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Deans wants Super 14 coaches as selectors
ALL four Australian Super 14 coaches will be asked to become Wallabies squad selectors as part of new national coach Robbie Deans's plan to choose the best Test team possible.
The policy of inclusion aims to provide the often-divided Australian provinces with a fair and influential say in the make-up of Wallabies train-on squads before they are cut to Test teams.
It will also ensure Deans has a selection process in place - and a means for an open channel of communication with his selectors - while fulfilling his final commitments as a New Zealand Rugby Union employee in charge of the Canterbury Crusaders.
Deans is duty-bound by his Kiwi agreement not to work with the Wallabies in NZRU time. But he is aware that, with three weeks between the Super 14 final at the end of May and Australia's first domestic Test against Ireland, there is little time to assemble and prepare a side, especially if no selection process is implemented during the Super 14.
Certainly, any Wallabies selection meetings initiated by Deans during the Super 14 would not go down well with the NZRU. But if his plan to appoint the Australian Super 14 coaches as squad selectors is approved by the Australian Rugby Union, which signed him before Christmas, nothing can stop them approaching him for meetings during the Super 14.
The process is due to start next week when the Crusaders travel to Melbourne to play the Force for the first of their two Super 14 trials in Australia. The following week, the Crusaders will head to Sydney to play the Waratahs for the Rotomahana Cup.
Deans unveiled his plan to circumnavigate the selection hurdle when asked how he intended to analyse the performances of Australian players and expand his relationships with Ewen McKenzie [Waratahs], Laurie Fisher [Brumbies], John Mitchell [Western Force] and Phil Mooney [Queensland] in a bid to gain their input for selections.
"I observe as I do through Super rugby, and I have connections. But the most obvious are the Super rugby coaches," Deans told the Herald. "The key is to involve them in selection genuinely, and in the preparation [of the squad] as we go around in those [provincial] areas.
"I am going out early here, but through the interview process I already tabled [the plan]."
Deans is confident the ARU will support his plan, which, he reiterated, was for the selection of the extended Wallabies squads only - not the reduced line-ups for Tests or tours.
"They [will be] the selection panel. I have had no resistance [from the ARU] so far," Deans said. "It's exciting. No one person owns all the ideas, nor all the understanding."
Deans acknowledged the hurdles he would face to gain statistical data and other information on Australian players without breaching his NZRU deal. "One challenge from my perspective, in terms of Australia, will be getting access to, and addressing, some of the habits, skill and conditioning that will be part of discussions we have. In terms of statistics, I am coming in cold. That is going to be novel. But I have a [four-year] term and perhaps that might be a good thing. It will give me time to observe things."
Deans stressed his wish to nurture a strong relationship with the Super 14 coaches and provinces was not for his gain only but also to help them where possible. He said he wouldn't intervene in their programs and preparations, especially by trying to pressure them into making selections, as has happened in the past.
"It just doesn't work. It's not for me to to stick my nose in and say you need this. To build relationships is two-way. I don't see myself as coming in to create change. If I can offer input, I will. If they see me as having something to offer, then well and good."
Musical chairs, and Robbie will stop the music
January 23, 2008
AUSTRALIA coach Robbie Deans has privately settled on the names of his assistant coaches, and confirmed that not all the incumbents will keep their jobs.
But the line-up of the backroom staff, he reiterated, is almost certain to be made up of Australians. "As I have said, one Kiwi will be adequate," Deans insisted.
Asked if he had the names of his assistants in his mind, Deans said: "Yeah but there is nothing concluded. And obviously there are incumbents, so there are processes that have to be followed. But Pat Howard [ARU high-performance director] is driving that."
Deans said it was "great" that Wallabies forwards coach Michael Foley had publicly declared a wish to keep the job he took up in 2006 for last year's World Cup campaign.
"It's clear he is keen to continue. But who knows? They may all be keen to," Deans said, referring to Wallabies assistants Scott Johnson [backs] and John Muggleton [defence]. But the reality of the circumstances is that that opportunity won't be there for all [of them]. I envisage the [ARU] will be keen to announce it in one hit. I am also going to pick up some roles."
Rupert Guinness in Christchurch | January 23, 2008
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)at the Meet-the-players day and asked him whether he would consider or has considered deputising/assisting Deans in an official capacity considering their past history. He suggested that a formal assistant role was not a consideration however he saw himself as possibly being Deans' sympathetic ear and/or pillar of support within the S14 coaches group and the wider, sometimes hostile, Australian rugby community should the need arise.
Originally Posted by Burgs
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"Remember lads, rugby is a team game; all 14 of you make sure you pass the ball to Giteau." 
