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SYDNEY - Wallabies World Cup hero Nick Farr-Jones has finally conceded New Zealander Robbie Deans might just be the man Australian rugby needs.
Farr-Jones, who captained Australia to their first World Cup title in 1991, was never a fan of appointing a coach from New Zealand, claiming it would feel strange to be given your final Bledisloe Cup battle instructions in a Kiwi accent.
"From a distance, I just sense that the last couple of years, to me it doesn't seem like the players have really enjoyed themselves," Farr-Jones said today.
"There hasn't been that sort of real team spirit.
"I'm not pointing fingers at the previous coaches but I just suspect that with a couple of young guys coming through, with the retirement of some of the mainstays of the Wallabies, with a new coach who won't bring any baggage or any history, who obviously has a history of his players supporting him ... I think it's going to be really interesting when the Wallabies assemble for the first time and Robbie Deans addresses them.
"I'd love to be a fly on the wall because I sense that that fun that I believe has been lost over the last couple of years, a real great team spirit will return to the Wallabies.
"And if you get that right, I'm not saying it will be instantaneous success ... the scoreboard can often look after itself."
- AAP
