But due to injury this is not the number one team. It may turn out to be but we have had a bad run and too many personnel changes

Nevertheless Deans is building a sizeable playing squad and I think his expectations are close to being met. The Crusaders had great players but their greatness has come from teamwork and backing up in numbers (read fitness as well, but aerobic not power)

This only comes when everyone is playing from the same manual, and since Deans preaches ‘play what’s in front of you’ the individual must see WHAT THE TEAM CAN DO with what he sees, not just what HE can do.

Haven’t got there with Gits but Cooper can pass a long way and his vision is broad too. He’s been watching Barnes and his improvement has been substantial

Deans will use adversity as a teacher, I believe, and many players can now thank him for showing confidence in them despite failure. (Maybe Gits will be won over the same way !)

We have a dour Captain who is growing into the role, The lineout threatens to be acceptable, the scrum dominant, and speed to the loose ball good. We’re turning over more opposition ball and we don’t give up

If Giteau gives us parity with the boot, I believe we will beat Wales in the usual way. We will control the game but have to deal with an unfavourable penalty count.

This is not all that unusual for the Wallabies. Even our great teams rarely show that ruthlessness in dominating a clearly inferior team by piling on points like the AllBlacks.

How could Johnson compete for that given he isn’t a coach.

Best 6N finish since 2003 and the most 6N tries scored since 2003. Watch this space…

They must both be competing for the lame duck coach of the year award.

8 losses out of 10 – absolutely dreadful performance by Deans.

In some ways I wished that England had actually pulled off a coup and taken the last WC… thereby making a mockery of it. So many coaches bleating about building, experimenting, games not worth anything mentality when focusing on the WC (2.5 time a decade) to the detriment of annual rugby in its totality, if you ask me.

I would like to see a Northern vs Southern Hemisphere cup as recently proposed every 2 years.

My apologies …i confused 2007 with 2003…duh!

My point is that 2 years is a very long time in sport. Deans is injecting youth into the team now, not 6 months out from the next world cup. Only time will tell how much they progress but the form of the wallabies now should not be seen as a firm indication of how they will fare in 2011.

Changing coaches isn’t going turn Matt’s clock back three years, changing coaches isn’t going to give us locks, props and flankers that are on par with the rest of the world.

Maybe we need to just realise that we aren’t that good?

John Eales isn’t waking through that door…

Methinks you harbour much ill-will towards Deans. And while you vent your spleen on the national coach, you ignore the many other problems bedeviling the game.

With respect to the provinces, I agree entirely majority control must rest with the state bodies. While I acknowledge the positive role of business equity in providing more funds for the code, the state bodies are there for the long haul, not for novelty’s sake.

Also the Wallabies were poor in 1997 and then won the World Cup in 1999. Two years is a very long time in sport.

Deans has injected youth into the Wallabies and in 2009 they are poor. What’s stopping them being a far more experienced and greater team in 2011?

Very well said and I cannot endorse your view enough. Lets get into the real issues and stop this superficial rubbish. Our sport is dying at it’s roots in many areas as Sheek says and all we can talk about is sacking a good coach.

Out West where I am the numbers of players is reducing year on year, there are some well run exceptions but most clubs are struggling, combining or closing their doors. This is regardless of the fact that more schoolboys are playing the game than ever before it is just that not enough are taking it up after school.

Skills are non existent in new players and we have to start from scratch. Let’s wake up and realise the Mum’s have scared there little darlings into not playing the game. Whereas the girls are taking the game up in numbers – go figger!

To me, the underlying problems are too many made up teams diluting rugby heartlands, and no ARC. The made up teams just poach from the established sides, especially by aiming at schoolboys (ie Pocock and O’Connor). This then leads everyone into a mad scramble to bring on young talent when it is probably better served by a few years of club or ARC rugby (if we had an ARC). As a result, club players get overlooked in the contract rush, and go offshore.

If we must have 4 (or now 5!) teams, they should be under the control of the State Unions: NSW II and Qld White (its what the Schoolboy comp does). When other areas produce players, fine. Until then they are mere parasites doing no good to Australian rugby.

Then of course there are the problems with the game itself at present: not allowing proper rucking is one, and another change that should be made is to re-allow dummy passing from the base of the scrum, ruck or maul. Combine with offside penalties and you would see more space open up again for backlines.

You kid….. right? On all 3 counts.

One of John O’Neill’s favourite mantras is, “you have to work in the world as it is, not how you would like it. ” As much as this comment can aggravate me at times, it is largely true.

We can all aspire to higher things, but in our day to day lives we have to deal with the world as it is. O’Neill, despite his prickly, confrontational nature, is still an outstanding administrator. Although his effectiveness appears to be dimming. You can only get so many people off-side before the tide begins to turn against you.

Whatever Dean’s faults, he remains the best option as Wallabies coach. In any case, the problems of Australian rugby run deeper than the man who is national coach.

Connolly is yesterday’s man. Whatever wrongs may have been done to him in the past, his day has come & gone. Ditto Alan Jones. McKenzie might still be in the frame, although I doubt it.

I just think there are far more important issues Australian rugby lovers ought to be focusing on, rather than Deans – Our poor player participation levels; poor recruitment numbers; poor identification & nurturing of talent; poor relations between state bodies & their grassroots; poor coaching at all levels from juniors to seniors; subsequent poor basic skills; inadequate structures & incentive pathways, a game that general fans struggle to identify with, etc, etc, etc…..

Bring back Knuckles as dual Queensland and Australian coach. McKenzie can run the forwards. The backs can look after themself.