Anthony Griffin

[Pantherjim.]

Really? He has fixed up the junior system, and he has saved the club from bankruptcy.

How?

 

[Pantherjim.]

What absolute nonsense.

When Gould came back in 2011 the place was a shambles, we’re now in one of the most competitive streaks in the clubs history. 3rd behind 86-91 & 03/04.

He’s brought through juniors, sorted out the junior programmes, built the centre of excellence & recruited well.



As I’ve previously said many times I do think he’s stayed too long, and some of the decisions in recent times have been poor. But if you can’t see the good he’s done since 2011 you’re either blinded by your hatred of him or you’re an idiot.

That’s right, I forgot..... Rugby League is a business now, not a “ working peoples sport”

After all, as long as we can get thousands of bums on seats slot-jockeying and millions in Pokies revenue and fox sports sponsorship/subscriptions who needs thousands of bums on seats at Penrith Stadium or any given away game where terms such as “junior nursery” “club loyalty” “club pride” and “local honour” have become extinct?

I guess I need to invent myself a time machine and travel back to the late 80’s/early 90’s where Rugby Leage was played and supported with actual passion.

 

[Pantherjim.]

lol we were definitely not comfortable in the top 4. don't believe what rothfield and co say, we were horrible prior to griffin's sacking and still are.

ANd your solution to the problem at hand is.... What? Sack a coach 4 weeks out from the finals?

 

[jane the pain]

How?

Look it up, and you will see.

 

[mxlegend99]

lol we were definitely not comfortable in the top 4. don't believe what rothfield and co say, we were horrible prior to griffin's sacking and still are.

We were sitting pretty after 12 rounds but only had 3 really convincing wins.

Beating Cowboys, Tigers and Dragons. Only one of them is a top 8 team and that top 8 team has shit the bed worse then we have. But either way those 2 convincing wins and taking top spot on the ladder gave us reason to be optimistic.

Since Round 12 we have only had one good win. Defeating the Warriors with 10 players missing.

7 of our wins this season were after spotting teams 2 try or greater leads. That's not a sustainable way to win games. The more we did it the more opposition teams knew they needed to be prepared to fight harder in that final 10 minutes.

And any half decent team can hold onto a 12 point lead. We switched off after the first bye. And so far havent looked close to finding that form again.

 

[TheFrog]

lol we were definitely not comfortable in the top 4. don't believe what rothfield and co say, we were horrible prior to griffin's sacking and still are.

The second half against Canberra was quite good.

 

[martielang]

After what we've witnessed over the last 3 weeks are people still arguing that it was the right decision for the club to punt a coach (who had us in the top 4) with 4 weeks remaining in the season? ...Seriously?

 

[Pomoz]

After what we've witnessed over the last 3 weeks are people still arguing that it was the right decision for the club to punt a coach (who had us in the top 4) with 4 weeks remaining in the season? ...Seriously?

Martie, I know it annoyed you but you realise that you can't answer your question with any certainty. Who is to say that if Hook stayed we would have played any better? Our form had been terrible and we were building to a loss long before he was sacked. Once Maloney got injured our goose was cooked. I'm not sure how Hook staying changes much at all. It might have been worse given the atmosphere behind the scenes.

 

[OldPanther]

After what we've witnessed over the last 3 weeks are people still arguing that it was the right decision for the club to punt a coach (who had us in the top 4) with 4 weeks remaining in the season? ...Seriously?

I don't think it's better or worse.

 

[Copperhead]

After what we've witnessed over the last 3 weeks are people still arguing that it was the right decision for the club to punt a coach (who had us in the top 4) with 4 weeks remaining in the season? ...Seriously?

Despite those 3 weeks we're still fifth. So not much has changed. We've been in a death spiral for the last 3 months and only luck with results and the crap form of other teams have flattered our position.....then and now.

 

[Fangs]

After what we've witnessed over the last 3 weeks are people still arguing that it was the right decision for the club to punt a coach (who had us in the top 4) with 4 weeks remaining in the season? ...Seriously?

Preference would be for an off-season sacking (2017 was the year) but it gave me some renewed hope for our chances in 2018.

We couldn't win it a month ago. We rolled the dice and it looks like we've failed big time.

 

[herbert henry1908]

After what we've witnessed over the last 3 weeks are people still arguing that it was the right decision for the club to punt a coach (who had us in the top 4) with 4 weeks remaining in the season? ...Seriously?

It wasn’t the right time to do it and, I said so at the time.

But then I also said renewing his contract last year was madness and madness it proved to be.

 

[mxlegend99]

I don't think it's better or worse.

Its the exact same. f**king ridiculous anyone could honestly think we are any worse without Hook.

Same position on the ladder and same issues that have plagued us for 3 months.

Sacking him was unfortunately not a magic fix. But it sure as hell didn't make things worse either. Anyone who thinks that must have only watched:

R12 vs Dragons and R17 vs Warriors under Hook
R22 onwards under Ciro.

Because no one who watched:
R14 - Raiders... a 1 point win in a pathetic performance by both teams. But we had a million excuses why we looked shit.
R15 - Roosters put 32 on us winning by 26. We never looked on their level... again a lot of excuses. Should have been the loss we needed to fix shit.
R16 - injury riddled Sea Eagles beat us. Our worst game of the year at the time
R18 - Sharks beat us by 12 in possibly our second best game since the bye. Pretty sad a 2 try loss is our second best game in 3 months
R19 - Broncos put 50 on us... it was 32 nil after 32 mins. The first and only game of the year where we knew a comeback wasn't even a possibility.this was the low point of our season

We then had 2 miracle comebacks over shit teams in Rounds 20 and 21 before sacking Hook. We got the 2 points. But we were f**king terrible in these games still. They were all the evidence needed our season wasnt turning around.

R22 was a miracle comeback. Much like the 2 weeks before ut
R23 was a gutless 8 point loss. Much like losing to Sea Eagles in Round 17
R24 was a game we were never in much like the Broncos and Roosters matches.

Honestly every game under Ciro nearly perfectly matches the most recent games under Hook.

Sacking him has made no difference on the field one way or the other. We knew Hook was no our man next year. We now know that Ciraldo isnt either. So the timing is not that bad.

While the team is no better off this year. We have atleast gotten the benefit of knowing Ciro is not the man next year. Better now then after a few rounds on 2019. We need an experienced coach who is proven in winning big games.

 

[age.s]

I know it feels like it, but it's worth pointing out that the season isn't over yet either.

 

[OldPanther]

Its the exact same. f**king ridiculous anyone could honestly think we are any worse without Hook.

Same position on the ladder and same issues that have plagued us for 3 months.

Sacking him was unfortunately not a magic fix. But it sure as hell didn't make things worse either. Anyone who thinks that must have only watched:

R12 vs Dragons and R17 vs Warriors under Hook
R22 onwards under Ciro.

Because no one who watched:
R14 - Raiders... a 1 point win in a pathetic performance by both teams. But we had a million excuses why we looked shit.
R15 - Roosters put 32 on us winning by 26. We never looked on their level... again a lot of excuses. Should have been the loss we needed to fix shit.
R16 - injury riddled Sea Eagles beat us. Our worst game of the year at the time
R18 - Sharks beat us by 12 in possibly our second best game since the bye. Pretty sad a 2 try loss is our second best game in 3 months
R19 - Broncos put 50 on us... it was 32 nil after 32 mins. The first and only game of the year where we knew a comeback wasn't even a possibility.this was the low point of our season

We then had 2 miracle comebacks over shit teams in Rounds 20 and 21 before sacking Hook. We got the 2 points. But we were f**king terrible in these games still. They were all the evidence needed our season wasnt turning around.

R22 was a miracle comeback. Much like the 2 weeks before ut
R23 was a gutless 8 point loss. Much like losing to Sea Eagles in Round 17
R24 was a game we were never in much like the Broncos and Roosters matches.

Honestly every game under Ciro nearly perfectly matches the most recent games under Hook.

Sacking him has made no difference on the field one way or the other. We knew Hook was no our man next year. We now know that Ciraldo isnt either. So the timing is not that bad.

While the team is no better off this year. We have atleast gotten the benefit of knowing Ciro is not the man next year. Better now then after a few rounds on 2019. We need an experienced coach who is proven in winning big games.

Well said. I doubt any coach changes much without a pre season to be honest.

 

[Panther_Daz]

Hook couldn't beat a top 8 team away from home for over 2 years so the Warriors loss isn't a surprise.

We lost to Manly last month at home. I guess that is similar to losing to the Knights at home.

We came back late to beat the Titans. Just as we have done numerous times this year.

There is no way in saying definitively if we would be better or worse off with Griffin the past 3 weeks.

 

[franklin2323]

I don't think it's better or worse.

The injuries and too many young guys were the issue

 

[martielang]

Well said. I doubt any coach changes much without a pre season to be honest.

If no coach changes anything & no immediate improvement was expected, why did we sack him at that point of the year in the first place? It doesn't make sense.

I'm not sitting here saying Hook would of went through the remainder of the season undefeated, nor am i saying anyone needs to change their opinion of him, but it's pretty obvious so far it's been the wrong decision. Lets not sugarcoat it, if Gus still got on with Hook, he'd still be here. A major decision shouldn't be made on a personal falling out.

Other then Melbourne & Souths (who are both starting to get the wobbles) no other team consistently played well or won during the origin period. You could probably go through every teams results & say similar or at least try & discredit every win like MX does.

 

[OldPanther]

The injuries and too many young guys were the issue

It's funny how the injuries have been forgotten. We've barely had the same team 2 weeks in a row all year.

 

[franklin2323]

It's funny how the injuries have been forgotten. We've barely had the same team 2 weeks in a row all year.

Everytime it was mentioned it was taken as a hook excuse. Kikau even this is his 1st full year of FG most players have seemed to of run out of gas