OFFICIAL Brett Hodgson appointed Assistant Coach

Spartan117 said:
In very early 2007, I was in the "Its my Team" NRL ad campaign representing the West Tigers fans with my son.

Hodgo was our Captain and he was the most accommodating of us fans.

Super great bloke.
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Do not question his personality. Coaching is another matter. Meet and greets are not so engaging when you’re running last and have just lost again.
 
Harvey said:
We will be running onto the ground next year with the speakers pumping out Bruce Springsteen’s glory days.
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To be fair- that would be funny. And I think I'd respect the clubs ability to poke fun at itself. But that's just me.
 
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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Wow 🤗 a couple of inspiring rally cry posts in support of Hodgo from yourself, @Gazman and @Lauren.
 
Fraze23 said:
Poor appointment and I'm pretty disappointed by it.

Love Hodgo as a player, but he isn't the experienced coach we need. Long live the boys club.
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I like Brett Hodgson, but I don't believe that he's the man for the job. Wasn't he our assistant coach and coach of our KOE a couple of years ago, and we didn't do much good then..,...We need a more experienced coach, and this is beginning to look more like the "boys" club than ever before Is it because Benji would not feel threatened by Brett.
This is nearly the appointment that will drive me to finally hand in my membership at the WT's, I don't understand any of this I'm afraid, we need the best DEFENCE coach that there is in the business- is that Brett Hodgson...........?
 
HabboTiger said:
Deserves a go. Champion player and passionate about the club. When hiring if you have a relationship and know you can work together well - it’s an easy hiring decision against uncertainty.

Has been around the blocks, lots of experience with systems and styles
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Benji is passionate about the club too, but an outside influence would be better than Brett's appointment I think - being passionate is not the same as being the "best" coach !
 
Great player and legend of our club but his appointment does not fill me with hope. Sorry to say jobs for the boys.
 
tigeress said:
I like Brett Hodgson, but I don't believe that he's the man for the job. Wasn't he our assistant coach and coach of our KOE a couple of years ago, and we didn't do much good then..,...We need a more experienced coach, and this is beginning to look more like the "boys" club than ever before Is it because Benji would not feel threatened by Brett.
This is nearly the appointment that will drive me to finally hand in my membership at the WT's, I don't understand any of this I'm afraid, we need the best DEFENCE coach that there is in the business- is that Brett Hodgson...........?
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It would be naive to think that we weren't aiming for a higher profile assistant with a more proven track record. It would also be naive to think that we hadn't appoached some to throw their hat in the ring for consideration but they chose not to apply. The crew running the show aren't circus clowns like some of the previous administrations.

I expect Hodgo was the best of the applicants. Although we have to trust that is the case as we don't know who the other 7 were.

Until we dig our way out of the quagmire created by previous administrations not many high profile coaches will be wanting to add Wests Tigers to their resume. If (when) we lift oursleves off the bottom of the NRL, the pathways programme starts to pay off, and there are systems in place, then we will become an attractive place for coaches shooting for the stars.

In the meantime, we will be making selections from those who aren't in consideration by other clubs or who are passionate about Wests Tigers and making a difference.

Richo has to have been aware of the nepotism issues Hodgo's appointment would raise; but he went ahead and selected him anyway. I'm confident that Hodgo was the best of those who have shown interest in the job; that is not to say that he was the man they wanted for the job.
 
There's been no word as to what our Assistant Coaches' actual roles will be going forward.
Sure, they should assist at training, strategizing game plans, analyzing performance data, and providing constructive feedback and encouragement to the players - but precisely who does the specifics?
Is there a kicking coach?
Who will guide the attack systems?
And who oversees the defense pattern, game by game?
Who looks more about the spine, halves etc?
Who works with the back five?
Who will fire up and look after the forwards?
So much of interest but no real specifics, looking from the outside.
 
Jolls said:
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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Good post Jolls.
There‘s no doubt about the nepotism. But what’s the motivation underpinning it?
When Hagipantelis described it as “a massive injection of WT DNA“, it gave the impression that for once the entire club was on board with the idea of gathering past players who have experienced success to provide the leadership and rejuvenate club values, behaviours and such.
I think the idea is worth a try, Ive always believed an organisation should develop its own people for promotion. Been a find jobs for people, rather than people for jobs.
 
twentyforty said:
Good post Jolls.
There‘s no doubt about the nepotism. But what’s the motivation underpinning it?
When Hagipantelis described it as “a massive injection of WT DNA“, it gave the impression that for once the entire club was on board with the idea of gathering past players who have experienced success to provide the leadership and rejuvenate club values, behaviours and such.
I think the idea is worth a try, Ive always believed an organisation should develop its own people for promotion. Been a find jobs for people, rather than people for jobs.
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Without knowing the inner workings all we can do is make assumptions based off what we see and hear. A lot of wild assumptions based off limited information on this forum for sure!

Under Hagipantelis I have no doubt that it was about finding jobs for people as that would be the type of management appraoch they used in most of their time running Wests Tigers. I don't really think Lee or Justin were ever results focussed - well not football results they simply lacked the nouse. They were both corporate players and Lee more about himself than anything. Nepotism, disguised as "WT DNA" is exactly what you would expect from that pair - Sheens as coach, Benji as assitant Farrah, Morris etc.

I think Richo is a different kettle of fish - his reputation is on the line and the strategic plan has some pretty hefty goals. He had no control over 2024, and of course he had to come out and publicly support Benji. I expect he will do so until he either comes good or the foundation has been laid and we can move Benji on and hold a successful recruiting round for an expereinced head coach.

I don't think Richo is in that much of a hurry for success; he knows it takes time. We still have some weaknesses that need to be addressed and unless he does some deals to move a couple more on we may have to wait until 2026 before we make real strides in the competition. Having said that I think Hodgo was probably the best candidate we had. Taking a development appraoch to solving our performance problems requires the right skills. Potentially there was some weight given to his WT DNA that could be uses to split hairs - but if there was a better candidate I expect he would have been selected. Winning is still a key stat!

Going into 2025, we have a plan, we have a much less shit roster (still a couple of holes), a bunch of kids that we can work with and a pathways system that I expect to pay dividends. The holes in our roster may not be filled until 2026 but we are definitely heading int he right direction.

Making decisions for the here and now is easy, making the hard right decisions for the long term benefit of the club is hard. I personally think that the Benji/Richo combination is probably the right one to be building the foundation and developing the kids and their passion.
 
While I admit to not knowing much about coaching, surely one of the main roles of the assistant coaches is to compliment, (and I mean 'add to', not applaud), the head coach's skillset. There are very few head coaches who have all aspects of coaching sorted - Bellamy and Cleary may be exceptions here. Even the great Wayne Bennett is heavily focused on man management and has made great use of his assistants - especially at Origin level - to support him tactically.
Perhaps it is possible that Hodgo excels in those parts of coaching that Benji struggles with. Just a thought.
 
An assistant coach has to be able to work under the coach not be his mentor. Benji is the coach - if the team continues to fail he wears it. Clubs are laden with ex players as assistants and they get dropped/ sacked and moved around year to year.
Benji has to get his way and then it all rides on him as it should be.
 
Didn’t he coach our NSW cup side back in the day , ( I might be wrong ) but I seem to think they didn’t preform well
 
Tigers_Wests said:
This is what I am most excited about out of this appointment. Having a specialist fullback in the coaching ranks who can take Bula to the next level.
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I thought GI was supposedly doing that? Not disregarding Hodgo’s talents, but there were few more talented than GI at the back.
 
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