Big Mongrel signs

[nrlnrl]

Didnt we have a player by the name of Gavin Allen? He was shit Bennett turned him into a star.

I remember one of those where are they now interviews & he said he was never happy living in Sydney, but maybe it was a combination of that & the coach bringing out the best in him

 

[hardbaby]

I agree essentially, but "near the bottom" is simply wrong. We were in the top 8 pretty much every season of the decade including the year before he took over. It was a quality team he put the finishing touches on.

Yes it was a talented team but it had no killer instinct. Soft underbelly. No ability to close out games. Style over substance. Bennett turned that around...shame the lesson was lost on the powers that be.

 

[Minh]

It appeared that some of the ability and grit was coached out of the team as Price tried to turn the team into an attacking unit all the while losing that stellar defense and achieved neither good attack or defense. It is true to say that he did inherit an aging roster as well as some injuries to the team but it was painful to see the same optimism and excuses week after week when clearly the team was spiraling. This year we will surely see if he has any ability.

 

[BrissyRedV]

I still struggle to see what really could have been done to turn the team around last year. The roster was poor from the get go without any injuries, and there are no guarantees that gambling with some of the young guys would have made any difference. As for prices post game comments, what else could he say other than remain optimistic? Would it be preferential for him to come out and say he wasn't given a team that could be competitive? Would he be held in better regard had he thrust say DW into 1st grade even if the team still failed? Frankly, it would not have mattered if Bennett was coach last year, we still would have failed

 

[Minh]

It probably would have been better if he admitted that there were problems instead of blaming the losses as being unlucky or pipped at the post etc. He should have thrown Harry Seijka straight in the minute we signed him even to see what the kid could do, after all he was a star junior with FG experience and we "desperately" needed a half back at the time.

 

[bottle]

Had Price run out Siejka or Drinkwater and they'd failed (as they doubtless would have), he would have been pilloried anyway. Let's be realistic, these guys didn't guide the Cutters to a successful season.

 

[Minh]

Price seems like a good guy and there's not many good guys I wouldn't throw my support around but I think he hasn't made the tough calls enough in regards to dropping players and as a coach of elite athletes in teams you can't be like their best buddies and big calls are required. Maybe the players give him that comfort zone knowing he has their support who knows because I only assume.

This year he has a big chance to prove the doubters wrong myself included and erase the memory of the last two years.

 

[BrissyRedV]

It probably would have been better if he admitted that there were problems instead of blaming the losses as being unlucky or pipped at the post etc. He should have thrown Harry Seijka straight in the minute we signed him even to see what the kid could do, after all he was a star junior with FG experience and we "desperately" needed a half back at the time.

Don't get me wrong with Price and his post match conferences. He is a terrible speaker when it comes to interviews. But seriously? How often do you ever truly hear the truth in them? Not very often and usually only from the emotional types ie. Toovey.

With Seijka, yeah he could have thrust him into 1st grade. But to me that is kind of a damed if you do, dammed if you don't type of situation. Seijka was not exactly a sure thing situation and had minimal 1st grade experience. Price did Thebes cautious thing that he had obviously learnt from Bennett who was ever the cautious man. He was the man who 1st put prior etc into the centres.

Yeah things could have been done differently, but there is no guarantees that they. Would have had any effect.

 

[Minh]

Had Price run out Siejka or Drinkwater and they'd failed (as they doubtless would have), he would have been pilloried anyway. Let's be realistic, these guys didn't guide the Cutters to a successful season.

Drinkwater yes, no doubt about it he could make Soward look like Trevor Gillmeister. Seijka I thought could have been a trump card for the rest of the season but got injured first or second up in the Cutters.

 

[BrissyRedV]

Don't get me wrong with all this, I was as frustrated as any person with last season and if someone had left me in the room by myself with Price, I just might have throttled him. Now is the time to get past it and give him his chance. It can't be changed now

 

[Minh]

Don't get me wrong with Price and his post match conferences. He is a terrible speaker when it comes to interviews. But seriously? How often do you ever truly hear the truth in them? Not very often and usually only from the emotional types ie. Toovey.

With Seijka, yeah he could have thrust him into 1st grade. But to me that is kind of a damed if you do, dammed if you don't type of situation. Seijka was not exactly a sure thing situation and had minimal 1st grade experience. Price did Thebes cautious thing that he had obviously learnt from Bennett who was ever the cautious man. He was the man who 1st put prior etc into the centres.

Yeah things could have been done differently, but there is no guarantees that they. Would have had any effect.

That's true regarding Seijka but I believe it was the opposite and that he had nothing to lose. He had Chase Stanley there and wasn't setting the world on fire as we needed a proper number 7 to organise the team. Seijka may have failed but he probably should have tried to make something happen. We lost pretty much all the games with Stanley at half anyway.

 

[Minh]

Don't get me wrong with all this, I was as frustrated as any person with last season and if someone had left me in the room by myself with Price, I just might have throttled him. Now is the time to get past it and give him his chance. It can't be changed now

Well said.

 

[Dr Fruitbasket Returns]

Dudes, I respect everyone's opinion on here. But I don't get any of this regard for Sejka. He's a crap reserve grader who's failed everywhere he's been. He was making up the numbers for the Cutters last year. He was never going to be on the radar for first grade, even for a shit first grade side that was in the mix for the spoon. Price or no Price.

He's worse than anyone who's left, including Witt and Drinkwater. With Widdop, Quinlan, Stanley and Williams on the books, Sejka wouldn't even have got a shot at the Cutters this year. He's that bad. He's not the bloke we never gave a fair chance to, he's just a crap player who could barely be expected to play for a crap Jim Beam Cup team.

What are all the high opinions based on?

 

[watatank]

I dont know about bring rated highly, but it was slim pickings. He was rated highly enough to be nsw u20s half the previous year....better half than Quinlan who got a chance and drinkwater lost his cutters halfback spot to him

 

[Mr Red]

Dudes, I respect everyone's opinion on here. But I don't get any of this regard for Sejka. He's a crap reserve grader who's failed everywhere he's been. He was making up the numbers for the Cutters last year. He was never going to be on the radar for first grade, even for a shit first grade side that was in the mix for the spoon. Price or no Price.

He's worse than anyone who's left, including Witt and Drinkwater. With Widdop, Quinlan, Stanley and Williams on the books, Sejka wouldn't even have got a shot at the Cutters this year. He's that bad. He's not the bloke we never gave a fair chance to, he's just a crap player who could barely be expected to play for a crap Jim Beam Cup team.

What are all the high opinions based on?

agree with you regarding Seijka... he was no better than what we already had... however:

i think the frustration lies in the fact that the team was losing each week, and playing really, really bad football. they looked lost on the field and lacked any direction - however Price kept picking the same players each week.
I think a change was needed, even if the players put into first grade were no better then what we had, however it would have sent a clear message to the first graders that poor performances will not be tolerated... they seemed very much in their comfort zone last season and knew they would be selected each week regardless of their performances...

and seijka was brought in half way through the season so it was rather confusing to sign him if Price had no thoughts of giving him a chance in the top squad...

 

[Godz Illa]

I dont know about bring rated highly, but it was slim pickings. He was rated highly enough to be nsw u20s half the previous year....better half than Quinlan who got a chance and drinkwater lost his cutters halfback spot to him

Yep, way better than Drinkwater. And saying he "failed everywhere he's been" is a bit unfair. Jamie Soward was a "failure" also before he came to us. Some players just need the opportunity and the right club. Just a shame he got injured in what, his 2nd game for the Cutters?

 

[Slippery Morris]

Cleary, Cartwright, Maguire etc threw in unknown players in the halves and they turned out OK. At least they got to see what they had and gave them a chance. Same can't be said for muppet. He persisted using the best No.9 at the club to play No.7. You will never know until you try and he didn't. I think the fans would have been more understanding of that logic than what he did

 

[bottle]

No, they wouldn't.

 

[Slippery Morris]

Just say Drinkwater has a breakout season and kills it in first grade this year, are you going to think it was a good call not to give him a crack last season?

When he threw Quinlan in the final rounds I thought he was great and should be given a crack this season but he is overlooked by the looks of things. I really hope Quinlan is given a crack this season on the field. Duges is injury prone so hopefully when he has his standard time off it will be a chance for Quinlan to shine at fullback.

 

[BrissyRedV]

Funny you bring up quinlan. He was labelled on this very forum as too small to be any good in 1st grade.