OFFICIAL Brett Hodgson appointed Assistant Coach

TIGERS said:
If Hodgo can give our squad half the toughness to size ratio he had as a player our side will be invincible. He's an absolute legend. I don't care about 'Job's for the boys' or 'Its a boys club'. Well yeah... we are a Rugby League Football club, and that guy is a club legend, he's qualified and deserves a go. That's not weird or inappropriate. He also did good work for us as an assistant under Ivan Cleary as well.

He knows what it takes to win premierships and make GFs, BUT he also knows what its like to be on a bus home to Campbelltown in the middle of winter after being smacked 54-4 someplace while you're on a multi spoon streak. He knows how to face those moments without being traumatised by it. That's what our young fellas need to learn more about.

You don't find that experience in some modern Roosters assistant who's only used to working with rep players and the benefits of uncle nicky's tuck shop bags for the last 5 years.

Welcome home Hodgo.
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Plus he’s exactly the mentor and teacher Bula needs
 
we r screwed

watching bellamy on matty johns

he did 5 years under wayne and 5 years under sheens as assistant.

guy is a freak.

and so tough.

benji has played under those guys - but coaching is diff.

thank the lord we have hodgo now -- another "nice guy, super bloke" fro 2005.
 
Spartan117 said:
One of our clubs true champion players and an up and coming Coach in his own rights.

This is a good appointment.
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That was The case when we hired him 8 years ago.
He's never been involved with a side that's won 50% of their matches. Is the defensive coach for the worst Wallabies side in 40 years.
He's been a loser his entire coaching career to date.

I challenge anyone to find a single positive about him re-joining the club, other than getting the 2005 boys club back together. Which isn't a positive.
 
balmain boy said:
That was The case when we hired him 8 years ago.
He's never been involved with a side that's won 50% of their matches. Is the defensive coach for the worst Wallabies side in 40 years.
He's been a loser his entire coaching career to date.

I challenge anyone to find a single positive about him re-joining the club, other than getting the 2005 boys club back together. Which isn't a positive.
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I Initially didn't like it either like many others, however on reflection it's an endorsement by Shane on the trajectory Benji is taking us he so doesn't want to undermine that.

Richardson has been around and seen the what the process looks like getting a club from bottom to top and he obviously believes he is seeing the beginnings of that process. I speculate that he was maybe swayed by the respect shown by the leadership group towards Benji, and even more impressed by his ability to attract high calibre individuals to a club running last on three consecutive occasions, hence his doubling down on supporting Benji providing him with safe but experienced staff.

The other positive I speculate is that there are more recruits of calibre in the pipeline, hence Richardson basically giving Benji what he wants.

Just as well, because if it wasn't so any process of improvement is put back by a further two years.
 
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HabboTiger said:
Long way to go, but Benji working out is our best outcome all round. Can recruit. Just need better results and watch out
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Can’t judge Benji on his track record until he gets some continuity going in the halves and backs.

As legend @boonboon previously posted ,when he brought up stats showing that on top of losing 15 guys to the bin we lost 15 or so backs during matches.

On top of that we hardly played a settled halves combination..........I mean that's just impossible for a fledgling side.

I just hope they find suitable people regarding strength and conditioning, injury management and wrestling.
 
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balmain boy said:
That was The case when we hired him 8 years ago.
He's never been involved with a side that's won 50% of their matches. Is the defensive coach for the worst Wallabies side in 40 years.
He's been a loser his entire coaching career to date.

I challenge anyone to find a single positive about him re-joining the club, other than getting the 2005 boys club back together. Which isn't a positive.
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Mate you should've written reviews for the old WT Board. What insight.
 
balmain boy said:
That was The case when we hired him 8 years ago.
He's never been involved with a side that's won 50% of their matches. Is the defensive coach for the worst Wallabies side in 40 years.
He's been a loser his entire coaching career to date.

I challenge anyone to find a single positive about him re-joining the club, other than getting the 2005 boys club back together. Which isn't a positive.
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I am not in favour of Hodgo.
But I will add a few positives:

Bula and fullback - Hodgo has deep experience at fullback and will help Bula with his positioning and game reading. Bula is increibly athletic and has been winning on attitude and drive. We should see him improve under hodgo.

Offloads, Hodgo is great with them. Training people to get the ball out. Sheens 200 passes and no defense was a dumb idea, but hodgo can help here. I expect improvements around the play the ball and it's speed.


Hodgo isn't the guy we need. We need blood and ideas from outside. Particularly we need a hard nose trainer and Morris isn't cutting it. Some positives, many negatives.
 
Kaito said:
It's like the bro @Magpie_Magic said, or may have been
BWG, but this appointment is really there for benji
as support & so as not to undermine his position.
Way different than having an ex-head coach as your
assistant knowing he could replace you if you at
any given time. Benji needs time & support, he's a
drawcard. Without benji there is no Api/Luai at Wests
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Certainly agree on the support bit, though not so much time wise. Benji has had a good part of the time equation already, through this full season and a debatable sized chunk of last year. Basically, the grace period is over.

Results will matter from kick-off to the first round match in 2025 and rightly so, so assuming the Hodgson appointment was his choice, both of them will need to deliver, else expect the axe.
 
Tim Sheens said:
Certainly agree on the support bit, though not so much time wise. Benji has had a good part of the time equation already, through this full season and a debatable sized chunk of last year. Basically, the grace period is over.

Results will matter from kick-off to the first round match in 2025 and rightly so, so assuming the Hodgson appointment was his choice, both of them will need to deliver, else expect the axe.
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Hodgo has been coaching in one form or another across two codes, and a few different competitions, for 11 seasons. They haven't been hugely successful but he has worked under Ivan the Terrible and Eddie Jones, who have demonstrated that they can coach. It is possible that Hodgo was the best candidate of those that applied.

Richo has also been around the buoy a couple of times, so I have no doubt that the optics of hiring another 05 Wests Tiger was not lost on him. I expect that within the selection committee and at board level there was a discussion about nepotism; perceived or otherwise.

Despite this the club decided to announce the appointment.

Does the appointment of Hodgo demonstrate nepotism, or moral courage?

Benji and Richo both know that 2025/2026 will make or break them and Richo has no reason to support nepotism within the club. It is likely that we will never know who the other candidates were; but if there were better applicants I expect that they would have got the nod for two reasons:

1. Reputation. We win more games, Benji gets validated for his efforts, Richo gets the corporate $ and more fans through the gate. Richo gets credit for saving another club and has more $ in his pocket.

2. To avoid the nepotism debate.

Hodgo has been part of a few systems. We need a systems approach to develop a competitive team. I'm prepared to give him a crack before trying to cut him down.

I guess we will just have to wait and see.
 
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I wonder how many other clubs were interested in signing Hodgo?

I wouldn't think there would be too many. I feel the club is trying to cut costs wherever possible. I think most of the salary cap is paid by the NRL whereas coaches, physios, S&C staff etc is paid by the club.
 
tig_prmz said:
tig_prmz said:
I wonder how many other clubs were interested in signing Hodgo?

I wouldn't think there would be too many. I feel the club is trying to cut costs wherever possible. I think most of the salary cap is paid by the NRL whereas coaches, physios, S&C staff etc is paid by the club.
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I wonder how many other clubs were interested in signing Hodgo?

I wouldn't think there would be too many. I feel the club is trying to cut costs wherever possible. I think most of the salary cap is paid by the NRL whereas coaches, physios, S&C staff etc is paid by the club.
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How many other positons were available?
Brisbane

Its not like Hodgo puts himself out there and announces to the NRL "Im available"

Im more curious as to the other seven applicants
 
Love Hodgo as a person and player but not really into this signing considering his coaching experience and that it reeks of the 'old boys' club.

Be interesting to know who the other candidates were...
 
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