Latham says Deans is a must for Wallabies

[chook]

Latham says Deans is a must for Wallabies

John Matheson | December 9, 2007

Wallabies star Chris Latham has sent out a plea to rugby supremo John O'Neill - sign up Robbie Deans immediately.

Latham is so determined that Deans be the next coach that he was unconcerned about upsetting the five Australian contenders for the job.

"Every Wallaby wants the best man for the job and that man is Robbie Deans," Latham told The Sun-Herald last night.

"You only have to look at his record and the style of play of the teams that he has coached and is coaching.

"They play an attractive brand of rugby, an attacking style of rugby, where he used pretty much all 15 players on the field.

"He obviously has a very high emphasis on skill level - that's evident. I think he would be very suited to getting us to achieve the standards we've been striving to achieve.

"He would help us move forward. Like any of the applicants, he would be trying to improve us - but with Robbie, you certainly know he brings a tremendous track record with him and he'd probably have the best chance of any of being successful with the Wallabies."

Latham said Deans wouldn't suffer any backlash from any Wallabies because he was a New Zealander.

"It's not an issue," he said. "Rugby is a professional sport and we're at the elite end of that.

"And when you are at that elite end, you need a coach with the greatest credentials and with the best ability to bring out the best in the team.

"If that's Robbie Deans and he happens to be a New Zealander, it doesn't matter. He would be inducted into the Wallabies fold pretty quickly.

"I am sure Robbie would do everything he could to ensure that we reached our full potential, even if it meant beating the All Blacks."

Deans will officially enter the Wallabies coaching race this week. If successful, he will be paid more than $1 million a year including bonuses.

Speaking exclusively to The Sun-Herald yesterday, Deans - who 24 hours earlier had been cast aside by New Zealand Rugby Union bosses who reinstated Graham Henry to the All Blacks post on Friday - said "there's no doubt" he is seriously considering offering his services to the Aussies.

"They are aware I am ready and keen to coach at international level again," Deans said. "They've always known that once the All Blacks decision was resolved, [the Wallabies] could interest me."

He said he had discussed some aspects of the job at a meeting with O'Neill before he missed out on the All Blacks job.

"It was informal coffee," Deans said. "It went no further than that in terms of dialogue. I have huge respect for the way they [the ARU] have gone about things because while they were keen for me to go through that process [applying for the All Blacks coaching role], they've kept their respectful distance.

"At the time, I recognised that I was taking a risk in taking that stance - the Australian job could have been taken up in the meantime.

"Whether it's still available or not will become evident in the next wee while. I suspect this week will drag on a bit."

Deans was the people's choice to win the All Blacks post after Henry led the All Blacks to their worst ever World Cup performance - a quarter-final exit. But his road to the getting the top job was always going to be difficult.

Deans's relationship with Steve Tew, the NZRU's deputy CEO who takes on the top job next month, has been described as "challenging".

"You enter these processes in good faith and you hope that you have a good chance, and present yourself in a way that launches a bit of belief on the other side of the table," Deans said. "What I was seeking from the process was to find out what they [the NZRU] wanted. If they wanted me, that would have been great - but I found out they didn't. So I learned what I went into it to learn, and now it's time to move on."

Deans, who played 24 games for the All Blacks from 1983 to '85, said he would have no problem coaching against New Zealand.

"I am constantly coaching against players that I have coached and coaching against coaches that I have worked with," he said. "I've been in SANZAR for 11 years so I know as many people in Africa and Australia as I do in NZ. So it's not an issue."

Source: The Sun-Herald

[Burgs]

Dean's is coming to the Walla-bies, Dean's is coming to the Walla-bies, Dean's is coming to the Walla-bies

Actually had a very disturbing dream last night that someone told me Alan Jones had got the gig
Dunno what is worse, Alan Jones getting the gig or Alan Jones featuring in a dream of mine

[frontrow]

Seek help, NOW...

[shasta]

It would be interesting to hear the views of the rest of the Wallabies. I'm still in the "should be an Aussie" camp for the time being. I'll be "uneasy" with the appointment of a New Zealander, which is probably gonna happen by the end of the week.

Nothing personal against Deans but an All Black coaching the Wallabies? Not yet. I think the rivalry is just too strong between us and the Kiwis.

Anyhow, David Nucifora has a record second only to Deans. I'd like to see him get a shot. If that does not work out then Mitch might be ready to lead them to RWC 2011. If it's gonna happen, he should be our first international coach.

Anyhow, they reckon you should always take a positive away so I think I'll do a course in grief counseling, move to NZ in 2011 and make my fortune.

[Burgs]

Nucifora's record is a pretty distant second to Deans' though wouldn't you agree shasta?

[slomo]

sign deans up on a four year deal straight away....

[GIGS20]

Big call from Latho, and he's not the biggest user of the press to get his own way. This is significant!


Yay!

BTW, Shasta, I think I can see where you're coming from with the Aus - NZ thing, but the first Bled Cup match should sort that out. Personally I think that'll be the grudge match of the century really. Deans (with help from Mitchell) up against the team that's rejected him twice, you don't think he's going to try winning it? I think he'd be crazy to phone that match in. I believe this will be a personal grudge match for the entire coaching staff, and the same old same old for the players. CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!!

Once that test is complete, the players will have seen the emotion and passion with which he has approached that game (OK it might not be national pride but who cares) and realise that they've got nothing to worry about.

[joblot]

It would be interesting to hear the views of the rest of the Wallabies. I'm still in the "should be an Aussie" camp for the time being. I'll be "uneasy" with the appointment of a New Zealander, which is probably gonna happen by the end of the week.

Nothing personal against Deans but an All Black coaching the Wallabies? Not yet. I think the rivalry is just too strong between us and the Kiwis.

Anyhow, David Nucifora has a record second only to Deans. I'd like to see him get a shot. If that does not work out then Mitch might be ready to lead them to RWC 2011. If it's gonna happen, he should be our first international coach.

Anyhow, they reckon you should always take a positive away so I think I'll do a course in grief counseling, move to NZ in 2011 and make my fortune.

I hope you are not uneasy about our Kiwi coach, John Mitchell. You could not possibly have picked a better man for the job. I sincerely hope Robbie Deans gets the nod, we need a former back as a coach, front rowers have had their day in the sun. An even better outcome for Australian rugby would be a Deans/Mitchell combo. I will continue to dream and hope.

[shasta]

Nucifora's record is a pretty distant second to Deans' though wouldn't you agree shasta?

Yep. But that still makes him the best available Aussie. Scott Johnston hasn't got enough track record as a head coach, likewise Fisher, likewise Muggo (and he's got the added problem of being one of those terribly coarse Mungos).

Mckenzie's track record with NSW is why he's probably not really in the picture.

Robbie Deans wanted the AB's job first, and fair enough too. That's really where his heart lays or did until 2 days ago. The experts (so called, anyway) reckon you should never start a new relationship immediately on the rebound from a rejection. In this case I agree. From the ARU's point of view as well as Deans'.

I hope you are not uneasy about our Kiwi coach, John Mitchell. You could not possibly have picked a better man for the job..................I hope you are not uneasy about our Kiwi coach, John Mitchell. You could not possibly have picked a better man for the job.

Of course not.

But that's at S14 level. I'd also be happy to see a Mitchell/Deans combo - with Mitch as head coach. To clarify; I'm not completely opposed to a foreign coach forever, depending on circumstances.

I am opposed to Robbie Deans getting a shot in front of Nucifora right now. If Nussy hadn't got results (ideally with Mitch as a consultant) after a couple of years, Aussie John would be a shoe-in. More significantly it would suit his timing. He's got unfinished business in WA.

[Burgs]

Mitch has already alluded to putting his hand up to Assist with the Wallabies, more likely to do so with Deanes than some of the others.
With the intensity of the S14 and the length of time at the Crusaders, Deans probably has a better knowledge of the pool of Wallaby contenders than the rest.

[Flamethrower]

Deans, who played 24 games for the All Blacks from 1983 to '85, said he would have no problem coaching against New Zealand.

It would have to give you a nice feeling to flog the crap out of a team who didn't think you were good enough to coach them.
If it were me I know I'd want to make such a statement.

[Burgs]

I somehow get the feeling that perhaps Link or one of the five may be calling in a few favours at the moment to get some public sympathy.


Deans chase costs staff bonuses

no author given but sourced from The Sunday Telegraph c/o Fox Sports.
December 09, 2007

MORALE at the ARU has plummeted to new depths, with staff bonuses being scrapped to cover the cost of trying to lure Kiwi coach Robbie Deans on a $1million deal. (I would think this to be a total fabrication, if it was the case then surely it would be going to court? Would none of those working at the ARU and allegedly "missing out" not have the doogs to challenge the ARU for something they would have written into their contract?)

The revolving door at the ARU's Crows Nest headquarters has seen 37 staff exit permanently this year as the new administration tries to save a severely leaking ship.

Insiders have confirmed travel cuts associated with the Wallabies will be enforced in 2008, creating further unrest. Yet at the same time powerbrokers are dangling a $1m-a-year contract carrot to get the multiple Super 14 championship-winning coach across the Tasman.

.....cut....cut....cut....

"In terms of staff bonuses, they're based on the performance of the individual and the performance of the company," he (ARU deputy chief Matt Carroll) said.

"The company is going to lose about $5m, so its performance isn't particularly flash."

[frontrow]

I saw carroll on TV last night, wouldn't trust him as far as i could throw him, typical shifty lokking wanker, and a complete bullshit artist....

[Burgs]

It would be interesting to hear the views of the rest of the Wallabies...

Mortlock happy Kiwi Deans wants top job

December 10, 2007 - 7:12PM

Wallabies skipper Stirling Mortlock has defended the Australian Rugby Union's controversial coaching selection process and welcomed Kiwi Robbie Deans' belated candidature.

Mortlock underlined the importance of appointing the best coach to lead Australia and said he and his Test teammates would have no issues playing under the New Zealander.

Without throwing his weight behind one particular candidate, Mortlock's support of Deans' late bid and coaching record has added to the Crusaders mentor's apparent stranglehold on the position.

Deans, expected to become the Wallabies' first overseas coach, is set to be interviewed for the job on Wednesday, more than a month after five original short-listed candidates went before the selection committee.

Although the process has been criticised as a "circus", "sham" and "waste of time", Mortlock disagreed.

"It's a very important decision for the future of Australian rugby moving forward and not one that you want to rush and you want to make sure you make the right decision and get the right candidate," he told AAP.

"I don't think there is any drama in going a little bit longer than what was initially expected."

"(Deans) has been an integral part of the Crusaders for the last (eight) years and he's taken them to four titles so that speaks for itself.

"That's not just by chance. He's got amazing credentials and a great win-loss ratio as well."

.....................

But Mortlock agreed with veteran Test fullback Chris Latham that no current Wallabies would have a problem playing under Deans and he would quickly take the No.5-ranked nation forward.

"I think one reason for having a lot of wind at the moment is the fact that rugby hasn't been professional for that long," Mortlock said.

"If you look at most professional sports it's all about who's best for the job and not so much about the nationality."

[shasta]

Aaaww, Burgs. Wot would he know? He's always injured anyway.

Barra & Barnie just awarded me the "caller of the night" on 6PR 'cause they agree with me!!!

I scored the Danny Green fight free on PPV, reserved seats for the next Glory home game and the Warriors next one-dayer.