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SYDNEY - The man who lit the fire again in Alan Jones' rugby coaching career refuses to concede today's Australian Rugby Board meeting will merely rubber-stamp the appointment of New Zealander Robbie Deans to the Wallabies job.
Queensland Rugby Union chairman Peter Lewis said he hadn't given up hope Jones would be called in to cure Australian rugby's "malaise" and he said Deans should consider using the broadcaster as a motivator if the Crusaders coach did get the job.
"The selection committee in my view are men of integrity and I trust they will make the right decision," Lewis said.
"I think if the process is transparent, open and fair I think he (Jones) has as good a chance as anyone else.
"I stand by my view that I think Alan Jones would be the ideal guy for the job.
"I stand by that but I have not on any occasion tried to influence that committee."
Jones, who last coached the national side 20 years ago, is likely to be one of five disappointed Australian candidates with Deans a raging favourite and an announcement expected today or Friday.
Blues coach David Nucifora, the New South Wales Waratahs' Ewen McKenzie, the ACT Brumbies' Laurie Fisher and Wallabies assistant John Muggleton have also been interviewed for the job.
Deans received a late interview and met the ARU's selection panel in Brisbane last night after he unsuccessfully applied for the All Blacks job.
Betting agency Lasseters closed their market on the position at the weekend after Deans was backed in from $1.52 to $1.20.
"The reason for that was there was a lot of support, mainly from New Zealand, for Deans even to the extent where ... (one) wanted to know what was the maximum he could have on, so the alarm bells started to go off," Lasseters' Gerard Daffy said.
"The general consensus of opinion over there was, if he threw his hat into the ring, he'd get it."
But Daffy also offered Jones some hope, although he closed at $7.
"On Friday when it was first mooted that Deans was back in we found that a fair few people wanted to back Alan Jones again," he said.
"So it looked like perhaps the opinion might be that he was going to be the pick of the Aussies."
Lewis said the QRU would give its full support to whoever got the job, but he also had a tip for a successful Deans.
"I'd like to think that Robbie Deans would feel Alan Jones has got something to contribute but I wouldn't be demanding or suggesting he do that, that's up to him if he got the job," Lewis said.
The ARU's high performance manager Pat Howard is expected to present the selection panel's case to the board at tomorrow's Sydney meeting, which recovering chief executive John O'Neill will stay in touch with by phone.
The board can accept that recommendation, over-rule it or ask to meet with one of the candidates.
Another item on the agenda will be the maligned Australian Rugby Championship, which made a seven-figure loss in its inaugural season.
"It needs some radical rearranging and radical surgery and a radical re-think, but in principle we'd like to see it survive," Lewis said.
"There was basically no marketing so no-one knew it was on ... it didn't really have any genuine tribalism."
- AAP
