Benji 2025 and Beyond

[Tucker]

We've got no forwards. Never really have had a pack that can dominate. Maybe briefly with Tapau, Gavet, etc. People can say what they like, but League is still about physical domination of your opponent. If you are also smarter, that's a bonus.

Yep and defence.
This club has never recognised the importance of it.
Just chuck the pill around and you’ll win a few.

 

[Glenji95]

It doesn’t matter what the media say. We should be making decisions to help us win games not please the media.

Yes but the media will make it difficult for us to be successful, the amount of stories we get already almost on a daily basis is hard enough to convince potential players to come and keep junior talent and other players already here. The media has crucified us every time we’ve sacked a coach probably at least since Ivan left us at best. Sacking another one you can best believe they’ll do the same again. The media has a lot of power, whether we like it or not.

 

[Wiz]

There’s no reason we couldn’t hire a current first grade coach we like. Penrith signed Cleary away from us. Dogs signed Des away from Manly. Those roles were far more attractive than ours though.

The reality is we will need to take a punt on either an out of work former first grade coach or an experienced assistant coach waiting for an opportunity. Coaching has become a young man’s game so I prefer a younger experienced assistant. I’ve been saying Hannay for a few years. As long as he’s not managed by Moses, he’d be my pick.

 

[Wiz]

Ben Ikin once said A people hire A people. B people hire C people.

It’s obvious which one Benji is.

 

[Glenji95]

There’s no reason we couldn’t hire a current first grade coach we like. Penrith signed Cleary away from us. Dogs signed Des away from Manly. Those roles were far more attractive than ours though.

The reality is we will need to take a punt on either an out of work former first grade coach or an experienced assistant coach waiting for an opportunity. Coaching has become a young man’s game so I prefer a younger experienced assistant. I’ve been saying Hannay for a few years. As long as he’s not managed by Moses, he’d be my pick.

Des was available to be signed though, Manly made the decision to release him before his contract with them was up. And we released Ivan from his contract to join Penrith as they were worried Nathan was gonna jump ship. If we could sign any coach we wanted we’d probably would have gone all in for Bennett or Bellamy at this point. Can’t give the job to Hannay this is not the club for him to make his debut as a head coach.

 

[whadafeck]

We should be looking at Willie Peters. He's completely transformed Hull KR since taking over. They've won their first trophy in 40 years a few weeks ago, and he currently has them in 1st with a 14-1 record. They are currently scoring an average of 33.6 points per game, while only conceding an average of 8 points per game. This is what JWH has said about him:

“I can’t speak highly enough of him. Pretty much since we first connected, I noticed his strength was his work ethic and how much he cares about his players. If he ever gets an opportunity in the NRL, which I think he should, he’ll be great.

“I’m talking about his core values and what Willie stands for. He’s a very intelligent man with a great league IQ. He’s obsessed with what he does and loves what he does. He’s worked his arse off and deserves all the recognition he’s now getting.”

The best part is that he is basically Richo's protege.

 

[tig_prmz]

Benji has somehow assembled a pretty good team.

Too bad it's going to go to waste because they're erratic, clueless and directionless.

I still feel that the individuals in this team are trying or wanting to try but they have absolutely no idea what to do.

Then they just try to do individual crap to show off their skills and hope there is another buyer out there.

I feel so defeated following this club. It's like seeing your 10yo kid play against 12yo and losing. The poor kid doesn't even know why he keeps losing.

 

[Demps]

We should be looking at Willie Peters. He's completely transformed Hull KR since taking over. They've won their first trophy in 40 years a few weeks ago, and he currently has them in 1st with a 14-1 record. They are currently scoring an average of 33.6 points per game, while only conceding an average of 8 points per game. This is what JWH has said about him:


The best part is that he is basically Richo's protege.

Peters is a genuine nice guy.
The people who work with him love him

 

[Glenji95]

We should be looking at Willie Peters. He's completely transformed Hull KR since taking over. They've won their first trophy in 40 years a few weeks ago, and he currently has them in 1st with a 14-1 record. They are currently scoring an average of 33.6 points per game, while only conceding an average of 8 points per game. This is what JWH has said about him:


The best part is that Richo is very close to him.

He recently signed an extension until 2028 so that’s a no go. Even if he was available I’m skeptical of coaches from the SL system to NRL’s. Yes I know he’s an Aussie and has been an assistant coach before, but SL and NRL are two different leagues our game is much faster than theirs also ours is defence based theirs isn’t. That’s not to say Willie Peters couldn’t make it as a NRL head coach, but you have to be aware of the risk of signing a successful SL coach to be a NRL head coach, look what happened to Holbrook.

 

[whadafeck]

He recently signed an extension until 2028 so that’s a no go. Even if he was available I’m skeptical of coaches from the SL system to NRL’s. Yes I know he’s an Aussie and has been an assistant coach before, but SL and NRL are two different leagues our game is much faster than theirs also ours is defence based theirs isn’t. That’s not to say Willie Peters couldn’t make it as a NRL head coach, but you have to be aware of the risk of signing a successful SL coach to be a NRL head coach, look what happened to Holbrook.

Contracts don't mean much over there because you can just pay a transfer fee. Hull KR are just ensuring that if an NRL club does come for him, they will get a nice chunk of change. I've heard that the NRL were looking at him as an option for the Perth team, but went with Gardiner instead

Holbrook also took over St Helens, which is a powerhouse club over there. Hull KR were a rabble before Peters took over. They only finished in the top 6 once in 20 years. Peters has gotten them to where they are through good coaching.

 

[Glenji95]

Contracts don't mean much over there because you can just pay a transfer fee. Hull KR are just ensuring that if an NRL club does come for him, they will get a nice chunk of change. I've heard that the NRL were looking at him as an option for the Perth team, but went with Gardiner instead

Holbrook also took over St Helens, which is a powerhouse club over there. Hull KR were a rabble before Peters took over. They only finished in the top 6 once in 20 years. Peters has gotten them to where they are through good coaching.

With players sure, surely you can’t do that for the coaches not everyone is capable of doing that. Again though NRL and SL are different he might be a great SL coach, that doesn’t mean he’ll be a great or even a good NRL head coach. If he does make the jump over I hope he does have success, but I can’t confidently say he’ll do that with us given the game is different over there as it is here.

 

[innsaneink]

Benji has somehow assembled a pretty good team.

Too bad it's going to go to waste because they're erratic, clueless and directionless.

I still feel that the individuals in this team are trying or wanting to try but they have absolutely no idea what to do.

Then they just try to do individual crap to show off their skills and hope there is another buyer out there.

I feel so defeated following this club. It's like seeing your 10yo kid play against 12yo and losing. The poor kid doesn't even know why he keeps losing.

I think I saw the first signs of self doubt among a few of them tonight

 

[GNR4LIFE]

For me, for all we hear about how much the players love him, more often than not they don’t put in for him. For as close knit as the squad supposedly is, they look like strangers half the time. No continuity, and tonight they may have got some leeway for missing Bula and Luai, but even when they are there, there is next to no cohesion in the spine. They can’t close out games when given opportunity after opportunity either.

 

[SwervinMervin]

He recently signed an extension until 2028 so that’s a no go. Even if he was available I’m skeptical of coaches from the SL system to NRL’s. Yes I know he’s an Aussie and has been an assistant coach before, but SL and NRL are two different leagues our game is much faster than theirs also ours is defence based theirs isn’t. That’s not to say Willie Peters couldn’t make it as a NRL head coach, but you have to be aware of the risk of signing a successful SL coach to be a NRL head coach, look what happened to Holbrook.

Yep. And Trent Robinson and Madge. Not a NRL premiership between either of them.
Seriously though, I know Madge was going nowhere with the Tigers and probably had to be moved on, but firing a premiership winning coach to appoint a guy who was also a premiership winning coach but clearly past his use by date, then firing him to appoint a coach who, while a club legend, had never coached a game of footy before, are we surprised we are stuck in mediocrity. We complain about the roster, the refs, the media, the agents but the reality is our roster on paper, if you compared it at the beginning of this season with Canberra’s, Warriors, you would say ours is better. We don’t now because those clubs are winning and it seems obvious. But that’s revisionist history. We are missing something, but it’s not roster related or external forces.

 

[Glenji95]

Yep. And Trent Robinson and Madge. Not a NRL premiership between either of them.
Seriously though, I know Madge was going nowhere with the Tigers and probably had to be moved on, but firing a premiership winning coach to appoint a guy who was also a premiership winning coach but clearly past his use by date, then firing him to appoint a coach who, while a club legend, had never coached a game of footy before, are we surprised we are stuck in mediocrity. We complain about the roster, the refs, the media, the agents but the reality is our roster on paper, if you compared it at the beginning of this season with Canberra’s, Warriors, you would say ours is better. We don’t now because those clubs are winning and it seems obvious. But that’s revisionist history. We are missing something, but it’s not roster related or external forces.

The club made the mistake of bringing back Sheens originally no argument on that, but I do have to question how many people were legit interested in the head coach job after Madge was given the boot. I doubt there was many tbh but Sheens should have never been given the job again. If Benji was gonna be given the job he should’ve had a proper apprenticeship not as an assistant for one year to be given the head coach job the next. I blame the club on that one not so much Benji. But I do think he’s on borrowed time.

 

[Halbrowne61]

I don’t think he has to go. Before the Galvin debacle the team was doing much better. They now need time to build combinations between Luai and Latu.
The players play for him and this is something players didn’t do for Madge or Sheens.
Once KPP comes in, Makasini or May comes in and there’s a bit more depth in lower grades the team will be where it needs to be.

Couple of things I can’t reconcile:
- why he insists on the stay in the game first half, Then play expansive second half.
- what he doesn’t use his full bench. There could be method to madness, but I think ultimately he needs to show more trust in all his players.

I do think they probably need another attack coach, but as a leader Benji is what the club needs.

We need to remember this rebuild was always going to be harder than the bulldogs. When Ciraldo got there Gould had already been there 2 years. We have improved out of site, and we are still a young team.

Which is why Ciraldo didn’t want to come in and start from scratch.
So you’re saying we persevere with Benji until his contract is up for renewal. Bold move !

 

[Glenji95]

Which is why Ciraldo didn’t want to come in and start from scratch.
So you’re saying we persevere with Benji until his contract is up for renewal. Bold move !

I don’t think we can keep Benji for that long unless things change, but there’s really not a quality coach out there to take his place either. Unless they can get Brad Arthur on board.

 

[BlackWhiteGold]

We should be looking at Willie Peters. He's completely transformed Hull KR since taking over. They've won their first trophy in 40 years a few weeks ago, and he currently has them in 1st with a 14-1 record. They are currently scoring an average of 33.6 points per game, while only conceding an average of 8 points per game. This is what JWH has said about him:


The best part is that he is basically Richo's protege.

Yes I’ve mentioned Willie as a likely Richo target if we move on from Benji. He’s done his time as an assistant & lower grades in Australia, now carving up ESL. I’ve seen plenty of media stories where Hull KR half Tyrone May is talking him up so I’m sure our playing group would get the intel.

 

[BlackWhiteGold]

Looks like our final round of interviews are with Brad Arthur & Willie Peters.

 

[TIGERS]

I don’t think he has to go. Before the Galvin debacle the team was doing much better. They now need time to build combinations between Luai and Latu.
The players play for him and this is something players didn’t do for Madge or Sheens.
Once KPP comes in, Makasini or May comes in and there’s a bit more depth in lower grades the team will be where it needs to be.

Couple of things I can’t reconcile:
- why he insists on the stay in the game first half, Then play expansive second half.
- what he doesn’t use his full bench. There could be method to madness, but I think ultimately he needs to show more trust in all his players.

I do think they probably need another attack coach, but as a leader Benji is what the club needs.

We need to remember this rebuild was always going to be harder than the bulldogs. When Ciraldo got there Gould had already been there 2 years. We have improved out of site, and we are still a young team.

This is a really good post.

Benji is clearly struggling with match day decisions. It's just guesswork, but I think he's being too logical and tactical as a coach, and maybe some of the bigger things are getting missed. I'm starting to seriously consider that Benji might be a brilliant GM of football, just not a head coach.

Today was never about who is playing 9 or 7 or whatever. Why shift things up the way we did missing so many key players? Keep it simple and make the game about effort, concentration and control.