Coaching

[king_sirro]

How poor is it.

Toa to 5/8.

Signing the slowest player in the NRL as back up half, while we could have signed Clune, Crossland or Volkman in that role.

Naden left centre played on the right. AJ right centre played on the left letting 3 tries in. Why on earth do you play them on the opposite side to which both are most comfortable? It kills me.

Bateman a loose cannon at lock. Can not play in the middle. To unpredictable.


Seyfath and Twal on at the same time for long periods.

Replacing our semi experienced hooker when we were on a roll and had control.

I was savage when we singed Wakeham, but I gave in when our forwards, combined with Brooks carried him to the point I though ok, maybe he is better then I thought. But no, he is not better, he is worse.

Brooks haters take note, we are done without him.

Bula is playing 1 and 6, and sometimes 7. How embarrassing is that for the other players.

 

[BalmainJnr]

The coaching is non-existent and pigheaded.
Only four years to go before we commence our new plan.

 

[Tom Shines]

he was playing well before the change of position..

all hail the Sheenius!

 

[Chipofftheoldblock]

How poor is it.

Toa to 5/8.

Signing the slowest player in the NRL as back up half, while we could have signed Clune, Crossland or Volkman in that role.

Naden left centre played on the right. AJ right centre played on the left letting 3 tries in. Why on earth do you play them on the opposite side to which both are most comfortable? It kills me.

Bateman a loose cannon at lock. Can not play in the middle. To unpredictable.


Seyfath and Twal on at the same time for long periods.

Replacing our semi experienced hooker when we were on a roll and had control.

I was savage when we singed Wakeham, but I gave in when our forwards, combined with Brooks carried him to the point I though ok, maybe he is better then I thought. But no, he is not better, he is worse.

Brooks haters take note, we are done without him.

Bula is playing 1 and 6, and sometimes 7. How embarrassing is that for the other players.

Agree in most parts - i think Sheens bench and times when he has replaced players has always been a weak spot in his coaching.
Selecting Toa at 5/8 falls on Sheens for not getting more depth in the halves. Right now, you go get Conor Tracey (no arguments) for this year and look for your half (Lam would be my preference but hearing he has signed for the Raiders)
The attack game plan has been terrible all year and that falls on Benji and Robbie. 2 of the most creative players that have played are coaching the most boring attack i have seen.
Toa cannot defend at 6 and AJ is too slow outside and makes poor defensive reads. These 2 players were responsible were 3 of the tries through poor reads and not shifting across but being flat footed and jamming in.

 

[Mighty_Tiger]

100% our coaching is terrible.
Our structure and formations are all wrong
Team selections are terrible. Team depth is worse.
Panthers & Storm lose significant players and still turn up yet our more experienced players can’t even dive on the ball.

 

[king_sirro]

Agree in most parts - i think Sheens bench and times when he has replaced players has always been a weak spot in his coaching.
Selecting Toa at 5/8 falls on Sheens for not getting more depth in the halves. Right now, you go get Conor Tracey (no arguments) for this year and look for your half (Lam would be my preference but hearing he has signed for the Raiders)
The attack game plan has been terrible all year and that falls on Benji and Robbie. 2 of the most creative players that have played are coaching the most boring attack i have seen.
Toa cannot defend at 6 and AJ is too slow outside and makes poor defensive reads. These 2 players were responsible were 3 of the tries through poor reads and not shifting across but being flat footed and jamming in.

You would think with our forward pack, Api at 9 and Bula at 1 we could easily get someone like Tracey if we tried. He would jump at the chance. We must have no idea what we are doing. We go Wakeham and Will Smith while Tracey, Sexton, Clune, Trindall are playing reserve grade, while Crossland is mister fix it. All could be signed by us. We just chose wrong all the time.

 

[wonka]

Is Sheens even coaching, Benji has the headphones on..... Sheens is sitting in the corner of the box

 

[Chipofftheoldblock]

You would think with our forward pack, Api at 9 and Bula at 1 we could easily get someone like Tracey if we tried. He would jump at the chance. We must have no idea what we are doing. We go Wakeham and Will Smith while Tracey, Sexton, Clune, Trindall are playing reserve grade, while Crossland is mister fix it. All could be signed by us. We just chose wrong all the time.

We have the money and the opportunity to take ownership of a team. Sell the dream, dont have to break the bank. Tracey just would be a must in my eyes and Trindiall also.....those 2 players you could for the price of Moses and still have money left over.
Give those 2 blokes the keys and that solves alot of problems.
Thought Blore went well tonight. Just needs to keep running those hard outside in lines.

One thing that gives me the 💩is how we cannot convert any points once we are in the attacking 20. We are boring, show no intent to score or provide any options. This falls on Benji and Sheens. The run arounds need to go...they are u/7's plays and slow the play down. There just is a lack of hard running into holes or edges and movement off the ball to create space.
I think our defense has improved in most respects....we are defending forwards off the line rather than backwards (worst coaching i have ever seen), just bad reads from individuals.

 

[Harvey]

What did you think was going to happen when we brought a coach well past his used by date, who has a record of failure for the past 15 years back?

We then hire his puppet who has a history of screwing up rosters, and deal with the fallout

Sheens should have never been brought back in any capacity. There were other options, the club looked for positive media spin over performance.

We are a basket case from top to bottom

 

[Tiger_Fanatic3]

Benji has the headphones on.....

Pumping the Spotify 🎧

 

[king_sirro]

We have the money and the opportunity to take ownership of a team. Sell the dream, dont have to break the bank. Tracey just would be a must in my eyes and Trindiall also.....those 2 players you could for the price of Moses and still have money left over.
Give those 2 blokes the keys and that solves alot of problems.
Thought Blore went well tonight. Just needs to keep running those hard outside in lines.

One thing that gives me the 💩is how we cannot convert any points once we are in the attacking 20. We are boring, show no intent to score or provide any options. This falls on Benji and Sheens. The run arounds need to go...they are u/7's plays and slow the play down. There just is a lack of hard running into holes or edges and movement off the ball to create space.
I think our defense has improved in most respects....we are defending forwards off the line rather than backwards (worst coaching i have ever seen), just bad reads from individuals.

When we get into the 20 we don't challenge the edges like other teams. We play mostly from the middle to our backrowers, centres and wingers rarely see the ball. When they do see the ball, it's just standard catch and pass, no swift block plays with halves straightening the attack.

 

[crazycat]

How poor is it.

Toa to 5/8.

Signing the slowest player in the NRL as back up half, while we could have signed Clune, Crossland or Volkman in that role.

Naden left centre played on the right. AJ right centre played on the left letting 3 tries in. Why on earth do you play them on the opposite side to which both are most comfortable? It kills me.

Bateman a loose cannon at lock. Can not play in the middle. To unpredictable.


Seyfath and Twal on at the same time for long periods.

Replacing our semi experienced hooker when we were on a roll and had control.

I was savage when we singed Wakeham, but I gave in when our forwards, combined with Brooks carried him to the point I though ok, maybe he is better then I thought. But no, he is not better, he is worse.

Brooks haters take note, we are done without him.

Bula is playing 1 and 6, and sometimes 7. How embarrassing is that for the other players.

Wait, how on earth do you manage to hit so many wrong conclusions here.

Wakeham, on paper we should not have signed him. He has done far better then expected. Starford, a poor 5/8 but as the 4th option so what. These are not the issues.

The issue was Tupou coming in from the wing and our defense being totally porus. look at the tries:

• Will Warbrick 3'
• Will Warbrick 30'
• Tyran Wishart 36'
• Will Warbrick 53'
• Will Warbrick 64'
• Kane Bradley 72'

I have never heard of Will warbrick, but he ran riot on our wing. Tupou kept lining up against the centre and Melbourne court him on the overlap.

Like DAMN.

I even see Bula, at 1 running to that spot as he can see the Overlap as clear as day.
Every commentator makes the point that the number 1 organises the defense. They see the team and they see the gaps. That's a HUGE ask of a Basketball player who is playing at 1. HUGE!

Wayne Bennett, Craig Bellamy, Ricky Stuart. ALL FAMOUS FOR GETTING DEFENSIVE STRUCTURES RIGHT before thinking about scoring.

"Naden left centre played on the right. AJ right centre played on the left letting 3 tries in. " which is probably your best on the point comment. Why were our centre's played out of position?
We know Naden can defend, or at least defend better then the rest of our team. Yet AJ + Tupou let through 4 damn tries that night. 4!

Starford Toa was doing better at Centre. We need to start thinking about defensive positions and about having a Wing and Centre that can Defend TOGETHER!!!
Naden and AJ need to keep to their sides. More importantly they need to be partnered with people they can trust and can form a defensive barrier.

We have no defensive Barrier. hence the 20 something to 6 score vs melbourne.

 

[Moh]

Is Sheens even coaching, Benji has the headphones on..... Sheens is sitting in the corner of the box

I honestly don't think Sheens is that invested in the results. He knows his role, and that's just to give Benji some experience. Or... take away attention from Benji while he has the training wheels on.

It will be even worse when Benji is sole-charge IMO.

 

[GCfan]

Agree in most parts - i think Sheens bench and times when he has replaced players has always been a weak spot in his coaching.
Selecting Toa at 5/8 falls on Sheens for not getting more depth in the halves. Right now, you go get Conor Tracey (no arguments) for this year and look for your half (Lam would be my preference but hearing he has signed for the Raiders)
The attack game plan has been terrible all year and that falls on Benji and Robbie. 2 of the most creative players that have played are coaching the most boring attack i have seen.
Toa cannot defend at 6 and AJ is too slow outside and makes poor defensive reads. These 2 players were responsible were 3 of the tries through poor reads and not shifting across but being flat footed and jamming in.

Thought Connor Tracey has signed for Parra.

 

[hybrid_tiger]

What did you think was going to happen when we brought a coach well past his used by date, who has a record of failure for the past 15 years back?

We then hire his puppet who has a history of screwing up rosters, and deal with the fallout

Sheens should have never been brought back in any capacity. There were other options, the club looked for positive media spin over performance.

We are a basket case from top to bottom

Correct.

 

[426Tlgerland]

Is Sheens even coaching, Benji has the headphones on..... Sheens is sitting in the corner of the box

Sheens is the coach , he would pick the side and looking at it , he did , Toa playing great footy and gets moved , Laurie should have played 6 , Toa back to his spot , Naden Back to his spot , Piss Wakeman off and bring in Smith , the pattern of years gone by is rolling in , Poor Benji has to deal with Sheens calls maybe , also how on earth do you not play one of your reserves unless you flogging the other team another Sheens mess , if you don’t want to play him bring in Matta or James

 

[You Know Who]

How poor is it.

Toa to 5/8.

Signing the slowest player in the NRL as back up half, while we could have signed Clune, Crossland or Volkman in that role.

Naden left centre played on the right. AJ right centre played on the left letting 3 tries in. Why on earth do you play them on the opposite side to which both are most comfortable? It kills me.

Bateman a loose cannon at lock. Can not play in the middle. To unpredictable.


Seyfath and Twal on at the same time for long periods.

Replacing our semi experienced hooker when we were on a roll and had control.

I was savage when we singed Wakeham, but I gave in when our forwards, combined with Brooks carried him to the point I though ok, maybe he is better then I thought. But no, he is not better, he is worse.

Brooks haters take note, we are done without him.

Bula is playing 1 and 6, and sometimes 7. How embarrassing is that for the other players.

Brooks couldn’t carry a bag of groceries let alone another player.

Done without Brooks? We were 3 and 9, coming last and on pace for our second straight wooden spoon!! What world are you living in??

You Brooks lovers have to be one of the most delusional groups in all sports.

 

[Winston Churchill]

Brooks couldn’t carry a bag of groceries let alone another player.

Done without Brooks? We were 3 and 9, coming last and on pace for our second straight wooden spoon!! What world are you living in??

You Brooks lovers have to be one of the most delusional groups in all sports.

Delusional or dumb, either word fits.

 

[Tucker]

Delusional or dumb, either word fits.

I think dumb is more correct.

 

[Jolls]

There is still a lot of footy to be played in 2023, so I don't want to get too far ahead, but I am trying to put the Benji/Fulton issue in the rear view mirror and look for some positives from our current coaching arrangement and our latest recruiting developments.

Sure, Sheens and Benji, made a huge error in their assessment of Brooks and AD being a coachable halves combination and have lead us to where we are. However, in the background I am seeing potential benefit from the current "arrangement".

Bula, TDS, Pole, Blore, Uto, Tupou, Feledy and Fianu(s) are a good nucleus to build from. If we can add an experienced half and a quality centre to compliment Api, Klem and Bateman we will have about the right mix to build a team that, with the right pathways system, is sustainable.

We now need to ensure that we follow the Penrith model and develop the talent to drag us off the bottom of the NRL. Despite the results on the field this year I am optomistic about the future. While many are calling for youth to be blooded Sheens had refrained from this. I think rightly so - we are, touch wood, developing a dynasty. Given we can't buy in the cream of the crop we need to invest in these players and bring them into FG when they are ready - not just when we need to fill a gap. While I am not a fan of having TT on the paddock, I think it is probably too early to get Feledy out there and the same can be said for junior Fianu and TDS. However, unless we can get a couple fo good halves over the off season Latu, may be thrown in the deep end.

I trust that Sheens' eye for junior talent combined with what Benji has learn't from Uncle Wayne will make 24 a productive and pivotal year in the development of WT. If we stuff up our investment in our young talent, as has been shown with our recruiting efforts to date, we will not be in a postion to recruit experienced playmakers.

I can't give Sheens and Benji a pass on 2023 from a result perspective; they errantly placed their faith in Brooks and AD to carry the day. However, if you look at the long game I think that despite slicing it off the tee the approach shot in the development of our young players has been pretty good. Add in the latest recruits and, if we putt well, we may save par in 24 and be in a postion to birdie 25.