2025 First coach sacked

[Phil McGrawhan]

Please be Toddy
Please be Toddy
Please be Toddy

Jebus Why do you ignore me.
its not much to ask for.
just one little statement from the board saying his job is safe will suffice.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Webster’s odds have blown out big time, he’s looking pretty safe again for the moment.

 

[Marshall_magic]

Safe as houses
Cleary
Bellamy
Fitzgibbon
Ciraldo

would need a 10+ week capitulation
Seidbald
Stuart
Webster
O’Brien
Robinson

3-4 losses and the ground will shake
Hasler
Marshall
Flanagan

I hope you remember your Seek password
Payten

First year in the job
Woolfe
Bennett
Ryles
Maguire

 

[wittyfan]

Power rankings after Round 3:

Payten
Flanagan
Robbo

 

[borisdog]

I'd suggest that the Todd is an almost unbackable favourite.

If they get rolled by Canberra at home this week it's almost certain that our first points will be the round 7 bye

 

[Vic Mackey]

I'd suggest that the Todd is an almost unbackable favourite.

If they get rolled by Canberra at home this week it's almost certain that our first points will be the round 7 bye

The biggest issue I see with Payten is that the cows are the same team since he took over, haven’t seen any improvement. On their day they’re a great attacking team but have no grunt and refuse to get into an arm wrestle with anyone. His recruitment and retention has been truly baffling. Letting Leilua and Feinefuiaki go then buying Bateman (who has the most missed tackles in the comp btw)? I know it’s years ago now but letting Hammer walk? There’s been a few others too

 

[borisdog]

Todd's gotta go if there's not a rapid improvement.

They were very good in his second season. And defensively outstanding. And stopped doing the very dumb shit that they'd been doing the year before. Kicking on the second tackle when you're 10m from scoring. Kicking downfield on the third tackle from your defensive 30, that sort of dumb.

Since then the defense has deteriorated remarkably. And that's been the downfall. The dumb hasn't returned though ( Mostly ) - it's been swapped out for shit handling.
How they made the finals last year still astonishes me given how defensively shocking we were.

I dunno if you can cast the blame at Todd for the recruiting/retention, but you can't keep them all. Especially when you've got a guy who's killing your salary cap and is lucky to play 50% of a game. Leilua I was happy to see go, there's issues there. Bateman is a strange pick up, but unless we can see the books re salary cap and finances then none of us know. We all want rib-eye steak, but if the wallet's empty..........................

Hammer, well he's exciting but has he REALLY set the world on fire? Hindsight is 20/20.

The thing that, IMO, he CAN be blamed for is getting that defensive intent back and improved handling. The deadset basics.
It's the same old horror story and the same "I've set some expectations" statement just about every week for 3 years.

Injuries have not helped, but every side has them. We've got outstanding players on the long term injury list. Luki must be devastated and if he does another knee when he comes back you'd have to think he's finished, which is a real tragedy given his ability.

 

[Bazal]

I think Payten can coach, but whether than translates to any NRL success is based on more than just coaching ability more often than not. Not sure how much say he has in recruitment given a lot of clubs are moving away from having that solely sit with the coach, but I do think he's been saddled with a bigger rebuild than maybe it first looked. But as a whole recruitment probably hasn't been what they need.

Moving Holmes salary on will help, and so will Taumololo if that gets done. Losing Robson will hurt. You obviously can't always replace highly paid players immediately because they're rarer. So I think he might be given at least the chance for him and the club to get through that process before they give him the arse. Also because there's not a tonne of good coaches available. But who knows, some clubs pull the trigger fast and others don't.

 

[borisdog]

I think Payten can coach, but whether than translates to any NRL success is based on more than just coaching ability more often than not. Not sure how much say he has in recruitment given a lot of clubs are moving away from having that solely sit with the coach, but I do think he's been saddled with a bigger rebuild than maybe it first looked. But as a whole recruitment probably hasn't been what they need.

Moving Holmes salary on will help, and so will Taumololo if that gets done. Losing Robson will hurt. You obviously can't always replace highly paid players immediately because they're rarer. So I think he might be given at least the chance for him and the club to get through that process before they give him the arse. Also because there's not a tonne of good coaches available. But who knows, some clubs pull the trigger fast and others don't.

Yeah there are certainly "mitigating circumstances".

You're certainly correct in that there aren't a lot of, I'll say proven rather than "good", coaches about.

The real thing, in many supporters minds at least, going against him is he just keeps making the same excuses after losses. Many of which things 'the players need to work on" are EXACTLY what he's paid for.

 

[The Villain]

Ivan Cleary surely gone after that first half performance

 

[Mr. Shaman]

Ivan Cleary surely gone after that first half performance

He’s very sleepy

 

[Trifili13]

He’s very sleepy

It's because he is tired as Gus told us all those years ago.

 

[JamesRustle]

The biggest issue I see with Payten is that the cows are the same team since he took over, haven’t seen any improvement. On their day they’re a great attacking team but have no grunt and refuse to get into an arm wrestle with anyone. His recruitment and retention has been truly baffling. Letting Leilua and Feinefuiaki go then buying Bateman (who has the most missed tackles in the comp btw)? I know it’s years ago now but letting Hammer walk? There’s been a few others too

No Team Has Been Worse At Retention Than The Cowboys: Newcastle football manager Peter Parr is talked about in some circles as a football savant but he led the Cowboys through a period of diabolical recruitment and retention over the last decade, a tradition that has continued since he left, as he goes about doing the same at Newcastle by handing Dylan Brown one of the worst contracts the game has ever known.

Back to the Cowboys though. A look over the decision-making at the club over their list since their Grand Final in 2015 must make for tortuous reading for Cowboys fans.

• Brandon Smith was the NYC Hooker of the Year in 2016 at the Cowboys but signed with the Storm in order to keep Jake Granville
• Jahrome Hughes plays one game at the Cowboys in 2016 but leaves for the Storm. He wins a premiership and a Dally M Medal.
• Kalyn Ponga debuts in 2016 but leaves after 2017, playing just nine games. He wins a Dally M Medal at Newcastle.
• After a single game for NSW, the Cowboys sign plodding prop Jordan McLean to a big-money contract in 2018. He never plays for the Blues again.
• Braden Hamlin-Uele plays one game for the Cowboys before departing for Cronulla, where he has played 113 games and counting.
• After a decade at the Broncos, controversial prop Josh McGuire signed a four-year deal with the Cowboys worth $3.2m in 2019. He left early in his third season with the Cowboys going 10-28 in the 38 games he played.
• Valentine Holmes is signed for huge money on a six-year deal (worth around $5m) after returning from the NFL. The experiment at fullback failed and his career finished with just two finals campaigns, both playing centre. He was released a year early.
• Chad Townsend was signed to a three-year, $800,000 per season deal in 2022.
• Peta Hiku was signed to a two-year deal at the age of 30 and was incredibly poor during his two seasons at the club.
• Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, Tom Gilbert and Connelly Lemuelu are all allowed to depart for incoming club the Dolphins. Tabuai-Fidow leaves because he cannot get regular time in first grade. Gilbert leave for a better deal. Lemuelu leaves for opportunity. The Hammer goes on to represent Australia while Gilbert now captains the Dolphins.
• Young talent Kulikefu Finefuiaki signs with the Dolphins due to lack of opportunity.

Players leave clubs for money and opportunity all the time but no club has misidentified their own talent over the last decade than the Cowboys. Two future Dally M Medal winners were let go after playing just eight games. Players like The Hammer, Brandon Smith and Finefuiaki left because Scott Drinkwater, Jake Granville and Jeremiah Nanai were clogging up spots. Then there is the complete waste of money that has gone into recruits. The Cowboys are a disaster from top to bottom and the only way to fix it is a full teardown and rebuild.

https://www.neds.com.au/blog/2025/03/from-the-couch-nrl-round-3-2/

 

[Canard]

McLean never played for NSW, FYI. And Kuli hasn't proved anything, yet.

But the rest is not far off.

 

[JamesRustle]

McLean never played for NSW, FYI. And Kuli hasn't proved anything, yet.

But the rest is not far off.

Correct - Selected but ruled out of Game 3 with a hamstring injury just before the match

 

[Canard]

Correct - Selected but ruled out of Game 3 with a hamstring injury just before the match

That was whilst at the Cowboys though (only 2 seasons ago), the blog suggests that the Cowboys signed him off playing for the Blues.

 

[Marshall_magic]

No Team Has Been Worse At Retention Than The Cowboys: Newcastle football manager Peter Parr is talked about in some circles as a football savant but he led the Cowboys through a period of diabolical recruitment and retention over the last decade, a tradition that has continued since he left, as he goes about doing the same at Newcastle by handing Dylan Brown one of the worst contracts the game has ever known.

Back to the Cowboys though. A look over the decision-making at the club over their list since their Grand Final in 2015 must make for tortuous reading for Cowboys fans.

• Brandon Smith was the NYC Hooker of the Year in 2016 at the Cowboys but signed with the Storm in order to keep Jake Granville
• Jahrome Hughes plays one game at the Cowboys in 2016 but leaves for the Storm. He wins a premiership and a Dally M Medal.
• Kalyn Ponga debuts in 2016 but leaves after 2017, playing just nine games. He wins a Dally M Medal at Newcastle.
• After a single game for NSW, the Cowboys sign plodding prop Jordan McLean to a big-money contract in 2018. He never plays for the Blues again.
• Braden Hamlin-Uele plays one game for the Cowboys before departing for Cronulla, where he has played 113 games and counting.
• After a decade at the Broncos, controversial prop Josh McGuire signed a four-year deal with the Cowboys worth $3.2m in 2019. He left early in his third season with the Cowboys going 10-28 in the 38 games he played.
• Valentine Holmes is signed for huge money on a six-year deal (worth around $5m) after returning from the NFL. The experiment at fullback failed and his career finished with just two finals campaigns, both playing centre. He was released a year early.
• Chad Townsend was signed to a three-year, $800,000 per season deal in 2022.
• Peta Hiku was signed to a two-year deal at the age of 30 and was incredibly poor during his two seasons at the club.
• Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, Tom Gilbert and Connelly Lemuelu are all allowed to depart for incoming club the Dolphins. Tabuai-Fidow leaves because he cannot get regular time in first grade. Gilbert leave for a better deal. Lemuelu leaves for opportunity. The Hammer goes on to represent Australia while Gilbert now captains the Dolphins.
• Young talent Kulikefu Finefuiaki signs with the Dolphins due to lack of opportunity.

Players leave clubs for money and opportunity all the time but no club has misidentified their own talent over the last decade than the Cowboys. Two future Dally M Medal winners were let go after playing just eight games. Players like The Hammer, Brandon Smith and Finefuiaki left because Scott Drinkwater, Jake Granville and Jeremiah Nanai were clogging up spots. Then there is the complete waste of money that has gone into recruits. The Cowboys are a disaster from top to bottom and the only way to fix it is a full teardown and rebuild.

https://www.neds.com.au/blog/2025/03/from-the-couch-nrl-round-3-2/

God rest his soul, but I believe Green’s downfall was his loyalty to the 2015 side. There were players there who he kept on out of loyalty that probably could have moved on earlier, and better players could have been kept.

There is also the debate about JT - he probably could have retired after the 2016 season and held his legacy in tact, 2017 he got injured and they made the grand final without him, in 2018 he looked a shadow of himself.

 

[Tiger5150]

It's because he is tired as Gus told us all those years ago.

 

[Perth Tiger]

That was whilst at the Cowboys though (only 2 seasons ago), the blog suggests that the Cowboys signed him off playing for the Blues.

I think he may of gotten a game for the Kangaroos instead of the Blues which led to the huge money at the Cowboys

 

[JamesRustle]

That was whilst at the Cowboys though (only 2 seasons ago), the blog suggests that the Cowboys signed him off playing for the Blues.

Ha ha - bloggers bias revealed! I'll give him the feedback.