Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

I am sort of on the fence regarding if Benji can or cannot coach. Like most of us, I live in hope and my feeling is that he probably can.

What does need addressing is the voices around him. The spirit of 05 needs to be balanced with others with different experiences that will challenge and improve Benji’s opinions and coaching development. Diversity in thinking is not a bad thing.
 
Tom Shines said:
To coach his kid I believe … plus he quickly worked out that all the duds and injured crocs he signed long term were going to stuff the club for years… he was right about that
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I remember when Ivan came in and he initially went after some good players like SJ and Widdop but they all knocked us back. We ended up with the Dogs discards and Packer and Matulino from his Warriors days. On huge four year deals.

Benji came in and seemed to go pretty close to convincing Moses before eventually landing Luai.

Benji is ahead of Ivan based purely on recruitment at WT.
 
further to your point about game plans @tigermate I think you forget that when we played straight and thru the middle and kicked to corners we got whacked.

we had no choice but to adapt the game plan that would avert those issues. I don’t know about you, but I feel that’s good coaching.

furthermore it speaks to the lack of quality he had at his fingertips if we couldn’t play basic footy, because Sheens and McDonnell recruited a bunch of kids and undersized weaklings.

we’ve fixed our yardage problem with our recruits and we’ve recruited Luai who will do 90% of the kicking next year. let’s see what comes about when we’ve got Skelton and Turuva carting the ball up on plays one and two as opposed to Staines and Faataape.
 
BAGNF05 said:
I remember when Ivan came in and he initially went after some good players like SJ and Widdop but they all knocked us back. We ended up with the Dogs discards and Packer and Matulino from his Warriors days. On huge four year deals.

Benji came in and seemed to go pretty close to convincing Moses before eventually landing Luai.

Benji is ahead of Ivan based purely on recruitment at WT.
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I can’t be 100% sure ..because all these shit show years just blend together now and I can’t be bothered looking it up… But I think Ivan made some of the worst signings the club has ever made, like Russel Packer and Josh Reynolds along with the already injured Chris McQueen and Matulino …it still pisses me off to this day that he could just walk out the door mid contract to a team full of superstars in waiting…

I hate Pascoe as much as anyone … but Pascoe trusted Ivan to do the right thing and Ivan screwed him and us over … it also made him cling tighter to the player signings after Ivan left and we all know that led to further misery…
 
jrtiger said:
further to your point about game plans @tigermate I think you forget that when we played straight and thru the middle and kicked to corners we got whacked.

we had no choice but to adapt the game plan that would avert those issues. I don’t know about you, but I feel that’s good coaching.

furthermore it speaks to the lack of quality he had at his fingertips if we couldn’t play basic footy, because Sheens and McDonnell recruited a bunch of kids and undersized weaklings.

we’ve fixed our yardage problem with our recruits and we’ve recruited Luai who will do 90% of the kicking next year. let’s see what comes about when we’ve got Skelton and Turuva carting the ball up on plays one and two as opposed to Staines and Faataape.
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I hear ya mate.

Let’s see.

I’m not positive on Benji

I think the chances of him being a successful coach and being there past next year is about 20%

But I’m praying I’m wrong
 
Coastie_Tiger said:
Remember there was that fleeting moment when we thought we were getting rid of Brooks to sign Cleary Junior here because he wanted to be coached by his dad.
That was a fun day or two 🤣
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There were quite a few on here saying we don’t need Nathan, we have Brooks, wow, just wow was all I could say at the time. There were a heap on here who didn’t rate young Cleary, that’s why I still laugh at the names they come up with for recruitment nowadays
 
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Tom Shines said:
I can’t be 100% sure ..because all these shit show years just blend together now and I can’t be bothered looking it up… But I think Ivan made some of the worst signings the club has ever made, like Russel Packer and Josh Reynolds along with the already injured Chris McQueen and Matulino …it still pisses me off to this day that he could just walk out the door mid contract to a team full of superstars in waiting…

I hate Pascoe as much as anyone … but Pascoe trusted Ivan to do the right thing and Ivan screwed him and us over … it also made him cling tighter to the player signings after Ivan left and we all know that led to further misery…
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Don’t forget Ivan walked into a shit show with a Kangaroos prop, future Australian captain and future NSW half back wanting out the door.

The issues are always higher up than coaching at our club.
 
851 said:
There were quite a few on here saying we don’t need Nathan, we have Brooks, wow, just wow was all I could say at the time. There were a heap on here who didn’t rate young Cleary, that’s why I still laugh at the names they come up with for recruitment nowadays
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Some people defended Brooksie to the end ..lol .. after 11 years here …

you gotta feel a bit sorry for him though …was not suited to play the role that they always forced upon him …good coaches would have realised that you would think …
 
Jeez, I just caught up on the last 10 pages or so of this thread and the biggest standout point in my mind is how many absolutely rubbish players have we had over the last dozen or so years. Man we’ve had some blokes that wouldn’t get a game in the park!
As for Benji’s 2024 squad- we were mostly too young, too lightweight, too small, too slow and too soft, oh and too unfit as well. Most of the time we tried for big periods of a game but we just were rarely at the same level as the opposition.
Can only fairly judge Benji’s ability as a coach when he’s got a team that is capable of competing week in and week out.
 
Great coaches 99 times out of a hundred have great rosters. Granted they usually have the ability to entice quality recruitment based on their reputation and success.

Since day one we have had coaches come and go in a flash bar Sheen’s first gig and nothing has changed. Nothing will change till we get a competive roster and strong depth through the grades.

2025 on paper we look like we have a NRL standard backline with some depth, unlike this year. Forward pack looks under strength, but Iam sure we will land a couple of forwards to bolster our pack. Come September next year will the time to judge Benji, up and till then I am willing to give him a go. Of course another bad year and he ends up on scrap heap with all the others who have failed
 
supercoach said:
Great coaches 99 times out of a hundred have great rosters. Granted they usually have the ability to entice quality recruitment based on their reputation and success.

Since day one we have had coaches come and go in a flash bar Sheen’s first gig and nothing has changed. Nothing will change till we get a competive roster and strong depth through the grades.

2025 on paper we look like we have a NRL standard backline with some depth, unlike this year. Forward pack looks under strength, but Iam sure we will land a couple of forwards to bolster our pack. Come September next year will the time to judge Benji, up and till then I am willing to give him a go. Of course another bad year and he ends up on scrap heap with all the others who have failed
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Im starting to think that this is likely the pack they are going with … hopefully they at least re-sign Sione
 
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