International Club Rugby Bledisloe 2: Eden Park - 25th August

[LukeParkerno1]

I don't there's a lot a coach can do in tight situations especially in rugby union. It's all up to the players at that point, a coach can only do so much and you're forgetting that the Reds were never in the game. Regardless of the injury we weren't going to win. The most you could you could extrapolate from that decision is that Link was naive in thinking that Genia could effortlessly slip into flyhalf, but in saying that Link is well known to experiment so it isn't unusual. What would you do differently bombers if you were in the same situation?

I think you've hit the nail in the head. Deans was in some ways carried by the worlds best development system and had access to the all-time greats. No doubting that Deans is a decent coach, but he's effectively a one-trick pony. He can't adapt and that's not a quality that you want in a coach. It's no slight on Deans record, it's simply a case of Deans gameplan doesn't fit well with the structures and the players that he has at his disposal. We've seen evidence of that throughout his tenure, his continual selection of players who don't deserve selection (Ma'afu, Timani, Alexander, S Faingaa & Neville). We need a lot more than one inside centre, we had a pretty good one until Deans decided to play him out of position and then cut him loose.

I don't agree with you on that point. The best coaches are tacticians, it helps if their naturally charismatic but you don't often see a coach with limited knowledge be successful. PdV? Haha... One of the worst coaches of all-time, he was purely picked because he had a different skin colour. Steve Hansen is a brilliant tactician, one of the best and certainly better than Graham Henry. The biggest concern with picking a foreing born coach is that he can't fully rev up the players like a domestic coach can. Deans can't go and say " We're going to **** up those ******* Kiwis tonight." He's a Kiwi... I was hoping that the appointment of Steve Hansen, who has throughout his career trashed Deans, would bring out the aggressive side of Deans and really rev the boys up, but he's gone the complete opposite direction. The fact that he complemented the All Blacks is just bizarre considering the rivalry between them. I think he himself has lost faith.

Link wouldn't be affiliated with any state side?

You had Tapuai on the bench....he is a centre! Shift Mike Harris to 10 where he had played all damn season anyway and put Ben Tapuai in the centres, it wasn't hard to be honest. Out of all options you bring on a useless halfback to play halfback terribly and you mover the world's best no9 to 10. There is experimenting and then there is stupidity, you know exactly what one that decision falls under. You were still in the game when Lucas went down.

Deans has a number of issues, but it centred around his use of centres. Playing fly halfs there, playing 13's as insides, honestly it didn't work and we are missing a Giteau-like inside centre. Lets be honest here, playing fly halfs as no12's rarely works. Why do you think Aaron Cruden was on the bench despite being the BEST player in the entire Super 15. Has Deans run his course, probably, that said I want to know who the replacement is, and it better not be someone who makes basic errors.

I disagree on Hansen, blind Freddy could coach that New Zealand team, he is a motivator though and he gets the best out of his players even though he has the best players in the world at his disposal. I agree with your last point, but ONLY if there are Australian coaches worthy, and there are not right now. I wouldn't be against getting a Wallaby great as the "coach" and then having 3-4 assistants, including McKensie. That format might be the best way moving forward. Now who that Wallaby great is, who knows but start with Stephen Larkham, Mark Ella, Tim Horan, etc and see if they have any interest.

 

[Lions1024]

Ben Tapuai wasn't an option. He was barely fit to play 20 minutes let alone 70. It makes the decision a lot harder, ay?

Aaron Cruden isn't in the AB team because he doesn't fit their structure. But it's a good point and it's the reason why Barnes should be playing inside centre, he's not a flyhalf and it's starting to effect his game. I was a harsh critic of Gits, but he was dealt harshly by Deans. He was never given the opportunity to consistently play at 12 and was the scapegoat for issues out of his control, it wasn't his fault that Australia had zero goalkickers. Based on form playing at 12 for Toulon, he would be an automatic selection in almost every international team. It's a shame that he's now in France just when he was starting to regain his pre-2008 form.

I would take the "Steve Hansen isn't a good tactician" comment back if I were you. Steve Hansen currently has a game plan that will make the AB's unbeatable and change the face of modern rugby, if they can execute it. The All Blacks didn't get out of second gear, yet convincingly demolished the Wallabies. I've been extremely impressed with his tactics and he's made the All Blacks an infinitely better team. Deans on the other hand needs to completely get rid of everything and start from scratch.

Link is a Wallaby great? I think Ewen has done more than enough to suggest that he's ready to take the next step. He can't possibly do anything more to become a worthy international coach. He's going to be our next coach, regardless of your views, as I suspect he has been told in-principle that he will be the next Wallabies coach; backed by his quick response regarding the England job.

If you're worried that Link will be biased towards Reds players, similar to what Meyers is currently doing with SA, you really shouldn't. Link wrote a article a couple of years back that the most important quality in a coach is objectivity when it comes to selections, it should only be based on the ability to play the role and the form of the player. But I could see how that woud worry some people, because Meyer is royally screwing up selections for the Boks.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Ben Tapuai wasn't an option. He was barely fit to play 20 minutes let alone 70. It makes the decision a lot harder, ay?

Aaron Cruden isn't in the AB team because he doesn't fit their structure. But it's a good point and it's the reason why Barnes should be playing inside centre, he's not a flyhalf and it's starting to effect his game. I was a harsh critic of Gits, but he was dealt harshly by Deans. He was never given the opportunity to consistently play at 12 and was the scapegoat for issues out of his control, it wasn't his fault that Australia had zero goalkickers. Based on form playing at 12 for Toulon, he would be an automatic selection in almost every international team. It's a shame that he's now in France just when he was starting to regain his pre-2008 form.

I would take the "Steve Hansen isn't a good tactician" comment back if I were you. Steve Hansen currently has a game plan that will make the AB's unbeatable and change the face of modern rugby, if they can execute it. The All Blacks didn't get out of second gear, yet convincingly demolished the Wallabies. I've been extremely impressed with his tactics and he's made the All Blacks an infinitely better team. Deans on the other hand needs to completely get rid of everything and start from scratch.

Link is a Wallaby great? I think Ewen has done more than enough to suggest that he's ready to take the next step. He can't possibly do anything more to become a worthy international coach. He's going to be our next coach, regardless of your views, as I suspect he has been told in-principle that he will be the next Wallabies coach; backed by his quick response regarding the England job.

If you're worried that Link will be biased towards Reds players, similar to what Meyers is currently doing with SA, you really shouldn't. Link wrote a article a couple of years back that the most important quality in a coach is objectivity when it comes to selections, it should only be based on the ability to play the role and the form of the player. But I could see how that woud worry some people, because Meyer is royally screwing up selections for the Boks.

You had Harris in the side, blind dead Freddy could see that your plan B is to pick Harris at 10 if Lucas went down, that was the one decision that made sure QLD had no turning back, sure they were behind the 8 ball but that halfback was as useless as dog rubbish and I am being very kind there!

Barnes is not an inside centre and that is EXACTLY my point. He is a fly half, will always be a fly half. We need to develop an inside centre and that may be James O'Connor who has unfortunately been injured most of this year. I didn't feel Giteau was great but it isn't his fault that he couldn't play fly half, he was doing the best he could but like Genia at 10...he just is not that good in that role.

The AB's could beat anyone regardless of who is coaching, they play almost identical to what they played under Graham Henry. Both were great motivators, but their assistants do the grunt work behind the scenes. McKensie is a good assistant, get Larkham as the head coach, have 3-4 coaches in there and they each have a very specific role. Larkham's role should be to get the boys firing on game day. Leave the tactics to the assistant coaches.

Every coach is biased, but it is even worse when McKensie is currently coaching a team. If he wants the job he is to immediately step down and have NO AFFILIATION whatsoever with rugby for a period of 2-3 months. That is the best way that a coach can get rid of biases. In the end this is Australia so I will support whoever is put on the park, so long as we don't have 15 Quade Coopers that are just as likely to lose a match as they are to win a match.