Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[BAGNF05]

I thought Ivan primarily left us in order to coach his kid.

Hindsight tells us maybe he knew a bit more about the potential for success at the Riff??? Just a hunch.

 

[mtd#2]

He knew to, that he inherited a poor lot,
But thinks he can reserec 2005 type of team with different players to the ones we had, And he is on his way to doing that, but for some reason there is a lot of Members that want to sack another coach, and continue the same as we've been going for the last 20yrs. ????

"On his way to doing that"... is still to be determined.

 

[FrodoTBaggin]

Did Ivan get sacked ? I thought he just walked out to join Penrith

If I remember right Ivan signed a deal to coach Penrith 3 years ahead of time. Once we found out we went looking for a coach then mutually parted ways.

 

[TSP]

Hindsight tells us maybe he knew a bit more about the potential for success at the Riff??? Just a hunch.

I maintain that if we’d signed the young chinstrap, his dad would have stayed.

And we’d be drunk with success by now….maybe!

 

[mtd#2]

we almost made the 8th and came 9th i think.

Which is where i said a good coach could get us to.

Around the 8.

like flanno, the dolphins etc.

I never said he would win us a premiership.

I'm simply making the point that good coaches make a difference.

Everyone here arguing that bellamy, bennet, cleary, robinson would win the spoon if they had the same squad as Benji i don't agree with... because coaches DO make a difference.

How big a difference? depends how good the coach is.

Like, if we had Andrew Webster or Justin Holbrook -- maybe we still win the spoon i dont know.

I have a simple argument... that Benji is the worst coach in the league. That no other team would take Benji over their coach in the league right now. They would love his pulling power no doubt - but that only worked before we won the second spoon hence why Steff left and Luai signed early in the season and now Lachlan Galvin won't extend even though we are offering him a contract upgrade. I doubt Luai would sign now if we had won 2 wooden spoons.

Everyone is waiting to see if Benji can coach - because right now -- he has won two wooden spoons and employs his mates around him and has a questionable work ethic.

If Bennet was coming to us next year instead of Souths, I would bet $1million -- that Steff would have stayed, that Galvin would have extended (if the dollars were decent), and that we would make the top 8 next yeara with our squad (maybe better).

Everyone backing Benji is living in hope. The same hope as when Sheens came back. The same hope when we signed Josh Reynolds. The same hope when we sign old injury prone players that "just need a fresh start" ... where has hope gotten us in 12 years? no where.

Madge wasn't the answer because Lee and Justin were complete duds and he couldnt recruit big players on his own... imagine Justin and Lee being in the meeting withhim trying to recruit.

Cleary bailed because he got a better offer to coach his son and with a powerhouse club.

The best signing this club has made is Richo -- but even he would never have apoointed Benji if he was in charge before and now he is hamstrung bc of Luai - to at least give Benji a crack next year -- but also will be sweating that if we start bad we will probably lose Galvin... PLUS all the good coashes that were avaiable have signed up...

We should've signed Bennet when he was free, with Benji to do 3 more years as assistant.

benji could have green lit that with his close relationship to wayne -- but he was too ARROGANT to do that.

now we're all praying we start well otherwise we lose more juniors.

If bennet came and we had to keep stef, I'd pass on that

 

[BAGNF05]

I maintain that if we’d signed the young characterless chinstrap, his dad would have stayed.

The club lead by Pascoe couldn’t sign a marquee player of anywhere near that quality in 9 years, he wasn’t coming here to play with the jet and the KFC twins.

 

[Lestronge]

Actually- I reckon the talent at the Dolphins & the Tigers isn't all that different.

It's the distribution of the squad that is different- Dolphins strengths allow them to compete in different ways to the Tigers.

Other than Hammer, though- there's not a lot of difference in the quality. Most of the name Dolphins players are aged & slowing down. There's a bunch of young guys coming through.

What it proves is that a little bit of a tweak on attitude is the difference between 9th & 17th.

Also- the Dolphins get good metres on early sets- allows their older forwards to catch their breath & contribute more.

The dolphins had a boost the last couple of seasons with Bennett and basically the 2010s storm pack. They have some great players come across , but I think they will regress . Which to be fair was/ is inevitable . They’ve recruited well though so I could be wrong . I don’t think I am though .

 

[Buttface]

I thought Ivan primarily left us in order to coach his kid.

I reckon he had a fair grasp on roster, cap management, and everything thing else he needed to make his decision to tell his son not to sign here I’m coming back.
You don’t reckon if our club was storm or roosters he was coaching at, and they had a better roster then riff at the time, he wouldn’t have had the fam move to Bondi or Toorak?
He knew and knifed us asap, the only people that wouldn’t have done what he did is WT’s fans, and I reckon there plenty of those that would also knife us for the betterment of their kid and/or themselves.

 

[TSP]

The club lead by Pascoe couldn’t sign a marquee player of anywhere near that quality in 9 years, he wasn’t coming here to play with the jet and the KFC twins.

Yeah I modified the post in the lift at work before you posted this.

 

[BAGNF05]

The dolphins had a boost the last couple of seasons with Bennett and basically the 2010s storm pack. They have some great players come across , but I think they will regress . Which to be fair was/ is inevitable . They’ve recruited well though so I could be wrong . I don’t think I am though .

They’re in a similar spot to us with good young backs but will have some holes to fill in an ageing forward pack.

 

[TSP]

But Ivan made it plain, the love of the kid meant everything to him.

 

[BAGNF05]

But Ivan made it plain, the love of the kid meant everything to him.

He also said he was on the bus. Talk is cheap.

 

[Buttface]

The club lead by Pascoe couldn’t sign a marquee player of anywhere near that quality in 9 years, he wasn’t coming here to play with the jet and the KFC twins.

Ivan would have been here 5mins and said stay where you are son it’s better for our future careers.

 

[Buttface]

But Ivan made it plain, the love of the kid meant everything to him.

The love of their respective careers means just as much.

 

[BAGNF05]

Ivan would have been here 5mins and said stay where you are son it’s better for our future careers.

One hundred percent

 

[jrtiger]

The players DO NOT RESPECT BENJI AS A COACH....

down 16-0 in Round 25 against then-fifth placed Manly who were chasing a top four berth. nothing to play for. we won.

do you think a team that didn’t respect their coach would’ve put in like that?

Stevie Wonder could see these youngsters are hanging on his every word. yes he got Spoonbowl wrong, but they still went out and executed the game plan he laid out for them.

I was at that game, and I was as disappointed as the next person, but if Shane Richardson - a better judge of coaching talent than you or I will ever be - rates him and trusts him, then so should we.

 

[BAGNF05]

down 16-0 in Round 25 against then-fifth placed Manly who were chasing a top four berth. nothing to play for. we won.

do you think a team that didn’t respect their coach would’ve put in like that?

Stevie Wonder could see these youngsters are hanging on his every word. yes he got Spoonbowl wrong, but they still went out and executed the game plan he laid out for them.

I was at that game, and I was as disappointed as the next person, but if Shane Richardson - a better judge of coaching talent than you or I will ever be - rates him and trusts him, then so should we.

Easy to forget we won two of our last three with three teenagers in the spine and the Api sin bin wrecked any hope in spoon bowl.

Way better end than the previous two spoon years.

We have some better players on the way.

I get the impatience of people, it’s been a very long time without success.

At least give the coach a chance with his marquee signing who hasn’t even arrived yet.

 

[Coastie_Tiger]

I thought Ivan primarily left us in order to coach his kid.

Putting family above all else.

Noble or selfish?

Remember there was that fleeting moment when we thought we were getting rid of Brooks to sign Cleary Junior here because he wanted to be coached by his dad.
That was a fun day or two 🤣

 

[WesternSuburbsBoy]

I'm not bagging Benji for that.

I'm bagging him for saying in the post game press conference to the spoon bowl where we got spanked by 40 points, that "it's my fault for telling them to throw the ball around, but I'm a rookie coach and still learning" ... what player manager, parent, player or anyone affiliated with the game wants to go to a rookie coach? and also one that one week tells the team to play tight, the next week to play what you see, etc... no consistency.

I'm bagging him for poor game plans that dont get executed, for playing eyes up ad-lib football when the top teams play control field possession kick to the corners and emphasise defense, i'm blaming him for having the worse disciplined team in the comp, i'm blaming him for being exactly what he is -- a rookie coach with no experience that has is too arrogant to step back into an assistant role that is too afraid to put a decent assistant around him for fear of being found out for not having a clue... i'm also bagging him for being in all the training sessions... like what other coach does the drills with the players ALL the time.

I'm bagging him for telling the players that family is the most important thing in the world -- when clearly everyone knows this -- but also NO OTHER COACH says it -- they say FOOTBALL is the be all and end all -- because that's how you win comps. you need complete dedication and committment to winning -- and when you do that, you make more money which feeds your family and youre a better person because youre happy so you're a better family person to be around.

Benji is smoking the peace pipe man.

He's a media kid trying to emulate he's 75yr old 700 game mentor coach who can do that because he has presence, and is respected by players because of his history.

The players DO NOT RESPECT BENJI AS A COACH....

listen to Galvin and others "we want to do it for benji" "benji is a good bloke" -- when players have to defend the coach and say that they want to do it for them because they are a good bloke -- they've lost the respect of the players. players feel sorry for them ---

players do not feel sorry for bennet, cleary, robinson, bellamy -- they respect them.

sorry to be the bearer of bad news.... but honestly LOOK UP!!!! we've won two spoons and got spanked the last game. it's not hard to see.

Go watch the undisputed documentary on Penrith’s youtube channel based on last years run to the premiership. Literally everything you’re complaining about how Benji speaks to his players & the whole family mantra Ivan preaches to his players. Before a prelim final mind you Ivan said to the playing group “most importantly throw the footy & go out there & have some fun.”

It’s important that you build a culture & an environment that players want to be in. Which is what Benji has done successfully imo. 2024 was never going to be a year where we made the Top 8 or even close to it let’s be real here… we were the youngest & most inexperienced team in the comp & that's a fact. I’ve heard enough from the young guys to know that they love playing under Benji & the vibes amongst the playing group are strong despite the losses. The young guys are committed to turning the clubs fortunes around & I know a few of them are doing a training regime heading into pre season which is being leaded by Galvin himself. The same Lachlan Galvin btw who loves playing under Benji & that’s come from his dads mouth.

Does Benji need to improve on his game plan & tactics? absolutely & if we’re sitting at the same spot next season i’d agree but answer me this… within WT’s whole existence has sacking coaches ever changed anything?

 

[TSP]

I’m pretty sure Ivan has blinkers for young chinstrap.

We were in talks with Nate I heard and the panthers pounced. They gave Nate that big long term deal and we were up the creek.

Yes, they had better prospects, but Nate sealed the deal.