[minorbird]

The point Minorbird was about structured backline attack. The Wallabies with Beale, JOC (James O'Connor), Ioane and Cooper are perhaps the best counter attack and broken field group in the world. They do not however breakdown a set defence or build something from nothing except against Tier 2 nations and sometimes not even them.

See I think that they can do it.

There are a few examples in the video I've posted below, but the one that stands out to me is the backline move that starts at 1:25 in. And that is the reason it frustrates me to no end that we went away from that Cooper-Barnes nexus, or even tried Cooper-O'Connor. Having two ballplayers asks significantly more question of the defence than one. Nonu wasn't half the player he is today before he offered more than just the ability to crash the ball up. He is so threatening because he carries the ball with two hands, and teams have to defend not just Nonu, but the men inside and outside him.

Having two ballplayers in the backline, specifically at 10-12 works especially well because it counters the tactic of the defence rushing up on Cooper when he is expected to create everything.

So yeah. The Wallabies HAVE shown the ability to do it, but for whatever reason (injury, selection issues) didn't play the players who would make that possible often enough.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VbUDgLr_QI&feature=related

 

[fatprop]

The point Minorbird was about structured backline attack. The Wallabies with Beale, JOC (James O'Connor), Ioane and Cooper are perhaps the best counter attack and broken field group in the world. They do not however breakdown a set defence or build something from nothing except against Tier 2 nations and sometimes not even them.

That is why the plan was to have dominant defenders in the centres to create those turnover situation where Beale, JOC (James O'Connor), Ioane and Cooper could exploit.

Unfortunately the refs decided that it again became acceptable to make rucks a shit fight

 

[Langthorne]

Ah yes, reason 4.1 - it was the ref's fault.

 

[fatprop]

Ah yes, reason 4.1 - it was the ref's fault.

a reason yes, not an excuse, to me the ABs would have won the RWC by a much bigger margin if the refs had found some spine and most importantly the rugby would have been better

All of a sudden it was again acceptable to not release the attacker and allow them to play the ball and it was OK to lay all around the wrong side - the things that were making rugby a pleasure to watch again were cancelled for the RWC.

It made for closer but pretty average rugby

 

[WhoDaresWin]

I have been racking my brain trying to think where I have seen this move before and I think it may well have been a Brumbies and NSW Tahs move under Macqueen. Lee Grant or Bruce Ross can you help with that?

That's because this is the 2nd time the ABs have done that move. Amazingly, the try-scorer in both was Woodcock.

The first time that move was made was in a test against Australia in 2008, also on Eden Park, where Woodcock scored his second try in two minutes off a similar lineout move, that time taking the tap down from Ali Williams.