A flashing knife in the winter sun

I've heard this statement every year. So and so should be in the team then we will be a winning team. What happens two tests later everyone is crying for him to be dropped. I will keep thinking that the wallabies are a second rate team until it's proved otherwise on the field, not on the roar or in the papers. I remember when deans first came to coach the wallabies how everyone was saying he is the saviour of australian rugby. He won the first test against the all blacks and all was bright on the horizon, then some mouthy wallaby goes tell the all blacks it will be a four nil season to the wallabies. Seven years later nothing changed. I can see that in two years time mckenzie will be getting the same comments as deans was getting. I haven't seen anything in the australian super 15 teams that will change anything anytime soon.

If we have no depth why do our super rugby sides do so consistanly well? Our super rugby sides show the great depth we have.

Ok 100k AND free meals on training days then! Where do I sign?!

So following your logic, if the coach is never to blame for a loss, he should get no credit for a win? What is his function then? How do you judge success? The players are not on the field because they are the best the country has to offer, they are on the field because they were selected by the coach. Going along with your analogy, Deans had plenty of spitfires to choose from, he chose some, but then put the the wing commander in a Bristol Scout, and half the backline in Sopwith Camels. Mincemeat for the ME 109's. Robbie must have been watching SXV and training sessions through your backwards tinted binoculars. You too.

Agree with DB 100%. This opinion piece is based on some very questionable premises. To say we don't have the necessary talent is disingenuous when the best talent are not being selected. Rather, the coaches favourites get the gig when many of them were out of form (Palu, Alexander, Robinson), had limited playing preparation (Barnes, Smith, JOC, Beale) or were having too many off field issues (Beale, JOC). Coaches can and do win games. But they need to be good selectors first. Something that Deans definitely is not.

If Australia has such a lack of dept in rugby players like you say, how did the Wallabies win two World Cups? If coaches are not accountable at all for the results of the matches a national side play then why bother to appoint Deans in 2007? You could have continued with John Conolly and those that came before him. Or just appoint the cheapest there is since there is no accountability!

If coaches bear no responsibility who is responsible for the non-selection and non-development of a decent tight-head prop in the last 6 years?

100k Nick? No, I wouldn't be happy mate :)

I can't help but wonder if French versions of the Roar are similar. After all, they usually have a coach the players either can't stand or refuse to listen to and they have a team that wins brilliantly one week & gets crushed the next.

Yep, the night of the long-knives is about to be reprised with Deans at the heart of the matter. Thanks to JON he'll have a decent cheque to take with him...

I am with Reg on this one!! We dont lack talent at all. We have some great players in Super Rugby who simply were overlooked. MMM, Kimlin, Godwin, Sio, Mogg (Until its too bloody late), Toomua, Betham, Pyle and that is not factoring in potentially our most dangerous player who was never going to get a look in - Quade. I also disagree with you when you argue that its not coaches that win games, its players - that is completely untrue and should be reason enough for you to not write any further articles on this site. I draw your attention to an underperforming, often rubbish Waratahs team stacked full of potential that could not win anything until a GOOD coach comes in and changes things. Ewen did the same, as did White. Once again your point is a falacy!! Furthermore the reason we lost has everything to do with the coach. Thier is no gameplan, selections are a joke at best. We cannot win a club game without a 10 let alone a lions series. We need a real tighthead and time must be invested heavily into young Ruan Smith, James Slipper and Paddy Ryan. Sio needs a look in at Looshead. MMM must be worth a look and young Ernest Skleton MUST be brough into the fold as he could be anything.

If coaches bear no responsibility, why pay them a million dollars a year?

Hmmm, a bit too simplistic IMO. Sure, Robbie Deans isn't 100% responsible for the debacle and the woes of Oz rugby but to say "I have never believed that the rugby coach (or manager in British soccer football) is ever to blame for the loss of games." is also wrong. Bosses, coaches, managers have to share responsibilities of some sort. It's RD who chose to play JOC at ten, to bring Smith back, to make Horwill captain, Alexander, KB etc (not saying those were bad choices, they were HIS choices.). So yes, he has some responsibility. Otherwise, Pulver would call you or me to do the job and pay us 100K and everyone would be happy. You need some skills to be an international coach. I believe in accountability and RD's goal was to win the Lions series. He failed. His boss has to review what was done and decide what's best for the future. Kings and Queens might keep their position for life in some countries, rugby coaches don't and I think it's better this way.

players also need to take responsibility. deans wasnt on the field missing tackles

So the knives will no doubt flash in the winter sun as the scapegoaters look through reversed binocular tinted glasses at Robbie Deans and blame him for all the woes and losses of the Wallabies especially now that Australia has lost the British and Irish Lions series. One of the most amusing intros I've read in a while...mixed metaphor sandwich! > the knives aren't flashing in the winter sun, we're past the solstice > scapegoats aren't slaughtered, they're outcast > tinted glasses reversed binocular...you mean microscope? and why would a microscope be tinted? Anyway. We get it. Depth appears to be a problem. However - Deans has had 6 years to influence the feeder systems in Australian rugby to get the right kind of players into his first XV. Culture appears to be a problem. So how did Link get the best out of his blokes up in Queensland then? Skills and drillls appear to be a problem. Yet Australia has never lead the way in conditioning or skills; it's being cleverer, better organised and better informed than anyone else - part and parcel of coaching. The ABs worked that one out in between world cups - rotate the coaches, let the players have their share of control and structure.

A poor workman blames his tools. There's plenty of depth in Australian rugby. Just look at the super XV this year. The talent just hasn't been property utilised. Germany lost the Battle of Britain because they stopped bombing airfields and started bombing cities, thus allowing the RAF to regain air superiority. Deans keeps losing significant encounters because of playing people out of position in a belief that they're needed on the pitch somewhere. It is also evident that there is a sense of entitlement in certain squad members, which doesn't lend itself to a winning team culture. Whilst the wallabies can and frequently do come from behind to win, there is very little evidence of tactical dominance. We don't outthink teams any more. We outrun them. We need to do both. So many poor decisions and so much poor execution over the last six years has cost us too much. Finally, it was Deans' decision to use a Lions test series to introduce O'Connor to the ten jersey. It failed three times. A decent coach would have known when to adapt.

I'm not entirely sure what this is saying - that Goering would have won if he had a decent THP? Look, the ultimate challenge for a coach is getting a team to win when he doesn't have 15 superstars. Between mangled metaphors (is 'reverse binocular' a tinge?) and a 'challis', I lost focus on this. Deans is probably a good coach, but his time was probably up in 2011, if not before.

sorry dont agree that we lack talent. We have a talented group of players how can take it to any team in the world. The issue with deans is he does not get the best out of our players consistantly. Also he does not select the best players in every position ei. JOC at 10, Alexander at prop?