When they became first grade coaches Joel, what was the roster like? I guarantee they were pretty bloody good. That alone gives young coaches an opportunity to establish themselves. They became great coaches not because they took over a club that had struggled for years but because things were in place for them, it helps. Right now at the Tigers you have a club that is the most challenging place to play, coach, administrate & support. There is more pressure at the Tigers than any other club because they’ve been so poorly run and have been unsuccessful for 22 out of 25 years. As much as it pains people Richo & Benji are going to need time to turn it around.My rebuttal for the benji debate. Using dragons and bulldogs as examples of “bottom feeders” I feel is inaccurate. Everyone talks about their squad of journeyman but seriously, they have legitimate superstars in their team. Replace faatape and Bateman/potter with Kikau and Crichton and tell me we win another spoon with a straight face. We are missing genuine origin/international level players to make any difference in a game. Our current squad can hang in there but don’t have the strike power to get over the line. I’m not a huge benji fan (it was a love hate relationship when he was a player) but I reckon it’s harsh to pile on him for game success. Recruitment success is another thing though. He got luai and turuva, but I ned at least one more before I say it’s working.
This is a good point I feel.
I have real concerns about Benji as a coach, both now and longer term, but it's really hard to judge him on this current squad. We have a bunch of kids, interspersed with career reserve graders. It's a terribly put-together squad, and even the likes of Bellamy/Bennett etc. would struggle to get anything out of this lot.
That's not to say that he should get a free run, or that we should ignore some of the obvious issues we're seeing weekly. Just a point from a higher aspect in that it's folly to expect much more than terrible performances from a terrible squad.
I don’t know about that. Bellamy and Bennett are great coaches because they get more out of guys like Nick Meaney and Jeremy Marshall-King.
As for Eddie’s comment on not seeing an identity, well it’s pretty difficult when you use 36-38 players, your 7s are in and out & injured during games etc. I doubt very much any Bulldog fan saw an identity last year when they also used about 38 players but they’ve turned it around after a squad makeover that’s taken 3 years or so to get right.
If I was Brad Arthur I would be very reluctant to coach at this club because the pressure would be immense. He’d be a lot better off taking over a new franchise because he’d be given time. I actually think Jarome Luai will be in for a rude shock as well because of the pressure he’ll be put under here. He seems like the kind of personality who thrives under some pressure but at the Tigers it’ll be a very different kind of pressure than anything he’s been used to. I think Richo is probably finding that out too & it would not surprise me at all if he can’t see out the 4 years as he’s not a young man anymore.
When they became first grade coaches Joel, what was the roster like? I guarantee they were pretty bloody good. That alone gives young coaches an opportunity to establish themselves. They became great coaches not because they took over a club that had struggled for years but because things were in place for them, it helps. Right now at the Tigers you have a club that is the most challenging place to play, coach, administrate & support. There is more pressure at the Tigers than any other club because they’ve been so poorly run and have been unsuccessful for 22 out of 25 years. As much as it pains people Richo & Benji are going to need time to turn it around.My rebuttal for the benji debate. Using dragons and bulldogs as examples of “bottom feeders” I feel is inaccurate. Everyone talks about their squad of journeyman but seriously, they have legitimate superstars in their team. Replace faatape and Bateman/potter with Kikau and Crichton and tell me we win another spoon with a straight face. We are missing genuine origin/international level players to make any difference in a game. Our current squad can hang in there but don’t have the strike power to get over the line. I’m not a huge benji fan (it was a love hate relationship when he was a player) but I reckon it’s harsh to pile on him for game success. Recruitment success is another thing though. He got luai and turuva, but I ned at least one more before I say it’s working.
This is a good point I feel.
I have real concerns about Benji as a coach, both now and longer term, but it's really hard to judge him on this current squad. We have a bunch of kids, interspersed with career reserve graders. It's a terribly put-together squad, and even the likes of Bellamy/Bennett etc. would struggle to get anything out of this lot.
That's not to say that he should get a free run, or that we should ignore some of the obvious issues we're seeing weekly. Just a point from a higher aspect in that it's folly to expect much more than terrible performances from a terrible squad.
I don’t know about that. Bellamy and Bennett are great coaches because they get more out of guys like Nick Meaney and Jeremy Marshall-King.
As for Eddie’s comment on not seeing an identity, well it’s pretty difficult when you use 36-38 players, your 7s are in and out & injured during games etc. I doubt very much any Bulldog fan saw an identity last year when they also used about 38 players but they’ve turned it around after a squad makeover that’s taken 3 years or so to get right.
You’re probably right, but there are signs I’m seeing that show the small tangibles that we should have control over aren’t being turned.
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When they became first grade coaches Joel, what was the roster like? I guarantee they were pretty bloody good. That alone gives young coaches an opportunity to establish themselves. They became great coaches not because they took over a club that had struggled for years but because things were in place for them, it helps. Right now at the Tigers you have a club that is the most challenging place to play, coach, administrate & support. There is more pressure at the Tigers than any other club because they’ve been so poorly run and have been unsuccessful for 22 out of 25 years. As much as it pains people Richo & Benji are going to need time to turn it around.My rebuttal for the benji debate. Using dragons and bulldogs as examples of “bottom feeders” I feel is inaccurate. Everyone talks about their squad of journeyman but seriously, they have legitimate superstars in their team. Replace faatape and Bateman/potter with Kikau and Crichton and tell me we win another spoon with a straight face. We are missing genuine origin/international level players to make any difference in a game. Our current squad can hang in there but don’t have the strike power to get over the line. I’m not a huge benji fan (it was a love hate relationship when he was a player) but I reckon it’s harsh to pile on him for game success. Recruitment success is another thing though. He got luai and turuva, but I ned at least one more before I say it’s working.
This is a good point I feel.
I have real concerns about Benji as a coach, both now and longer term, but it's really hard to judge him on this current squad. We have a bunch of kids, interspersed with career reserve graders. It's a terribly put-together squad, and even the likes of Bellamy/Bennett etc. would struggle to get anything out of this lot.
That's not to say that he should get a free run, or that we should ignore some of the obvious issues we're seeing weekly. Just a point from a higher aspect in that it's folly to expect much more than terrible performances from a terrible squad.
I don’t know about that. Bellamy and Bennett are great coaches because they get more out of guys like Nick Meaney and Jeremy Marshall-King.
As for Eddie’s comment on not seeing an identity, well it’s pretty difficult when you use 36-38 players, your 7s are in and out & injured during games etc. I doubt very much any Bulldog fan saw an identity last year when they also used about 38 players but they’ve turned it around after a squad makeover that’s taken 3 years or so to get right.
You’re probably right, but there are signs I’m seeing that show the small tangibles that we should have control over aren’t being turned.
Exactly. Too much of our current situation is being written of as "oh well we have a poor/inexeperienced roster". Firstly its the kids who are performing the best and many of the experienced players we have like Klem, Api, Sezer have previously played at the top level and arent so old that they have "lost it".
There is no improvement in simple improvable sections of our game. Unfortunately IMO its 100% lack of good coaching.
