Balmain 80s/90s

[innsaneink]

Some figures posted elsewhere showed my the drastic drop of Balmain from powerhouse they were in the 80s to the 90s not so

What actually happened to create such a fall?

I imagine the retirements of Blokes like Jnr, Sirro Block etc played their parts… the Alan Jones time, Im genuinely interested, wests werent faring much better and my interest in the game in the 90s wasnt strong as I had a lot going on then

This isnt meant to be any wests v balmain thing, I hope it doesnt degenarate into that.
Many members here know more than anyone exactly what happened

 

[Tiger_Steve]

Two words - Alan Jones

 

[Tim Sheens]

Roster, Star Casino and demographic.

 

[gallagher]

Two words - Alan Jones

But how did they get to the point that he was the best option as coach? Or even consideed?

 

[Tiger_Steve]

Two words - Alan Jones

But how did they get to the point that he was the best option as coach? Or even consideed?

I don’t know why he was considered. We were experiencing success, had a great roster and he was a successful coach. I suppose those with the responsibility thought he could take a well coached group even further. What no one figured was his coaching style would be flatly rejected by the players. He lost the shed very early. I can’t remember the guys name but he brought in a young rugby five eighth who was useless. Became a Jones favourite but disliked by the senior players. That’s all I know

 

[gallagher]

Two words - Alan Jones

But how did they get to the point that he was the best option as coach? Or even consideed?

I don’t know why he was considered. We were experiencing success, had a great roster and he was a successful coach. I suppose those with the responsibility thought he could take a well coached group even further. What no one figured was his coaching style would be flatly rejected by the players. He lost the shed very early. I can’t remember the guys name but he brought in a young rugby five eighth who was useless. Became a Jones favourite but disliked by the senior players. That’s all I know

Brian Smith. Just signing a union coach was desperate. From Warren Ryan to somone that had never coached league.

 

[innsaneink]

Is it true he wasnt paid to coach?
I read somewhere he did it for free

 

[newtiger]

Two words - Alan Jones

But how did they get to the point that he was the best option as coach? Or even consideed?

Our next door neighbour when we were growing up, worked with Jones.
He knew that I was a huge Tiger fan, he told me that Jones would give to Tigers a premiership but would wreck the club.
He didn't deliver a premiership, but he certainly had a hand in destroying the club.

 

[Telltails]

Two words - Alan Jones

But how did they get to the point that he was the best option as coach? Or even consideed?

I don’t know why he was considered. We were experiencing success, had a great roster and he was a successful coach. I suppose those with the responsibility thought he could take a well coached group even further. What no one figured was his coaching style would be flatly rejected by the players. He lost the shed very early. I can’t remember the guys name but he brought in a young rugby five eighth who was useless. Became a Jones favourite but disliked by the senior players. That’s all I know

Brian Smith( not the coach) - just didnt work.

 

[innsaneink]

Two words - Alan Jones

But how did they get to the point that he was the best option as coach? Or even consideed?

I don’t know why he was considered. We were experiencing success, had a great roster and he was a successful coach. I suppose those with the responsibility thought he could take a well coached group even further. What no one figured was his coaching style would be flatly rejected by the players. He lost the shed very early. I can’t remember the guys name but he brought in a young rugby five eighth who was useless. Became a Jones favourite but disliked by the senior players. That’s all I know

Brian Smith. Just signing a union coach was desperate. From Warren Ryan to somone that had never coached league.

Was Whizz freeman dropped for Smith?
Was a great bloke Freeman very easy to talk to, met him at the ''stop the rot'' Save leichhardt oval media day

 

[gallagher]

Two words - Alan Jones

But how did they get to the point that he was the best option as coach? Or even consideed?

Our next door neighbour when we were growing up, worked with Jones.
He knew that I was a huge Tiger fan, he told me that Jones would give to Tigers a premiership but would wreck the club.
He didn't deliver a premiership, but he certainly had a hand in destroying the club.

I'd imagine whoever appointed him as coach doesn't admit to it.

 

[gallagher]

But how did they get to the point that he was the best option as coach? Or even consideed?

I don’t know why he was considered. We were experiencing success, had a great roster and he was a successful coach. I suppose those with the responsibility thought he could take a well coached group even further. What no one figured was his coaching style would be flatly rejected by the players. He lost the shed very early. I can’t remember the guys name but he brought in a young rugby five eighth who was useless. Became a Jones favourite but disliked by the senior players. That’s all I know

Brian Smith. Just signing a union coach was desperate. From Warren Ryan to somone that had never coached league.

Was Whizz freeman dropped for Smith?
Was a great bloke Freeman very easy to talk to, met him at the ''stop the rot'' Save leichhardt oval media day

Yeah Freeman got dropped and i don't think ever got back.

 

[LeichhardtTiger]

http://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/teams/balmain-tigers/coaches.html

Balmain in the 90's
Jones was at the Tigers 91-93 36.4% win rate
Junior Pearce was there from 94-99 36% win rate

http://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/teams/wests-tigers/coaches.html

Tim Sheens 48.8% win rate

http://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/teams/western-suburbs-magpies/coaches.html

Magpies In the 90's
Raudonikas 33.6%
Warren Ryan 44%

Warren Ryan at Balmain 89-90 65.8%

Jones was 3% better than Tommy R

Pearce "improved" to 42.3% as Westsigers coach 2nd only to Sheens - Cleary is at 41.4%

Stats c/- http://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/ Great effort by them!

 

[newtiger]

Two words - Alan Jones

But how did they get to the point that he was the best option as coach? Or even consideed?

Our next door neighbour when we were growing up, worked with Jones.
He knew that I was a huge Tiger fan, he told me that Jones would give to Tigers a premiership but would wreck the club.
He didn't deliver a premiership, but he certainly had a hand in destroying the club.

I'd imagine whoever appointed him as coach doesn't admit to it.

From what I can remember there was a train of thought, that he would be able to bring a lot of corporate dollars to the club with his connections.

 

[gallagher]

But how did they get to the point that he was the best option as coach? Or even consideed?

Our next door neighbour when we were growing up, worked with Jones.
He knew that I was a huge Tiger fan, he told me that Jones would give to Tigers a premiership but would wreck the club.
He didn't deliver a premiership, but he certainly had a hand in destroying the club.

I'd imagine whoever appointed him as coach doesn't admit to it.

From what I can remember there was a train of thought, that he would be able to bring a lot of corporate dollars to the club with his connections.

He's a great salesman.

 

[Telltails]

He became a bit obsessed with Balmain in 88/89 and was critical of Warren Ryan after the 1989 GF.
I think when he was appointed everything he touched to that point had turned to gold, but he just didn't resonate with the players and definitely played favourites when it came to Brian Smith.

 

[Yossarian]

Yeah Freeman was forced out to accommodate Smith. Jones being Jones he had his favourites and guys like Freeman and Jack (voluntarily got forced out).

What happened? The club was never wealthy but Barnes was an effective administrator. 89 we should have won the comp, 90 we made the finals. Then Jones comes in. 91 we don't win a game for the first 7 or so rounds. After that we got going but it was too late. 92 and 93 the Jones effect hits. He can't coach a RL team and it shows. His tactics are poor, his game knowledge non-existence. The team effectively coached itself. 94 he's replaced by Junior. All Jones' favourites go and most of the old guard have retired or moved on. Only Siro and Jack returning from England. 94 we run last and never had the cash to turn to around. Keep in mind the comp goes to 20 teams so it's harder to get talent with new clubs spending money. Then Super Lesgue hits and it's downhill until the JV.

 

[LeichhardtTiger]

But how did they get to the point that he was the best option as coach? Or even consideed?

Our next door neighbour when we were growing up, worked with Jones.
He knew that I was a huge Tiger fan, he told me that Jones would give to Tigers a premiership but would wreck the club.
He didn't deliver a premiership, but he certainly had a hand in destroying the club.

I'd imagine whoever appointed him as coach doesn't admit to it.

From what I can remember there was a train of thought, that he would be able to bring a lot of corporate dollars to the club with his connections.

Yes, Jones was a lot of puff! Phillips was the Major Sponsor from 88 - 93 so he wasn't involved in that acquisition. He gave us his boyfriend Brian Smith from Rugby. And who could forget Alan's recruitment of Darren Clarke the 400m runner? Someone forgot to tell Alan that a League field is 100 metres long… He then went onto to help Souths with Ken Shine as Coach! Got them a Big Sponsor in Canon. I think they came 9th 16th 19th & 11th during that time!

 

[Tigertail]

When Jones took on the Balmain Tigers, he still had alot of experienced and talented players. By the time Pearce took on the coaching role at the Tigers, he had to rebuild. He still had Siro, Benny, and Jack returned, however they were in their twilight. In fact in the late nineties he had a promising young forward pack. When they formed the West Tigers, the majority of the team was Balmain. Innitially they did well, unfortunately they lost their captain McCracken in a horrific injury.

 

[Tiger_Steve]

Benny Elias couldn’t stand Darren Clarke. Two competing egos back in the Holy Cross days. I remember Clarke throwing a ball to Elias from the sideline for a penalty tap restart. Pass went over Elias’ head and he fair gave it to Clarke. Not good times