Agree with the ruminations about Deans above. Something in his core ways is being exposed as deficient as time goes by, or at least deficient up to now. Let us prey that is all about to change.
Yes, there is stubbornness and eloquence from Deans. His language for the media is always so quietly inspiring, precise and 'thoughtful', impressive really. Then there is the enduring halo ever-present from all those Super wins. With really quite a poor overall win-loss record over 2 full seasons, it's remarkable how our rugby media keep Deans in such a protected and positive light.
But the darker truth is emerging I fear. He is not leading the Wallabies or Australia A into a skill-set or mindset that is good enough to consistently win against the best. The proof-point for this is most seen in the forwards, there is manifestly a coaching deficiency there in terms of breakdown intensity, technical capability and utter commitment to ball control. Yes the scrum has improved, but that was mostly Foley's work at core, and Deans IMO badly misjudged and let him go. But the core intensity and breakdown power of our forwards has not improved anything like enough, and that's overwhelmingly why we lose games against the best. Those who watched the S14 final, well, there was a lesson in where the real state-of-the-art is in forwards play and intrinsic capability.
The local media post the match v Fiji salivated over the 'wonderful depth in our exciting backs'. But the much less comforting reality lay in the poor relative performance of the forwards at scrum and breakdown against a far 'inferior' team whom we should have monstered all night upfront if our team had adequate real depth and capability. Talk of 'no Robinson or Palu' and excuses for rustiness is a soporific cop-out.
Last year's Tris also exposed what one might call the 'weak ego of the Wallabies team', namely rare fine efforts in Brisbane vs the Boks got converted in media-speak about 'belief' and 'new directions', and then trans-tasman all that was cruelly exposed as superficial and without real belief at all. Growden was on to this last year, and he was right. This is what the great coaches fix and generate, a high intensity of desire and self-belief rooted in talent and depth where it needs to be. Mourinho in round ball is a marvellous example of this, and White with the Boks was almost as good. I am also growing worried about the marriage of Kiwi reserve and Australian sport culture. I start to sense that Mitchell and Deans have similar problems with really communicating powerfully with Australian players - time will surely tell, in professional coaching there is nothing truer than 'you can run but you can't hide', over time.
I fear with heavy patriotic heart that the complete 2010 season will not be much up on 2009's mediocre effort unless the whole culture and technical capability of our top forwards is rapidly renovated. I desperately want to be wrong.
Btw, could there have been a more ridiculous selection for Australia A than Cummins? He single-handledly butchered two near-certain tries through schoolboy like pressure errors. Perhaps the likes of Rod Davies is still injured, but seriously, there were at least 3 wingers that deserved a go before the hapless Cummins. Again, these inexplicable oddities from Deans is partly what has started to worry me about him, fundamentally.
