Anthony Griffin

[martielang]

After the worst injury hit season in our history. Context matters.

In 2014 we make week 3 of the finals.

I was talking about the year on year improvement whilst he was coach, there’s no doubt we improved in 2016, but we would’ve improved a lot just from having a more normal season injury wise.

Obviously they thought the same when they gave him an extension, but they later realised he wasn’t good enough a tactician to compete with the top teams.

I see no problem with sacking Griffin. He wasn’t a top shelf coach, if we wanted to make the next step we needed to move on.

.... or he just fell out with Gus.

Hook had an equally big injury list one of the years as well. Last year was horrendous.

If there are big enough problems that you need to sack him, do it at the end of the year. The fact they did it when they did, just further proves (imo) the decision was (mostly) personal rather than professional.

 

[herbert henry1908]

Want to know why Griffin was likely sacked?

In his 3 seasons he coached 14 games against the eventual top 4 teams, he won only one of those games.

this is a team that was only slightly behind the top 4.

1 & 13

He couldn’t coach against the best, his tactics were useless against them.

 

[herbert henry1908]

.... or he just fell out with Gus.

Hook had an equally big injury list one of the years as well. Last year was horrendous.

If there are big enough problems that you need to sack him, do it at the end of the year. The fact they did it when they did, just further proves (imo) the decision was (mostly) personal rather than professional.

The board moved against Griffin, not Gus.


The injuries in hooks years weren’t as bad as 2015, and importantly they weren’t as bad in key positions. For instance in 2015 we had 12 different halves combinations.


As I mentioned in a seperate post above, Hook’s record against the best teams was awful. 1 win from. 14 games.

 

[Abacus]

Want to know why Griffin was likely sacked?

In his 3 seasons he coached 14 games against the eventual top 4 teams, he won only one of those games.

this is a team that was only slightly behind the top 4.

1 & 13

He couldn’t coach against the best, his tactics were useless against them.

Was it Hook's tactics or just that we had a young group that couldn't quite handle the strongest teams? I mean, look at what largely the same group served up this year, particularly the first 10 rounds.

Did the change from Hook have to happen when it did? Only if Dave wanted his mate back in order to secure the halfback.

Anyway, we did need to move on from Hook - just a shame Dave decided that move was backwards.

 

[herbert henry1908]

Was it Hook's tactics or just that we had a young group that couldn't quite handle the strongest teams? I mean, look at what largely the same group served up this year, particularly the first 10 rounds.

Did the change from Hook have to happen when it did? Only if Dave wanted his mate back in order to secure the halfback.

Anyway, we did need to move on from Hook - just a shame Dave decided that move was backwards.

I could buy it just being a young team if we won 4/5 from 14, but to only win a single game in 14 suggests there was a bigger issue. That’s in the context of us being a top 8 team. if we were a bottom 8 team then it wouldn’t surprise me in the least to have a poor record against the top 4.

 

[mxlegend99]

Hookwas sacked for many reasons. Players were offsidewith him. Coaching staff were offside with him. He refused to use allthe resources available to him and wouldn't work with his boss.

The final straw for the board was the Broncos game wherewe had 50 put on us and he didnt watch the whole game. Board members went to wait in changing room for him to ask him what the f**k was going on... yet he was already in there and just asked who was responsible for letting in the try. He had lost the dressing room, coaching staff and had strained relationships with everyone by that point. His job was untenable as they say.

 

[franklin2323]

Or....

The club & Griffin were looking to instil in these players the level of discipline required to have successful careers.

Funny that the first fun preseason these players have results in the first time they won't be playing finals.

And I'm not saying Griffin would win a comp - but it looked like we had a hell of a platform to launch from.

The thing I wanted to see was a stable spine after that fitness. Never had the same spine 2 years in arow under hook.

Good news is now they need to look at the real reasons behind it instead of the easy way out by blaming the coach

 

[franklin2323]

.... or he just fell out with Gus.

Hook had an equally big injury list one of the years as well. Last year was horrendous.

If there are big enough problems that you need to sack him, do it at the end of the year. The fact they did it when they did, just further proves (imo) the decision was (mostly) personal rather than professional.

2016 was the year that was the best shot to make it further. We had 3 centres out. RCG out too. You need a good run with injuries at that time of year.

 

[herbert henry1908]

It’s not like we have just Hook’s record at the panthers to know he wasn’t a particularly great coach, look at the broncos and what happened after Lockyer retired.

Once Lockyer left his (lack of) game plan was exposed. How Gus thought he was the man for the job is beyond me.

The team post Lockyer still had a lot of experience too

Justin Hodges
Corey Parker
Sam Thaiday
Andrew Mcullough
Ben Hannant
Peter Wallace

Pretty good combination to work with all the young talent they had

 

[franklin2323]

It’s not like we have just Hook’s record at the panthers to know he wasn’t a particularly great coach, look at the broncos and what happened after Lockyer retired.

Once Lockyer left his (lack of) game plan was exposed. How Gus thought he was the man for the job is beyond me.

The team post Lockyer still had a lot of experience too

Justin Hodges
Corey Parker
Sam Thaiday
Andrew Mcullough
Ben Hannant
Peter Wallace

Pretty good combination to work with all the young talent they had

That is all true but too me I look at the impatience with roster particularly in key positions. I can't think of a coach that could do better. So for me the good thing is Gus has gone too and can start fresh

 

[billypilgrimnz]

. So for me the good thing is Gus has gone too and can start fresh....

......with a coach we had punted three years earlier. Makes sense.

 

[herbert henry1908]

That is all true but too me I look at the impatience with roster particularly in key positions. I can't think of a coach that could do better. So for me the good thing is Gus has gone too and can start fresh

Madge, Des, Bennett

all these guys would’ve done better.

 

[Pomoz]

Not if it locks the club in to a false sense of security that it’s on the right track.

There’s a bigger picture to consider.

I don't get that at all, you would prefer to lose so we can reset for the future. Well, you have got your wish this year. The crack are fully exposed. How does it feel?

 

[OldPanther]

I don't get that at all, you would prefer to lose so we can reset for the future. Well, you have got your wish this year. The crack are fully exposed. How does it feel?

Short term pain long term gain(hopefully but not guaranteed)

 

[herbert henry1908]

I don't get that at all, you would prefer to lose so we can reset for the future. Well, you have got your wish this year. The crack are fully exposed. How does it feel?

It sucks. As a fan on a visceral level I’d much rather be in the finals.

But, when I take a step back and realise the team hasn’t really improved year on year since 2016, then I wonder if we were really doing the right thing to take the next step.

 

[herbert henry1908]

Look at it this way. We would’ve been cannon fodder in the finals this year, I see more benefit from not making it because it’ll force the club to try some new things. Fan pressure, media pressure, pressure for people to retain their jobs.

In my view the squad we’ve been building hasn’t struck the right balance between juniors and recruits. I know you probably disagree with that @Pomoz, so I won’t go into a deep dive on that. But I’m hoping the club is aggressive in the player market this off season & maybe next.

 

[TheFrog]

We weren’t ever competitive against top 4 teams. That says we weren’t close at all.

We lost by one point against a top 4 team in week 2 last year, after having them completely on the rack with under 10 minutes to play and outscoring them 18-3 in the second half. I wouldn't quite call that uncompetitive.

We also beat the 2nd and 3rd teams last year. That's 3 of the top 4. I'd call that progress.

 

[Flashstep]

It’s pretty easy to understand why Gus wanted Hook, Gus loves the Brisbane system and tried to replicate it here, bringing in a guy knows the system was a no brainer to him. Griffin was also good at bringing juniors up into first grade and getting them settled.

For all of his faults at least he trained the team as hard as he could resulting in top level fitness and pretty good defence, unfortunately he has the Same issues Cleary has in attack although funnily enough at least we were capable of scoring from outside of the red zone, now we’re just useless with the ball all over the park.

I think sacking Griffin was the right move going forward but our recruiting strategy or lack there of coupled with some pretty big losses over the years and bringing back a bang average coach was pretty stupid, truth is we’ve gone backwards big time.

 

[herbert henry1908]

We lost by one point against a top 4 team in week 2 last year, after having them completely on the rack with under 10 minutes to play and outscoring them 18-3 in the second half. I wouldn't quite call that uncompetitive.

and Hook wasn’t the coach. A rookie was.

I was talking about Hook’s record against top 4 teams. 1 win from 14 games.

 

[Mr Angry]

Can we get him a job, better than listening to him on fox.

They say people have a head for radio, Griffin has a voice for print media.