I wonder if anyone will ever thank Deans for having the balls to make QC (Quade Cooper) realise what he would be missing, a harsh lesson and hopefully it has gotten through.
Like QC (Quade Cooper) and JO'N, Dingo has been a very polarising figure in Wobs rugby, with most people rather entrenched in their views about him. The Dingo Fanboys club, which doesn't seem to have too many members on either side of the Tasman, will believe nothing bad about him, while the Dingo Haters will not believe that he did anything good for Australian Rugby.
The truth is somewhere in the middle. We probably need to start a Dingo Deans Positivity Thread to recall some of the positive contributions he made to Aus Rugby, to counter some of the drongo things he did in his time:
Drongo Deans:
Forgetting to empty his bench,
Not picking cover for Bam Bam at RWC 11,
Not picking a specialist #10 for BI Lions,
Not dealing with Prima Donnas (the Muppeteers)
Press Statement gobbledegook
Too loyal to certain players (many of whom happened to be on massive ARU salary top ups - financial pressures?)
Seemed to play favourites
Decent Deans:
Getting Wobs playing Club Footy
Getting rid of Nucifora
Turning up to Schoolboys Tournaments and Shute Shield/Brissie Premier footy games
Not panicing during Team Rehab crisis of 2012
Not continuing with the Coffs Harbour sheltered workshop for Team Wobs
Not afraid to "tell it like it is" with his "non-favoured" players
Fostered some young up and coming talent
No potential historical interstate conflict of interest
While he went a little Colonel Kurtz (Apocolypse Now)/Kurtz (Hearts of Darkness) towards the end, I really think history will look far more kindly on Dingo's reign after the healing process is over. In the early days of Dingo, who else should/could have done better.