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I am sure many people are surprised to see this article appear under my moniker considering I am a big fan and a staunch supporter of Quade Cooper.
My reasoning is simple: Robbie Deans does not have a clue how to utilise Quade Cooper’s talent effectively.
Cooper is a quality footballer. On attack he is lethal, in defence his weaknesses are being shored-up (I am sure I am not alone in being impressed with his tackling in the 2013 Super Rugby season) and as one half of a combination that has been developing for more than half a dozen years, he is invaluable outside Will Genia.
However to be all that he can be, Cooper needs a couple of things.
Firstly, he needs the trust and confidence of both his coach and his team-mates.
Cooper doesn’t have the first, and he threw away the second last year with his ‘toxic’ outburst. He can work to regain the trust of his team-mates at the Wallabies, and certainly the players from the Reds will have forgiven him, which will in turn help to smooth the way in the national team.
It will take time though, and I don’t believe all will be forgiven before the first Test on June 22.
There is nothing to be done about the relationship between Deans and Cooper however. Before Cooper criticised Deans’ on national television for misusing his attacking skills in a defensive backline with a limited game plan, Deans had fired the first shots (something most people like to conveniently forget).
Deans publicly shot Cooper’s confidence by saying he wasn’t fit for the opening Bledisloe in 2012 then dumping him into the poo at Eden Park (the ground that had been the site of the Rugby World Cup semi-final and his knee injury) the very next week.
Later in the Rugby Championship Deans then publicly criticised Cooper’s performance against Argentina despite the fact he was the only attacking threat on the pitch and dragged the Wallabies over the line in that game.
Cooper’s comments last year could have been, perhaps should have been, the death knell for Robbie Deans as Wallaby coach.
If they had been properly thought through and managed in their release and delivery rather than just being dropped as an outburst on social media, who knows what would have happened.
Instead Cooper made himself too big a part of the story – it is easy to discredit the message when the messenger has made himself a target – and his critics duly obliged by burning him at the stake.
The other thing Cooper needs is structure, a game plan to deliver. I doubt many people would argue when I say that judging from his public speaking and disciplinary record, Quade Cooper is not the sharpest tool in the shed.
But on the field Cooper can deliver a game plan perfectly (McKenzie repeatedly waxes lyrical about this aspect of Cooper’s play); he can tweak it and take opportunities when they arise on the fly, but he needs a base structure to fall back on.
Think of the analysis that Kafer does on Rugby HQ of the Reds’ patterns of play and you will understand what I am talking about. Under Deans this structure isn’t there, the team ‘plays what is in front of them’, and uses midfield crash balls (which don’t move, bend or threaten the defensive line to create space elsewhere).
Here is a quote from a Roar article by KTinHK from 2011:
“When Deans first became the Wallabies coach, several journalists attended his training sessions. One of them reported that the secret to Deans’ coaching is that there is no secret.”
That’s the way the Wallabies have played ever since: no set moves, no obvious game plan and no tactical nous. There is no plan B when things go wrong because there is no plan A to start with.
As Bob Dwyer observed, they rely on “wonder plays from the wonder boys.”
At the Crusaders that worked beautifully because Deans was working with Marshall, Merhtens, Mauger and Carter – four of the sharpest rugby minds you will find anywhere. These are men who could take on the responsibility of running everything on the paddock.
Cooper can’t do that. He doesn’t even do most of the decision making at the Reds, Genia does.
There is a very good piece of analysis on the Wallaby attack patterns (cannot be quantified which is a nice way of saying there isn’t one) and also a statistical examination of the Wallaby attacking potency (which has fallen away since Deans took over the role of attack coach himself) which I would recommend for anyone wanting more information than I can include in this article.
It is no secret that I believe Deans’ communication skills to be abominable, and without a clear gameplan I do not believe Cooper’s skills will be an asset on the rugby field.
Since Cooper won’t get any of the things he needs to perform (the unequivocal trust and support of his coach and team-mates, and a clearly defined game plan with a solid attacking structure to fall back on) he shouldn’t be given the fly half job against the British and Irish Lions.
If he is, he is being set up to fail.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.