What's new
By:
Advanced search…
The Front Row Forums

Register a free account today to become a member of the world's largest Rugby League discussion forum! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Eels in the media

I bleed blue & gold

I bleed blue & gold

First Grade
Messages
8,833
Gronk said:
As I said in the podcast thread, we all got it wrong when Lyon / Tonga left is back in 2004 or so.

Lyon walked out on Smith and we lost Tonga to the Dogs a few months earlier. We all said that Lyon was a merkin and that if it wasn't for him we would have kept Tonga.

As it turns out, it was allegedly an unhealthy workplace. Tonga could not wait to get out of the joint and Lyon walked in Rnd 1 or 2.

More to come from this and I may even have to indeed apologise to Judas Lyon.
Click to expand...

Maybe Smith was more hard on him because he could see his potential but he was trying to get him to come out of his shell more. If Smith didn't push him, he may not have turned into the player he did. Not defending Smith but im sure he had his reasons. It was a shame how it ended up, We also lost Vaealiki mid season to his Achilles injury and he never played for us again.
 
Gronk

Gronk

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
73,933
I bleed blue & gold said:
Maybe Smith was more hard on him because he could see his potential but he was trying to get him to come out of his shell more. If Smith didn't push him, he may not have turned into the player he did. Not defending Smith but im sure he had his reasons. It was a shame how it ended up, We also lost Vaealiki mid season to his Achilles injury and he never played for us again.
Click to expand...

I am sure that Brian Smith meant well, however he seems to have polarised many player groups. IIRC Hindy loved him. Clearly Tonga and Lyon did not.

Danny Buderus did not.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/s...3a8c3d85d?sv=542cb19db6743f95309bfa22008a4dac

Mitchell Pearce did not

https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/st...e/news-story/74b85c1c87a247e6ddd87abf28a5c850
 
IFR33K

IFR33K

Coach
Messages
17,043
Gronk said:
As I said in the podcast thread, we all got it wrong when Lyon / Tonga left is back in 2004 or so.

Lyon walked out on Smith and we lost Tonga to the Dogs a few months earlier. We all said that Lyon was a merkin and that if it wasn't for him we would have kept Tonga.

As it turns out, it was allegedly an unhealthy workplace. Tonga could not wait to get out of the joint and Lyon walked in Rnd 1 or 2.

More to come from this and I may even have to indeed apologise to Judas Lyon.
Click to expand...


With a playing squad of 30 or so plus coaching staff, I’m sure there’d be plenty of personality clashes. I’m sure every coach in the nrl has ticked plenty of players off. Mental illness or not, there’s really nothing to see here.
 
strider

strider

Post Whore
Messages
78,603
Gronk said:
As I said in the podcast thread, we all got it wrong when Lyon / Tonga left is back in 2004 or so.

Lyon walked out on Smith and we lost Tonga to the Dogs a few months earlier. We all said that Lyon was a merkin and that if it wasn't for him we would have kept Tonga.

As it turns out, it was allegedly an unhealthy workplace. Tonga could not wait to get out of the joint and Lyon walked in Rnd 1 or 2.

More to come from this and I may even have to indeed apologise to Judas Lyon.
Click to expand...
No, Lyon was still a dog

Bit of A and a bit of B
 
Poupou Escobar

Poupou Escobar

Post Whore
Messages
84,800
Gronk said:
As I said in the podcast thread, we all got it wrong when Lyon / Tonga left is back in 2004 or so.

Lyon walked out on Smith and we lost Tonga to the Dogs a few months earlier. We all said that Lyon was a merkin and that if it wasn't for him we would have kept Tonga.

As it turns out, it was allegedly an unhealthy workplace. Tonga could not wait to get out of the joint and Lyon walked in Rnd 1 or 2.

More to come from this and I may even have to indeed apologise to Judas Lyon.
Click to expand...
Lyon and Tallis both sat out entire seasons rather than play for Brian Smith. How many other coaches have had that occur for even one player?
 
I bleed blue & gold

I bleed blue & gold

First Grade
Messages
8,833
Gronk said:
I am sure that Brian Smith meant well, however he seems to have polarised many player groups. IIRC Hindy loved him. Clearly Tonga and Lyon did not.

Danny Buderus did not.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/s...3a8c3d85d?sv=542cb19db6743f95309bfa22008a4dac

Mitchell Pearce did not

https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/st...e/news-story/74b85c1c87a247e6ddd87abf28a5c850
Click to expand...

Smith just might have gone the wrong way about it.

Like iFreek said, every coach is going to clash with a few players, although it seems there were a few players over the years that seemed to think Smith's mind games and text tactics were over the top.

He certainly turned us and the Roosters around.

Not condoning what Smith did, i've been a victim of workplace bullying and it's not fun, it's hard to get up in the morning to go to work at the best of times, but when someone is making work even worse than it should be it really is the pits.
 
I'm a loser baby...

I'm a loser baby...

Immortal
Messages
42,876
I bleed blue & gold said:
Smith just might have gone the wrong way about it.

Like iFreek said, every coach is going to clash with a few players, although it seems there were a few players over the years that seemed to think Smith's mind games and text tactics were over the top.

He certainly turned us and the Roosters around.

Not condoning what Smith did, i've been a victim of workplace bullying and it's not fun, it's hard to get up in the morning to go to work at the best of times, but when someone is making work even worse than it should be it really is the pits.
Click to expand...
If you didn't sleep under the desk and bang the cleaning staff they might have treated you better!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Top