Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

coaching candidates - IF Benji is sacked now or after we lose the first 8 games.

who would you pick?

1. Brad Arthur
2. Madge
3. Holbrook
4. Josh Hannay
5. John Morris
6. ??????

Apart from the first two you wouldn't go the others.

Either 1 or 2.

Probs Madge (assuming he would take it)

Question is -- who would get us more wins in a year? Doesn't matter if madge burns people out if we win a comp in two years.

And would Galvin sign extension if current NSW coach was coming on board? hmmmm.

Dean Young?
 
That’s a poor list to choose from. BA just barely had a pass mark given Parra made the finals 5 out of 10 times with him as coach. Besides from what’s been reported it sounds like he’s the coach for the Bears should they be the next team to come in which having a coach lined up will increase their chances given it’ll save time to look for one.

Madge won’t come back here and tbh I think it’ll be a mistake of brining him back. I was one of his supporters and I wanted him to have a chance with Api and Ice given I think he had a big hand in them coming here, but he coaches a certain way which not many players get behind. He’ll burn our players again which will result in talent leaving possibly even Galvin given he won’t stay when the squad is too burnt out from his training methods.

Holbrook while I don’t think he was the major problem when he was the Titans coach, he’s not exactly a world beater in terms of coaching. Most likely won’t play finals under him. Maybe avoid bottom 4 at best with him but don’t see us playing finals with him as coach.

Hannay hasn’t had a lot of experience in head coaching only been an interim if needed so can’t say how he’ll go.

Morris doesn’t deserve the job after this years bad display of defence. He’s supposed to help with it yet it was bad. Nowhere near in line for the promotion.

If the club is gonna replace Benji they’ll have to look elsewhere. These guys are not exactly the greatest coaches out there.
There was a wooden spoon involved, but I reckon we’d all be happy with making the cut every second year.
BA though, I just can’t get excited about it.
 
There was a wooden spoon involved, but I reckon we’d all be happy with making the cut every second year.
BA though, I just can’t get excited about it.
I will say I think BA is probably the best candidate off that list, but as you said it’s a wooden spoon and a GF appearance with him. He’s had good and bad years as head coach for Parra but like I said 5/10 is just barely a pass. I get we all want to be finals bound again I do as well but unless we got a Bellamy or Bennett I wouldn’t see it happening straight away. BA would probably be at least 2 years minimum before playing finals under him, someone else could be 3 years unless a miracle happened.
 
Only the 5th time last in the last week that arguing logic means sticking up for Benji
But that’s the argument you just used to counter my post? That I dont rate him? You can use that argument but I can’t?

There was certainly no logic used in hiring him as head coach to begin with. He’ll have to make finals next year to change my mind.

I’ll refrain from posting further as it’s not the correct thread. Apologies to mods.
 
The powers that be have backed Benji to the hilt and still do, providing for an extended honeymoon period.

If we get hammered next year, I think his departure will be handled with kid gloves.

The signs to look for would include less obvious and less vocal support for him by Richo for example. He will condition us a bit. He’s not there yet.

Because of our heavy emotional investment in him, I doubt we are going to shoot him in the back of the head.

All clubs tend to say the coach is safe before execution but it can be muted.

I think we’d all rather he succeed and a find a way.

I didn’t think he was the right coach, I still don’t, but I’m not going to pray for his lack of success and be cruel about it.

I think he will get at least another full season if the outcomes remain miserable. If we are getting seriously smashed, we might have to expedite his release, but we will offer him another so called “more important” role.

The lesson for us is one we never seem to learn. We continually oversell and then fail to deliver!

We are all used to it I guess.
 
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The focus should be on getting a highly competitive roster, we have not had one for over 10 years and surprise, surprise we have failed miserably during that time because of it.
We are currently only 3 quality players short of having our best playing roster in many years, 3 might not sound many, but you cannot afford to even be 1 player short of a quality roster and expect to make the finals.
If we sign 3 more quality players in the positions we require, we will make the top 8 in 2025 and it would not matter if Humpty Dumpty was our coach, it still won’t stop us.
 
How good a defensive team do you expect the youngest and least experienced roster to be? Half the guys that played every week were still kids or have very little games under their belt. Physical size, strength, and stamina plays a big part in defence. Team couldn't stop the roll of actual NRL teams.

Expecting any different with the roster currently assembled is naive. Club is still at least two to three NRL prop/middle forwards short of a forward pack to consistently compete in the grind during a game, and the season.
To be fair I’m not blaming Morris in regards to the state of the roster, and I’m ok with him at least getting one more year of assistant coach if the club decide to keep him. But the post was in regards of sacking Benji and appointing Morris as head coach, which as this stage I don’t think Morris should have the job given how bad both he and Benji were. If Benji was gonna get sacked right now it would have to be someone on the outside coming in, not someone who’s already here as I don’t think there’s anyone here that deserves it at the moment. But I think Benji is coach next year.
 
We could only dream of making finals 5 years out of the last 10 like Brad Arthur managed with the Eels.

Instead we are <checks notes> 0 out of 10.

Yep.
Brads overall winning percentage is double that of Benjis.

But in fairness to Benji, he’s still carrying a lot of Tim and Scott selected players and I’m not sure of his influence on those appointments at the time. Maybe he complained and was patted on the head.

Against him is his championing and support of Tim and we know Tim really struggled.

But to add some balance, we haven’t heard Tim’s side of the story. What I would say about Tim is that I’m sure he made the effort, which in a way….makes it even more frightening that we fell off the cliff.

And as a patient, we are still in the hospital.
 
We could only dream of making finals 5 years out of the last 10 like Brad Arthur managed with the Eels.

Instead we are <checks notes> 0 out of 10.

Yep.
Ive only once had a decade of success like that.
Ive been a supporter since 1984 with Balmain and now Wests Tigers.
So between 84 and 93 they made the finals 6 times (85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90).
That run of good years hooked me and has not even hinted at happening since....bastards
 
It was an appointment by a board and CEO bereft of any effective long-term planning or strategy ideas.
Yes, no competitive process involved, but hardly remarkable after Tim appointed himself, binning 16 candidates in the process after Cicada wasted our time.

I had thought the incoming junta would have been less enthusiastic about him given his personal ties with Lee and Co…but they rushed to his embrace.

We tend to like to sell things before proof of fitness and a club icon and all that fitted that befuddled mindset immeasurably.

We talk about culture, but we are not across that issue yet. It’s like pulling a tooth.

We remain as transparent as a politician.
 
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Pray tell nuncle?
A bloke gets knifed mid season so that we can install an old bloke who hadnt coached in a decade, so that he could mentor a bloke who hadnt coached in 37 years, whilst extending their start date so it was required to install an interim coach who hadnt coached in 45 years....and then we blame the bloke who got shanked for three successive spoons?
Doesnt pass the pub test.
 
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