Wallabies coach Robbie Deans is not the least bit surprised about the startling rise of the Queensland Reds and believes three Australian sides could yet make the Super 14 rugby semifinals.

Deans had even Queensland journalists laughing when he told them after the 2009 Super 14 season that the Reds would host a final in 2010.

At the time, hapless Queensland had just finished in the bottom three for the sixth successive season and were struggling to retain some of their biggest stars.

Yet now the entertaining Reds, under new coach Ewen McKenzie, are the feel-good story of the season, and head into the final three rounds in fourth spot, with a top-two finish and home semifinal very much within reach.

All this is despite losing playmaker Berrick Barnes to NSW, test lock Hugh McMeniman to Japan and then skipper James Horwill – the side’s only incumbent Wallabies forward – to a season-ending knee injury in round one.

Suddenly Deans is looking like a prophet.

“I saw a young group who were working hard at developing what they were doing. They were aspiring to more,” Deans said yesterday.

“Sure, they were making mistakes and some of those mistakes were burning them, but they weren’t that far away.

“And the critical element was that they were pulling on the reins and you achieve nothing without pulling on the reins.

“I think we’ve seen this year the benefit of another year on that young group’s shoulders, with the retention of that desire and will.

“When you suffer, you can come to a point where you say `enough is enough’ and it does create a good backdrop and a good cue and a good reminder to where you’ve been and the fact that you don’t want to go back there.

“To that end, you can’t stay in the space that you’re in in terms of comfort and hope to achieve – and that’s what you’re seeing. The Reds are getting outside their own comfort zone every week but, in doing so, they’re taking their opponents outside theirs.”

The state of Australian rugby looked dire when Queensland, NSW, the Brumbies and Western Force all failed to qualify for last year’s Super playoffs.

But now – a year out from the World Cup – Australia are well placed to have two sides in the semifinals, with the fifth-placed Waratahs blessed with a soft run home, the Brumbies still in contention, and New Zealand facing the dreaded prospect of no teams in the playoffs for just the second time.

“We’re really hopeful of having two sides make it and clearly it’s a strong possibility,” he said.

The Crusaders, who Deans coached to five Super titles before taking the Wallabies job, appear the only side who can save New Zealand’s blushes – although they are struggling and lost to the Force for the first time last weekend.

Asked about the Crusaders, Deans was typically coy: “I don’t think about them much these days. They’ve got a lot of work in front of them.”