Robbie Deans holds onto top job while Quade Cooper's Australian rugby future remains uncertain Bye bye: Quade Cooper and Wallabies coach Robbie Deans. ROBBIE Deans' job as Wallabies coach appears safe for 2013 - but Quade Cooper's presence in Australian rugby next year is far less certain. The resignation of John O'Neill yesterday was immediately followed by questions on Deans' position; with O'Neill a vocal supporter of the Kiwi. Questions directed toward O'Neill about Deans, however, were intercepted by ARU chairman Michael Hawker, who launched an emphatic defence of the Wallabies coach and his record in 2012. "We are very comfortable with Robbie Deans," Hawker said, casting doubt on speculation the coach's future would be discussed at ARU board level later this month. Hawker said Australia had beaten Six Nations Champions Wales this year, and though they lost to the All Blacks, retained the world no.2 ranking by beating the Springboks once and Argentina twice. Overlaying that, you probably have six to eight first-picked players injured, and 28 injured players in the wider squad. That level of injury hasn't helped us," Hawker said. Discussion about Robbie Deans needs to be held in that context. Sometimes it gets lost the fact we continue to play New Zealand, the no.1 team in the world and they're very good. Clearly when you look at it in raw data, we have come from fifth (in 2008) to second. We retained second position. It's a pretty good outcome. It's not where we want to be but in the context of where we want to get to, we think we have forward momentum and are heading in the right direction. The ARU have suspended negotiations with Cooper in the wake of his "toxic environment" outburst. It is understood Cooper did not respond to a "please explain" letter sent to him following his criticism of the Wallabies set-up two weeks ago, and high-level talks on Cooper between Hawker and QRU chairman Rod McCall are set to take place next week. Hawker also intercepted questions to O'Neill on Cooper, saying: "The Quade situation is in Quade's backyard. It has nothing to do with John. It is an issue for Quade. That (toxic claims) is a conversation Quade has generated himself, and I think that's an issue for Quade, not the ARU. I am not sure it is a shared opinion by the players. That's an issue for Quade and I suggest you take it up with him.