ALL the indications are Australia's passionate embrace of the Dutch philosophy is over. Not completely, for the two most important coaching positions apart from being boss of the national team remain in the hands of Dutchmen. Hans Berger is technical director, Jan Versleijen is head coach of the pyramid of the development system, the AIS. So orange is still a primary colour in the footballing landscape, and will be for a few years to come.

But in signalling that the next Socceroos coach will come from somewhere else, Frank Lowy has finally confirmed that the five-year love affair is over. Pim Verbeek is leaving, possibly by the time the full-time whistle blows against Serbia in Nelspruit on Wednesday night, and Frenchman Paul Le Guen has emerged as his likely replacement.

The next boss, Lowy confided, was coaching one of the other 31 teams at the World Cup. Do the maths, and the only other Dutchman here in South Africa is the man in charge of the Dutch team, Bert van Marwijk, and he is not going anywhere. So after five years of being wedded to one doctrine, the Socceroos are finally going to get an injection of fresh ideas. Aurelio Vidmar will get to test them first-hand, for the former Australia midfielder has already been appointed to replace Graham Arnold as the assistant. Like Arnold, Vidmar played in the Netherlands. And witnessing his tactical approach at Adelaide United, it's clear there's a strong Dutch influence.

But, like the players, Vidmar will now see those ideas challenged, and examined, and that's a good thing. The Dutch coaches who have come to Australia since 2005 are not the problem, in isolation. But as a collective, they have overwhelmed the game, from top to bottom. So much so, 4-3-3 has been mandated as the system of choice for elite players from the age of 12. The repercussions of that aren't known, and probably won't be evident for another four or five years. But the question is an obvious one. Why put all your eggs in one basket?

For years, it was the so-called ''Pommy Mafia'' who controlled football's development and coaching pathway. Now it's simply been replaced by another one-dimensional approach. That does no one any favours. Out of creative tension great things happen. Lowy knows that as well as anyone. His love-hate relationship with former CEO John O'Neill helped generate the most successful period in the game's chequered history - something he often privately admits.

If it is to be Le Guen, then we can only hope the philosophical exchange between the Frenchman and his Dutch colleagues, and between the Frenchman and his Australian assistant, will be equally frank and honest. There is no reason, absolutely none at all, to fear the different cultures can't co-exist. If the game is to mature, and more specifically the Socceroos are to mature, then variety is crucial. There has been no better illustration of that than when Verbeek, inexplicably, unveiled a Plan B in the opening game of the World Cup. The players weren't ready, and the result was an embarrassment. Only when Verbeek went back to Plan A against Ghana did the Socceroos redeem themselves. The team couldn't adapt.

Modern players should be able to seamlessly switch from one strategy to another, as long as they have been trained, and prepared, for it. Verbeek has committed the cardinal sin of picking a World Cup squad based on one system. If the players don't fit the system, they're not here. Which explains the absence of players such as Nicky Carle, Joel Griffiths and Nathan Burns - all potential game-breakers in certain circumstances.

It's too late now to change things, but let's hope that in future the players are picked because they're good enough, not because they're compliant enough. That's what a melting pot of ideas achieves. Coaches see different things in different players. For the past five years, they have all been looking for the same thing. That's not the fault of the ''Dutch mafia'', because it's what they're trained to do. But the era has run its course, and Lowy has been smart enough to see it.