Robbie Deans

[Joe Blow]

well thats the dogs held at bay for one more week.

I don't think they should be, win or lose this series.
The change needs to be made and it may as well be for TRC to give Qld a chance to line someone up for next year.
The problems still remain despite the win and that the Wallabies will improve with the return of Cooper. Beale, and eventually JOC (James O'Connor) and Horwill(and a couple of others) does not change the fact that Deans has not delivered.
Time to move on.

 

[Scotty]

Mate if they were the 7 best players in their positions the waratahs wouldn't be in 11th and they wouldn't have lost 5 in a row.

Sully I support your position, but realistically it is mainly because the tahs have less injuries. AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) and Barnes are only there due to injuries to others. TPN and possibly Kepu and even Robinson due to the scheduling. Horne most certainly did not deserve to be there.

Like I said in another thread, the tahs players have been favored by the scheduling. Now they have the leg up after a good performance in the first wales game to get picked in the 'full strength' team for the second game.

I'd be dropping tpn for Moore, Palu for Dennis and Horne for Fa'ainga though.

 

[cyclopath]

I did wonder as I typed that. I thought he was still in the 22.

Though that raises a question as well. Robinson is usually an 80 minute player and Kepu a 60. I can't remember, did he shift Kepu to the LH side and bring Alexander onto the TH? That is something Robbie would likely do.

No. Alexander played LHP.
0 for 2 in the last 2 posts, Charger!

 

[ChargerWA]

No. Alexander played LHP.
0 for 2 in the last 2 posts, Charger!

Robbie Deans playing props in their regular positions? Has the world gone crazy? Next he will be playing the backs in their regular positions!

 

[Garry Owen]

I can now understand Deans' dilemma immediately after the Scotland test. He never, never thought, even in his wildest imaginings, that his team would lose.
Two thoughts would have occurred to him there & then as a result:
a) the Wallabies will be much more vulnerable to being defeated by the Welsh
b) and as a result of the loss to Scotland & (a), he in turn is suddenly very vulnerable to being suddenly shown the door (a la Eddy Jones).
This to me explains why he looked like a stunned mullet at the coach's interview last Tuesday night.
Admittedly the ARU board needs to share some of the blame for the scheduling resulting in lack of training preparation & player rest.
I notice there doesn't seem to be any support publicly from JON (read ARU board) for the coach's predicament.

He has the same dopey mistified look every loss, but why not expect the potential for a loss? The Scotts beat us last time? All that was missing this time was the piper on the roof.

Interestingly for me, there was stats around this week comparing Dingo's por for & against (WB) record being close to Eddie Jone's tally. And then I opened the paper to see Eddies smiling face atop an article passing comment on Dean's performance. The gall!

Is Fast Eddie back in the country as Jake White's lap dog, or are the sharks circling for a second tilt as WB head coach.

 

[gel]

Don't kid yourself it was a master class in coaching. there were once again serious frailties in Deans selections and tactics for this game.

My retraction was in reference to the team that was selected - not the case of RD being an uber coach. The team he selected was obviously adequate, as it got the result which was one of my criticisms.

However, he did not use all assets at his disposal, did not recognise when to use the bench almost leading to a loss, had no input into any attacking moves (that I could discern) thereby relying on the skills of the players on the park to come up with the play (is this the "play what is front of you" approach?), and I don't believe Wales were up to it on Saturday night.

It is not like we slaughtered them like the All Blacks did to Wales.

I am not kidding myself.

 

[emuarse]

I was having coffee earlier with an old Kiwi ex juniors All Black (wer'nt they all?), who has lived in Australia now for 45 plus years, and we were talking about Deans as the Wallaby coach. What he said had me interested.He hailed originally from Canterbury land, and he said that the way the Crusaders play their rugby over time never significently changes. When you are on a winning thing, stick with it. He said when Deans was the coach, they kept doing what they do well - winning. As they did both before & after his term there.
He said Deans was not a particularly good coach, but that the ARU employed him with the belief that he would perform great things for the wallabies.
I think that JON thought it was the best thing that he ever did in luring RD across the ditch. And that he still thinks its the best thing he ever did, hence the early renewal of Dean's contract to prevent the AB board grabbing him back. If only.

 

[Da Munch]

Deans Interviewed on the ABC;
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-15/australia-prepares-for-clash-with-wales/4072280

 

[Bruce Ross]

Deans Interviewed on the ABC;
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-15/australia-prepares-for-clash-with-wales/4072280

What a disappointment that was. Our man's been got at. An interview lasting 8 minutes 4 seconds and not a single instance of Robbiespeak. Piss off, ARU media minders. He mightn't be that flash as a coach but his pressers have always been compulsory viewing. As a verbal contortionist he has been the nonpareil, especially with the passing of Dave Brockhoff and the de-listing of Peter de Villiers.

Australian rugby fans want to be entertained, and if it can't be on the field we'll make do with a Kiwi stand-up, but only if he's free to use his own material.
.

 

[RedsHappy]

What a disappointment that was. Our man's been got at. An interview lasting 8 minutes 4 seconds and not a single instance of Robbiespeak. Piss off, ARU media minders. He mightn't be that flash as a coach but his pressers have always been compulsory viewing. As a verbal contortionist he has been the nonpareil, especially with the passing of Dave Brockhoff and the de-listing of Peter de Villiers.

Australian rugby fans want to be entertained, and if it can't be on the field we'll make do with a Kiwi stand-up, but only if he's free to use his own material.
.

BR - you missed one, very unlike you. See my last post re Saturday's Test.

 

[Bruce Ross]

You've really caught me out, RH. There was indeed a gem amongst the dross:

Deans on the ABC today said: 'it's good to have the new coaches on board and they're adding things, bringing language of their own' (the last 5 words a classic Robbieism).

Well spotted. It can be hard to stay focussed listening to that undertaker's delivery. Imagine him in a black suit and doesn't he look the part?
.

 

[Iluvmyfooty]

I see coaching provincal different from national duties. Coaching at the super rugby is a resume for the chance of coaching nationally, if thats what you want, or for a priemership. Nationally is a cultural thing and Deans isn't Aussie. How many more years, and excuses, is it going to take before we get a coach that can pull it together with the right players, with pride, with passion and the right attitude. We have the players and they certainly have the skills and ability.
Deans has come out and more or less said we don't have Rugby in our DNA!

So you need a coach to instill pride in passion in you when playing for your country. if this is so then professionalism is shit and those players should not be asked to play for the Country again

 

[Braveheart81]

I agree.

Different sport, but I remember hearing an interview with Wayne Bennett a few years ago just before he left the Brisbane Broncos. He was asked if him leaving would provide extra motivation for his players to win for him.

He absolutely rubbished that suggestion saying that in the world of professional sport, if you can't motivate yourself to put in every effort possible and strive to win then you wouldn't be playing professional sport.

These guys spend their lives training and playing to get selected to represent their country. They put their body on the line every game. To suggest that they need an Australian coach to provide them with pride and passion is a slight on everyone involved.

 

[twenty seven]

So you need a coach to instill pride in passion in you when playing for your country. if this is so then professionalism is shit and those players should not be asked to play for the Country again

I don't see anywhere where I said he had to instill passion. Read what you wrote. You having a bad day!!!

 

[Bardon]

Deans tenure since the WC, and well before for some Aus fans, reached the point where whatever he did in the future was never going to be good enough to win them over. If Aus fail to win the rugby championship I would expect Deans to go and even if they manage to retain it there will be many calls for him to go.

If he's still there after the RC then I wouldn't expect a change in the Aus head coach until sometime after the Lions tour.

 

[Da Munch]

What a disappointment that was. Our man's been got at. An interview lasting 8 minutes 4 seconds and not a single instance of Robbiespeak. Piss off, ARU media minders. He mightn't be that flash as a coach but his pressers have always been compulsory viewing. As a verbal contortionist he has been the nonpareil, especially with the passing of Dave Brockhoff and the de-listing of Peter de Villiers.

Australian rugby fans want to be entertained, and if it can't be on the field we'll make do with a Kiwi stand-up, but only if he's free to use his own material.
.

I was at work when I first listened to it and heard the words litmus, language and aspirants used and thought there has to be something there for you to work with. I suppose it must of been hard for him given, he was working with some of the up and coming best;
"ABC News Breakfast – which is rapidly becoming our modern day Illawarra Mercury" - Jonathan Holmes
from: http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s3517892.htm

p.s I hope the use of the semi colon is correct, if it isn't I don't care you damn pedants!

 

[Gnostic]

Deans tenure since the WC, and well before for some Aus fans, reached the point where whatever he did in the future was never going to be good enough to win them over. If Aus fail to win the rugby championship I would expect Deans to go and even if they manage to retain it there will be many calls for him to go.

If he's still there after the RC then I wouldn't expect a change in the Aus head coach until sometime after the Lions tour.

I posted a Link to an Article by John Connolly last week. The same article that got JON to break his silence and bag Knuckles for his comments. In that article Connolly makes a hell of a lot of sense but basically says that for the Lions tour next year if Deans is to be replaced it MUST happen prior to the 4N.

IMHO Dean will not be replaced regardless of results, until after the Lions and both he and JON are gone and the restrains which surround this current board are loosed. I wonder if we will see then the "review" of the RWC debacle?

 

[FANATIC]

He said when Deans was the coach, they kept doing what they do well - winning. As they did both before & after his term there.
He said Deans was not a particularly good coach

I have had similar conversations with Kiwi rugby know-alls (is there anyone in NZ not related in some way to a former AB?).
It does seem to be based in truth that Dean inherited a great Crusaders team and had the good glory of being their coach. He had the cattle to start with.
This is what makes the constant rhetoric about 're-building' a total Dean's Experiment as he has actually never built anything. It is Dean's who has been the 'experiment' here.

ANYHOW

For the next two weeks I am 100% behind our team and our coach, as to do otherwise in the middle of a test just gets too agonizing.

 

[redstragic]

Damn it Deans, just when I was only looking at you as a characterture you had to go and be humble, eloquent and passionate about our team and the players.

I'll be noting your Robbieisms in future with affection. They make no sense but they are our Robbieisms and I'll defend them.

 

[mark_s]

Fanatic, yes Deans inherited a championship winning team at Canterbury, but he also kept them at the top while turning over 14 of the starting players (only Leon McDonald was still there at the end). He averaged winning the super rugby comp once every two years during this time (actually a little more, he won 5 comps in 9 seasons). Plus his team came runner up twice, so his team was in the top 2 for 7 of the 9 years. Yes he has had big talent during this time, but talent can be crueled by poor coaching (there is pages and pages discussion on here about this). He also helped turn BBBThorn from a NRL player to a world class rugby player during this time. Then don't forget the changes in interpretations over this time that he manged to stay ahead of.

Deans can coach rugby. Whether he can coach a national team is another question? My answer is no even though some of our results under Deans have been good (we are ranked second after all). I don't know why it isn't working, but I'm not sure it matters.

I don't agree with Knuckles though. We can change coach after this years RC. We are not in a mess like we have been at other times (e.g. 1997).