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Those scary, shadowy Lions must be tamed

Roar Guru
1st May, 2013
14

The scary, knife-wielding clown under the bed; the dark shadowy figure in the closet; the elephant in the corner; you know they’re there despite the assurances of your parents, but from earliest childhood we have conditioned ourselves to ignore them.

This year, a year in which Australian rugby stock looks to be heading for a 10-year high, the Wallabies have all three to contend with.

Australian Super sides are topping the table, injuries are virtually nonexistent and returning players are demonstrating that their form has not faded.

Some, after season long layoff, seem to be playing better. Others, pushed to the fore by last year’s injuries are performing to new levels.

What better time is there than now to deal with our demons?

A terrifying horde of Celts, Britons and Saxons and assorted barbarians are headed our way. They are all huge brutes dressed in bright red clown suits, and no doubt once they hit our shores and are exposed to sunlight, they will have bright red sunburned clown noses to match.

They have a scary name, but it is pure conjecture at this point to assume they are knife wielding.

Much like Caesar in the past, we have divided this horde and given each part a sound thrashing in recent times. A full half of this horde has in fact known nothing but constant defeat at our hands. And that with lesser stocks of Wallaby warriors than we have at our disposal today.

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Will their combined efforts be more than the sum of their parts? History says not, so let them come out from under the bed and run themselves ragged on our sunlit iron pitches.

The shadowy closet is a different beast, a real and present threat. It torments us year after year.

We have tried night lights, blankets and closing the door, but it still haunts us.

We play sleepy confusing rugby, our brains addled from sleepless nights and out it comes, dressed all in black to take our things.

It takes our Bledisloe Cup and laughs and dances as it slips back into the shadows to await the next dark night.

Time enough! This year we have the players, we have the skills, the enemy is old and failing. This year we don’t wait meekly, this year we tear the door off the closet and face the All Black monster on its own turf. There can be no excuse for failure.

Just the elephant remains, a huge lumbering beast camped in the corner, eating us out of house and home.

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He answers to Robbie ‘Dingo’ Deans, that is when he answers at all.

Robbie was hailed as a saviour when he came, the answer to a disappointing World Cup, a dearth of Bledisloe success and a Camp Wallaby in disarray and dropping down the rankings.

If we draw the line in the sand now six years on, we have a disappointing World Cup, a lack of Bledisloes, a drop in rankings and a Wallaby Camp in confusion. A sort of status quo.

He has done some good things to be sure, he won a somewhat tainted Tri Nations and blooded some exiting new talent while cleaning house.

We also had a Mandela cup or two. So yes, we now win in Bokland, but can’t take a game in Scotland.

We didn’t hire a caretaker. We were looking for someone who would build Australian rugby up, not just sweep the floors.

Perhaps more importantly, our rugby has been ugly. Ugly, tight, last ditch wins, while when we lose it’s a cricket score with gaping flaws exposed.

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Deans is currently on an unchallenged extension to his contract. We would like to assume that CVs will be called for and a new contract awarded at the end of the year.

Robbie may well throw his hat in the ring; it is very hard to walk away from a job like that.

With the players in such fine form, and seemingly a wealth of depth available in most positions, we can rightly expect some success this year, probably the Lions, possibly the Bledisloe or Rugby Championship.

It would be hubris to expect them all, but we are looking so very, very good.

One outstanding coach has thrown his hat in the ring already, others may be waiting. Assuming Dingo doesn’t walk, is there any amount of success we can achieve that would justify his retention to the next Rugby World Cup and beyond?

With such a pool of talent, a whole herd of top class cattle, how much credit for a win can go to a coach who, in all fairness, has not demonstrated many of the strengths we expect from a top coach in the last five years. A coach who arguably, has not been the guiding hand in the day to day development of this peaking crop of players?

A change is as good as a holiday. Don’t change for changes sake. Only a fool changes horses mid stream. All no doubt wise words.

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I say regardless of results, win or lose, it’s time. Time for change we can believe in.

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