NRL season 2017: Laurie Daley and Geoff Toovey added to shortlist to coach Wests Tigers

[Guest]

NRL season 2017: Laurie Daley and Geoff Toovey added to shortlist to coach Wests Tigers
Adrian Proszenko - SMH

Wests Tigers have added NSW coach Laurie Daley to a shortlist of prospective coaching candidates that also includes former Manly mentor Geoff Toovey.

Former Penrith coach Ivan Cleary remains the front runner to take over from Jason Taylor, while interim replacement Andrew Webster will get his first chance to impress when the side hosts Melbourne at Leichhardt Oval on Sunday.

The wildcard could be Daley, who has overseen the Blues preparations for the past four State of Origin series. Daley's contract with the NSWRL expires at the end of the current campaign.

Daley was at the helm in 2014 when the Blues finally ended Queensland's Origin stranglehold, giving him one series win in four tightly contested years. The former Canberra pivot has previously been sounded out about a full-time NRL head coaching role, but to date has chosen to channel all of his energies into beating the Maroons.

Daley has a close bond with the Tigers' Blues representatives Aaron Woods and James Tedesco, two of the "big four" stars off contract. Woods, already captain at club level, is one of the main contenders to take over from Paul Gallen as state skipper. Daley handed Woods his Blues debut in his first year in charge and the prop has played a part in every series since. Tedesco earned his first Blues jumper last year and is expected to be a mainstay of the side at fullback.

The other members of the "big four", Mitchell Moses and Luke Brooks, have been touted as future Origin stars but are yet to consistently produce the football required to be seriously considered.

Toovey has resumed his coaching career overseas, as the boss of embattled English club Bradford. The Bulls started the season 12 points behind their opponents as punishment for going into liquidation. The former Manly mentor boasts a 58 per cent winning record with the clipboard at NRL level.

The suitability of Cleary, Daley and Toovey for the Tigers job was discussed during a meeting of club powerbrokers on Tuesday, although it's understood none of the potential candidates has been contacted.

Webster said he felt for Taylor and admitted he had no idea how long he would be in the top job.

"You've got to understand I was an assistant coach 48 hours ago. You're not thinking about those sort of things," Webster said.

"You want to be an NRL head coach but you don't want to be an NRL head coach in these circumstances, particularly when the guy has been so good to you.

"I've got a lot of faith in these boys, a lot of time for them as individuals and players. After that initial disappointment for Jason, I had to stand up, be professional and think about them also."

The Tigers have churned through Tim Sheens, Mick Potter and Taylor in quick succession, raising questions whether the job was a poisoned chalice.

"I don't believe in anything like that," Webster said.

"How those things come about is up to people well above me. I don't read into anything about a poisoned chalice here at all."

The Tigers are attempting to retain their four most influential players, the off contract quartet of Brooks, Moses, Woods and Tedesco. Webster has had a particular influence on the young halves, having coached them at under 18s and under 20s level.

Webster – who has also had coaching stints at the Eels, Warriors and the Super League – is hopeful all four will stay put.

"I think they are great players, everyone knows how good they are," he said

"What they are doing behind the scenes with their recruitment and their manager and the club, is up to them.

"As an interim coach or even an assistant coach, I certainly don't know where that's at. But I think we all agree that we hope they stay because they are excellent players."

 

[Guest]

Phil Gould urges Wests Tigers to make Ivan Cleary the club's No.1 target
Michael Chammas - SMH

Phil Gould, who dumped Ivan Cleary at Penrith, has urged the Wests Tigers to make the former Panthers coach the club's No.1 target.

Gould believes Cleary is the perfect candidate for the position the Tigers find themselves in after sacking coach Jason Taylor on Monday, but the former Panthers and Warriors coach would need to decide if another rebuilding assignment was the right job for him.

"You couldn't recommend him highly enough," Gould told Fairfax Media.

"For what the Tigers look like they need, he's probably a perfect candidate. He did a rebuild job at the Warriors and led them to a grand final and did a great rebuild job with the Panthers. The Tigers will be a big challenge and he'll have to weigh up whether he wants to go through that.

"There's no doubt he's the perfect candidate for that sort of thing. He's prepared to be patient with young players and develop them and take his time. If the club supports him through that, he's perfectly fitted for that role. The thing Ivan has to decide is if he wants to go through it again. There are some tough times through that and he knows there are some dark days. That's up to him if he wants to go through that again."

The Panthers general manager told Cleary that he had no doubts he would return to the NRL when he parted ways with him in 2015, but believed his next job should be at a club in a good position.

"I had no doubt whatsoever that he would be back coaching in the NRL," Gould said.

"I even said to him at the time that he should sit and wait for the right job. I told him that he deserved a really good club in a really good position. He just needs to decide if he wants to take on the Tigers job. Ivan will improve that team straight away if he was to take on the job. When we parted ways I said, 'you will come back bigger and better and get the right job'. There's great potential in the Tigers and he might see that as a perfect fit. But he should be their No.1 target."

Nathan Cleary insists he has no idea whether his father will end up at the Wests Tigers – but knows his old man is ready to get back on the horse after being dumped by the Panthers 18 months ago.

The Penrith No.7 says it was business as usual inside the Cleary household in the aftermath of Taylor's sacking, but the possibility of his father coaching against him suddenly dawned on him on Monday night.

"I asked him … I was the one who brought it up," Nathan said of the Tigers job.

"But he said he hasn't got a phone call yet so he's just waiting at the moment. At this stage there's nothing. It's pretty weird. It kind of brushed through my head last night whether we could verse each other with him coaching and me playing.

"Maybe somewhere down the track it will happen and I suppose it will be pretty cool ... I was actually thinking about that last night thinking, 'geez, I don't want to come up against him'. He'll be targeting me a lot but hopefully he does go easy on me."

There will no doubt be speculation about father and son linking up together at some point. The Panthers halfback had a get-out clause that allowed him to leave the foot of the mountains if his father was to join a rival club, but midway through last year he upgraded his deal and asked for the clause to be removed.

"I'm happy at Penrith. If it happens somewhere down the track it happens but I suppose it will just be fate," Nathan said.

"I will just see where the best opportunity is for me and if that's under him, well then that's under him. But at the moment I'm really happy here at Penrith and hopefully it stays that way."

 

[matchball]

Smoke and mirror article to make out the board is actually putting the job to tender.

Why must we endure this?

 

[Milky]

I want Cleary.

Funny how Marina Go didn't know Daleys name a few days ago. I'm sure he is keen on joining our club lol.

 

[Spartan117]

This is what a lot of us wanted. A basket case club

 

[tig_prmz]

we are not rebuilding!!! we've rebuilt it enough times already

everyone believes in what we were doing under Taylor, let's change the man, not the idea.

 

[Milky]

we are not rebuilding!!! we've rebuilt it enough times already

everyone believes in what we were doing under Taylor, let's change the man, not the idea.

To be honest, I think we need to go in a different direction.

Split the "Big 4". Get rid of Moses, Brooks and Woods.

Sign Jack Bird and a half who would provide a good foil for him, don't need to go over the top.

Kane Evans, Felise Kafusi and Asofa-Solemona would be astute pick ups, commanding just over the amount Woods would himself.

We have a perfect opportunity for a clean out, no contracted players means we can basically sign anyone.

Phil Gould said we should let them go, and after thinking about it I agree.

 

[Fraze23]

That read a lot like an article from the Betoota Advocate. They're having a laugh throwing Daley into the mix. How is someone seriously paid to write this rubbish? That'll do me.

 

[Byron_Bay_Fan]

That read a lot like an article from the Betoota Advocate. They're having a laugh throwing Daley into the mix. How is someone seriously paid to write this rubbish? That'll do me.

With my limited knowledge I don't see anything glaring wrong with Daley. His teams' play for SOO are okay and mainly due to Haynes absence we don't win more often. Qld have supermen that NSW don't. SOO is different because some players lift their game and others act opposite.

 

[Fraze23]

That read a lot like an article from the Betoota Advocate. They're having a laugh throwing Daley into the mix. How is someone seriously paid to write this rubbish? That'll do me.

With my limited knowledge I don't see anything glaring wrong with Daley. His teams' play for SOO are okay and mainly due to Haynes absence we don't win more often. Qld have supermen that NSW don't. SOO is different because some players lift their game and others act opposite.

There's a massive difference between coaching the best players in the state for 3 games a year, to building a squad and developing young players through to first-grade standard.
Realistically though, there's as much chance of Daley coaching us as there is Craig Bellamy.

 

[Tommy Magpie]

Daley doesn't like the Tigers. I don't rate him as a coach. A big NO

 

[Tiger4life]

Either our management has no friggin idea and are making things up as they go along or they are just covering their steps to ensure they dont be seen as having a plan in place to get rid of JT way before it happened. Im not sure which one it is. Daley has commitments with NSW this year. Toovey is coaching another team in England. Why are we dragging this out.

 

[newtiger]

That read a lot like an article from the Betoota Advocate. They're having a laugh throwing Daley into the mix. How is someone seriously paid to write this rubbish? That'll do me.

With my limited knowledge I don't see anything glaring wrong with Daley. His teams' play for SOO are okay and mainly due to Haynes absence we don't win more often. Qld have supermen that NSW don't. SOO is different because some players lift their game and others act opposite.

Have a look at Manly with Trent Barrett and you will see what's wrong with Daley.

 

[Geo]

we are not rebuilding!!! we've rebuilt it enough times already

everyone believes in what we were doing under Taylor, let's change the man, not the idea.

To be honest, I think we need to go in a different direction.

Split the "Big 4". Get rid of Moses, Brooks and Woods.

Sign Jack Bird and a half who would provide a good foil for him, don't need to go over the top.

Kane Evans, Felise Kafusi and Asofa-Solemona would be astute pick ups, commanding just over the amount Woods would himself.

We have a perfect opportunity for a clean out, no contracted players means we can basically sign anyone.

Phil Gould said we should let them go, and after thinking about it I agree.

Careful Nelson will be on to this as you left out our No. 1 target Wade Graham..

With Loz as Coach we are dead set certs…

 

[Tigerdon]

If the Tigers board are left to themselves to make a decision , it will be the wrong one.
Pascoe knows what he is doing but the others have no clue. Just ask Liam or any other past players, coaches or admin people. Hopefully they have the brains to bring in an adviser.

 

[Pawsandclaws]

This is a very telling comment from Gould.

"Ivan will improve the team straight away if he were to take on the job"

 

[supercoach]

I only wished they signed Nathan Brown when they had a chance a few years ago. Okay his results at the Knights have not been good but they are getting better every week and he had developed a really strong spirit among the group. As the build their roster up they will end up a very good side

 

[goldcoast_tiger]

we are not rebuilding!!! we've rebuilt it enough times already

everyone believes in what we were doing under Taylor, let's change the man, not the idea.

Whobelieves in it?

It was two wasted years

 

[jirskyr]

This is a very telling comment from Gould.

"Ivan will improve the team straight away if he were to take on the job"

How can we take Gould seriously? He sacked Cleary. He is full of contradictions.

Cleary did a rebuild at Penrith, according to Gould it was a good one. Then they sacked him. And Gould says he told Cleary he should wait for the right role, for a job at a good and stable club. So apparently Penrith weren't that, they weren't a good and stable club at the time?

Then he says Tigers should target Cleary because he's good at rebuilds, but doesn't know if Cleary himself wants to go through a rebuild again.

Well Gus when your side stopped rebuild you axed the guy, so how can you say he needs a job at a stable club when you didn't give him that opportunity?

Maybe Gus should just come out and say "he'll be good for Tigers for 3 or 4 years, then once you guys get some consistency, look for another coach, because that's what we did at Penrith."

 

[jirskyr]

I want Cleary.

Funny how Marina Go didn't know Daleys name a few days ago. I'm sure he is keen on joining our club lol.

If I understood the story correctly, it's not that Go didn't know of the name Laurie Daley, she just didn't recognise him or didn't know what he looked like. Not that it is an excuse, she really should know the NSW coach, it says things about her wider knowledge of the game and just current events. And sure, she probably doesn't need to know Daley in order to get her job done, but it helps to broaden your knowledge of the industry.

Though if you told me to point out Craig Sandercock from a line out, I absolutely know who the guy is, but can't say I absolutely know what he looks like.