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Paul Green

Whip Whitaker

Juniors
Messages
808
If this shit continues for another year, I think he will get sacked...

Souths weren't afraid to sack a premiership coach when they went stale.

Paul Green still thinks it is 2015. The game is leaving him behind.
 

Whip Whitaker

Juniors
Messages
808
When Paul Green first stepped into Cowboys HQ, he was exactly what we needed.

We had all the attacking instincts, but he gave us structures, so we had a combination of both. He also gave us structures in defence (albeit he copied Trent Robinson including deliberate penalties near the try line to slow down the game). He made players accountable and got rid of all the conspiracy theories and whinging about hands of foran and 7 tackle tries. He gave our playmakers a calmness in the big moments with some pointers on game management etc.

Moving on to now, we seem too far removed from any of the attack we had before Green. And further, he seems to be too proud to make necessary changes to a style of footy past its used by date. I know we are a small country team extremely happy about a 2015 premiership, but if you keep rewarding people for yesterday's achievements, we will never win again.

As we know, we were lucky to make the finals in 2017 due to results going our way in the last round, but we were also playing an evolved style of footy because injuries forced Green's hands. He had to move away from the stale 2014-2016 style. The following year (2018), Scott and Thurston are back (albeit not the former versions of themselves) and Green rushes to revert things back to the old style again. As the results get worse and worse, Green stubbornly sticks to the same style until about the last few games when he reluctanty bloods some younger players. Thurston took all the blame for 2018 because he just looked so old and past it, but that really let Paul Green off the hook for not trying to be imaginative. What excuse will Green now have in 2019? Still Thurston......?

My biggest fears for this club (besides Paul Green's stubbornness to only change when there are injuries) is that we are now too far removed from the Murray-Henry attacking DNA, and are only the Green robotic style.

We just rely on three big name forwards to make ridiculous metres for our halves to play off. We have very little speed in the backline because our quicker players are rotting in reserve grade. I think we really need changes, and the onus is on Green to do it while he is coach. Paul Green will badly get exposed if Taumalolo is out for an extended period.
 

Desert Qlder

First Grade
Messages
9,081
Having a very structured forward oriented approach is fine, but that requires organisation.

Picking Martin at five eighth doesn't mesh with that because he has no organisational abilities or kicking game. We need playmakers who can direct the team and ease pressure on big forwards. Martin has displayed no ability to do this.

That a journalist was questioning the decision and asking about Jake Clifford in the press conference shows that people are noticing his curious and stubborn selection process.
 

Whip Whitaker

Juniors
Messages
808
Having a very structured forward oriented approach is fine, but that requires organisation.

Picking Martin at five eighth doesn't mesh with that because he has no organisational abilities or kicking game. We need playmakers who can direct the team and ease pressure on big forwards. Martin has displayed no ability to do this.

That a journalist was questioning the decision and asking about Jake Clifford in the press conference shows that people are noticing his curious and stubborn selection process.

A bit of structure is fine, but teams need a bit of attack too. We were proof of that in 2015 where we were fairly competent in both. The Melbourne Storm were an even better example of it in 2017. They saw that teams like Canberra were bringing more attack back into the game, and Melbourne needed a little something extra to overcome the Sharks (and to a lesser extent the Cowboys). They then became one of the most complete sides I've ever seen by adding more speed and flair to their structures.

There is probably an argument against knee jerk reactions, and making too many changes in one week because of a bad loss. Plus many would just be emotional losing to a bitter rival in Brisbane. But these issues go back quite some time, and would not just be because of a bad loss to Brisbane. We were already stale in 2016, but only made a preliminary on star power. We only made the grand final in 2017 due to luck, and injuries forcing a new game plan. 2018 really exposed how bad we'd gotten (and older), and tonight was like last year all over again, if not worse.

As for changes, I'd seek to integrate a few younger players into this team over the next few weeks, including Tuala and Mosby. Possibly Clifford. I am happy with Dunn over Hampton as the back-up hooker, however, Hampton did enough late last year to fit into the squad somewhere. He is probably too small for centre, so possibly it has to be fullback.
 

Whip Whitaker

Juniors
Messages
808
TBF, O'Neill had an option in his favour as we negotiated poorly when he was going well.

We were kind to everybody after winning a premiership. What we didn't do was wait to see who would find the motivation to get back to those highs after a premiership.

Many of those players (like O'Neil) are part of NQ/Cowboys folklore no matter how crap they play post 2015. Which is probably why they lost a bit of an edge/hungover on the field....

I would never question whether somebody is not trying out there. But there is a difference between trying and really wanting something....
 

axl rose

Bench
Messages
4,936
Paul Green is like a father to Granville. They are closer than Boyd and Bennett....
That explains it. There were few games last year where he resembled a first grader let alone earn another 3 years. What is going on with the Cows board? I thought Ben Ikin left and the average IQ doubled instantly.Though in fairness it could be worse, at least Cows only live in 2015 and not 2005.
 

Whip Whitaker

Juniors
Messages
808
That explains it. There were few games last year where he resembled a first grader let alone earn another 3 years. Though in fairness it could be worse at least Cows only live in 2015 and not 2005.

Jake had a dream run in 2015. He was obviously younger, faster and the league didn't know what hit them. Turn to 2016 and the interchange reduced, and oppositions started working him over in defence. He suffered from both of those. Then turn to more recent years and he has lost his speed.

Jake always had questionable service from dummy half, but he offset it with speed. Now his speed is just not there anymore.

Watching Damian Cook last year made me remember just how good we (Cowboys) had it when Granville was that quick out of dummy. Of course, Cook is a better version of a prime Granville.
 

I Bleed Maroon

Referee
Messages
25,571
Might be a tad early to be getting uppity about Green. The post JT era has only just started, and considering how big of a loss he is, being 1 and 1 isn't all THAT bad. 5 weeks down the line, if the Cows are still barely clinging on to somewhere between 10th and 12th, maybe you can start asking questions.
 

TheVelourFog

First Grade
Messages
5,061
was glad that the backline was getting a long overdue refresh, nek minit we get a bunch of rubbish Broncos castoffs

would rather play Hampton and Tuala
 

Wizardman

First Grade
Messages
8,504
We were kind to everybody after winning a premiership. What we didn't do was wait to see who would find the motivation to get back to those highs after a premiership.

Many of those players (like O'Neil) are part of NQ/Cowboys folklore no matter how crap they play post 2015. Which is probably why they lost a bit of an edge/hungover on the field....

I would never question whether somebody is not trying out there. But there is a difference between trying and really wanting something....
O'Neill was never really that good. He has had the odd solid game but in general, the man lacks a bit of ticker. He does not have express pace and is a liability in defence as a centre. NQ need to move on from him.
 

Wizardman

First Grade
Messages
8,504
That explains it. There were few games last year where he resembled a first grader let alone earn another 3 years. What is going on with the Cows board? I thought Ben Ikin left and the average IQ doubled instantly.Though in fairness it could be worse, at least Cows only live in 2015 and not 2005.
You hit the nail on the head....never had any great skill, very average service and now....slow. Cows will need to make a call on him...not sure if Green is willing to do that.
 

mistertaylor

Juniors
Messages
409
Questions I have about our team - not just from last night's result I should add.

Is Baptiste good enough to put pressure on Granville to hold his spot?

What is O'Neill doing well that allows him to keep a spot in first grade week after week?

Is five eighth Martin's best position, or is he better suited as a bench utility?

We signed some outside backs to give us extra depth and replace Winterstein, Linnett and Coote, but the incumbents like Mosby and Hampton have started the year in QCup. What do they need to do to earn a recall to FG?
 
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