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My gut feeling is Robbie Deans will walk after the Rugby Championship, and that new coach Ewen McKenzie will take the Wallabies on the Spring Tour at the end of the year.
The key will be the All Blacks, against whom Deans has made really heavy going of it since he took over in 2008.
In 18 clashes, the Wallabies under Deans have lost 14 times and it has become a noose around Deans’ neck.
Three wins and a draw doesn’t cut the mustard.
And it will be the same this year, the men in black simply have the mocker sign on the former All Black.
As for McKenzie, there’s no finer selection to be Wallaby coach. It’s time.
McKenzie has somehow found a way to compete on level terms with the All Blacks, and New Zealand provincial sides.
As a Wallaby he had a 50-50 win-loss record against the All Blacks. Precious few men in gold can boast that record.
As Rod Macqueen’s assistant coach in 2000 it was 1-1 against the All Blacks, In 2001 as assistant to Eddie Jones it was 2-0 against the All Blacks, in 2002 it was 1-1, and 1-2 in 2003.
In total five wins, and four losses.
Again impressive.
But it gets better. In his two stints as Waratahs and Reds coach, McKenzie has so far won 14 Super games over New Zealand sides, and lost just four.
He has found a way, and not likely to divulge his secret.
The standout feature, his flexibility. He has a different game plan each week.
Right now he has a different game plan for the Brumbies on Saturday night at Suncorp to the one he had to beat the Chiefs away last week.
The Brumbies clash is being touted as the Wallaby job battle between McKenzie, and Jake White.
Not so. Both coaches want the win to stay on top of the tournament table, let alone the Australian Conference.
This promises to be the domestic game of the year, if not the tournament’s best.
The Brumbies won their first round encounter this season 24-6 in Canberra, scoring two tries to nil.
But the Reds didn’t have Will Genia, nor James Horwill, both injured, And the Brumbies didn’t have George Smith.
Add that trio to the mix and one helluva game is on the cards.
A word on Jake White. He’s a quality coach. no doubt about that having won the 2007 Rugby World Cup with the Boks, and turned the Brumbies around in a season and a bit from a basket case to a contender.
He’s contracted to the Brumbies until the end of 2015, and he’ll honour that.
But he was never going to be the next Wallaby coach. His timing is bad.
There’s a backlash in Australia against foreign coaches, that Robbie Deans is suffering from and has for sometime.
So too South African Mickey Arthur with the cricket, and Germany’s Holger Osieck with the Socceroos.
That’s why Ewen McKenzie is such a comfortable fit.