It's been the Dingo Deans show in Sydney this Bledisloe Cup week, with the All Blacks conspicuously absent and Deans giving everyone a piece of his time. He's quickly learned public relations is key in a city where rugby wages war with league for airtime and newsprint space.

He was up at 6am on Wednesday for the first of several live interviews in the Channel Seven studios, then Fox Sports, then a handful of radio stations including one where he was asked to recite a line from Waltzing Matilda. He couldn't, or wouldn't, mention coolibah trees, but that was only a minor glitch for 'Dingo'.

"I know which anthem I'll be singing," he added later.

At the team hotel at Coogee Beach a day earlier, Deans plonked himself down at a table of Kiwi journalists, ordered a skim latte, and settled in for a chat, barely a care in the world.

Later it was a one-hour autograph session at Martin Place in the city, the Bledisloe Cup nearby. Punters queued in the rain to meet Deans and the players. One rogue Kiwi on a bike yelled "c'mon New Zealand," and was even greeted with a Deans smile and wave.

It begs the question, how many New Zealanders will be cheering for the Wallabies? Kiwis will be as torn as they've ever been before a big test.

Deans knows he's got support from back home, even though he might play it down.

"When I was first appointed the response was quite humbling to be honest. It blew me away. But I figure they may be starting to lose their sense of humour about it now," he said.

Maybe not. Even though Deans might protest, the coach versus coach battle is the biggest talking point. This week it's been plenty of the good cop, bad cop images; a beaming Deans against a stern-faced Graham Henry who avoided barely any mention of his opposite.

Deans was reluctant to make too much of it, but was hard pressed to recall if he and Henry had crossed paths since his controversial reappointment.

"I wished him luck in the lift at the hotel on the morning of the announcement, but that may have been the last time... no, he came to Crusaders training this year so we've spoken...

"There's probably been one occasion in the last four or five years where we've sat one on one in a room and in that instance we probably didn't talk a lot of rugby, other than All Black priorities looking to the World Cup."

It would have been a frosty meeting -- the one where Henry spoke of his controversial plans to rest his All Blacks from the 2007 Super 14. Everyone knows how that turned out.

If the rugby public here are fond of 'Dingo', the players are head over heels. League convert Berrick Barnes mentioned him in the same breath as his former supercoach Wayne Bennett. Simply, he makes training fun, joins in with warmups and will never dwell on a bad training session.

Said Lote Tuqiri: "I guess that belief comes from the squad being very tight, and that's one thing Robbie has brought in, we're spending a lot of time off the pitch together."

Said Matt Giteau: "What he's brought to the team is that confidence, we've got a new young side and he's given them that confidence and belief to play their natural game."

For Deans, life is good here, even if it is a fishbowl. He gets approached more on the street in Australia than New Zealand, he says, partly for the novelty value and because Aussies are more inclined to wander up and start chatting.

He is still of no fixed abode in Australia, having spent his first seven weeks in hotels. With total immersion in rugby, the extent of his leisure time has been a few games of squash and quiet strolls with wife Penny along the scenic Bondi-Coogee walk.

Penny and their teenage children Sam and Annabel will be at ANZ Stadium -- "all in Wallaby jerseys," Deans says -- along with two of his sisters. One, Nicky, might not be wearing green and gold. She's married to NZRU chairman Jock Hobbs.

The All Blacks arrived today and Deans said he'd keep his distance until afterwards. He won't be blanking his Crusaders mates altogether.

"They're obviously a group of blokes who I've worked with who I've got a huge amount of respect for and we'll catch up post-match. Who knows what they'll have to say down the tunnel if we bump into each other beforehand. You never quite know, Ali (Williams) I'm sure will have something to say."

As Deans says, this is what the players and coaches dream of. A Bledisloe Cup test, regardless of what side you're on, is as big as it gets outside a World Cup.

"I can't wait, I'm really excited about it, as I suspect a lot of New Zealanders are. It's created a bit of interest, I've got a lot of mates coming over and I've received a lot of texts, not too many negative ones. It's going to be a great day."