Does Brian Smith deserve The Chop?

[El Diablo]

It seems pretty obvious the team is flat and has forgotten how to win, so do they need a breath of fresh air?

Brian Smith is in his seventh year as coach and has gotten the team to the finals every time, sadly with no premiership success.

He has developed some great players in his time but has he run out of ideas?

I don't know who there is to replace him with but I feel a change is needed.

 

[salivor]

I'd dump him at the end of the year. A mid season chop isn't going to help IMO. Its going to take a miracle coach to turn the current mob around mid season and get them into the finals.

 

[ozbash]

i dont think smithy is to blame for his teams lack of go.

parra have got a heap of injured top class players and when the hindmarshes and cayless's return,they will win some games.

gameday is up to the players, not the coach.

 

[kaon]

You mentioned one of the problems and that is the Eels have forgotten how to win. The other is the appalling lack of depth in the forwards.

 

[legend]

The other problem is one of those Hindmarshes currently plays for the Raiders so his chances of making a return to Parra are fairly slim i'd say.

I voted for the club to keep him. Parra need to to a mass clean out like they did in 94-95 and start from scratch with the nucleus of several established players.

Of the current crop I would keep Lyon, Hindmarsh, Widders, Solomona, Morris and Cayless. Some of the other players are just not pulling their weight. The first players i'd cut are Vella, Moodie, Heckenburg, Dykes, Green, Crouch and Hodgson. These blokes are taking up huge chunks of the salary cap for little or no return.

If Parra could sign a guy like Dean Byrne, they could start rebuilding. Parra need to go on a spending spree and raid the premier league ranks of teams like St George, Cantrerbury and Canberra. All three have heaps of blokes who could step up and play first grade.

If I were Smith i'd look at Vagana (Dogs), Simmonds (Dragons), Byrne (Dragons), Cayless (Roosters) and Robinson (Roosters) to steady the ship. If they got these blokes they would be a contender again next year.

This would be my side:

Simmonds
Ashley Graham
Vagana
Lyon
Richards
Byrne
Witt
Hopkins
Hindmarsh
Cayless
Robinson
Morris
Cayless

Res:
Solomona
Widders
Treacy
S Witt

 

[El Diablo]

I voted for the club to keep him. Parra need to to a mass clean out like they did in 94-95 and start from scratch with the nucleus of several established players.

Of the current crop I would keep Lyon, Hindmarsh, Widders, Solomona, Morris and Cayless. Some of the other players are just not pulling their weight. The first players i'd cut are Vella, Moodie, Heckenburg, Dykes, Green, Crouch and Hodgson. These blokes are taking up huge chunks of the salary cap for little or no return.

The problem with that is Dykes and Vella are on big dollars and under contract for probably another two years.

Smith has had his go and now the well is empty. Time for him to move on.

 

[SP]

I think they should get rid of him at the end of the season

We did with Royce, got Lang as coach, it only took him a year, and look where we are now, we are doing alot better then what everyone thought we'd be doing

 

[Cupid Stunt]

I'm happy to keep him & look more to what Legend suggests. Theres a shit hot group of players on the way up in the club & if, & i know its a break from tradition, we keep the cream of the crop then even as soon as next year we can become a competitive team again. There's absoloutly no reason we cant fit a team of prodominantly local players both under the cap & long term.

I dont equate his being out a major factor because no team should rely on one player to heavily but I'd love to know what a difference Hindy would have made the last 3 weeks.

 

[Justme]

I think the 2001 GF loss shattered Smith far more than people realise. It appears, to me at least, to have completely undermined his self confidence and that is being reflected in the teams performance over the last 2 seasons. Regardless of how the players are performing the fact remains that since the very beginning of last year his personal demeanor and on field tactics have become very apprehensive and negative. May sound contradictory but he appears more concerned with not losing rather than actually winning.

Interesting name you have there Cupid Stunt :shock: :lol:

 

[El Diablo]

Injurie haven't helped but that's still no excuse for winning bugger all in the last year.

I never get his tactic of taking John Morris after 20 minutes. The guy is good in defence and attack and needs much more game tiime.

Smith has run out of ideas and Parra seem to be quite boring to watch.

Fresh input is needed.

 

[midas]

Smith has done a bloody good job in building a strong club.His current woes are mainly due to injuries and the club,s inability to retain a depth of talent by rorting the salary cap.
Instead of punting Smith,we should send Fitzy over to Bondi to study" Cap Rorting 101"

 

[kaon]

It's all good and well to say sack Smith but whom would you replace him with?


Don't dare say Coleman. :roll:

 

[El Diablo]

It's all good and well to say sack Smith but whom would you replace him with?


Don't dare say Coleman. :roll:

That's what I'm not sure of.

 

[Alan Shore]

Keep Smith for the time being. You need a mass cleanout. You can build a team around the Witts, Hindmarsh, Cayless, Solomona and Widders. In particular chop Dykes and Vella. They are the most overpaid overrated players in the league.

 

[ParraMatt]

Keep witt brothers and resign solomona and we will be safe.

 

[Spike]

Smith has still got about another 4-5 years left to run on his contract doesn't he? If the Eels decide to get rid of him which I doubt they will they'll be forced to pay a fair bit out to Smith.

 

[Misse]

Mr Smith is stale.... We need a new coach to bring a new style of play to the club. The Club needs a breath of Fresh Air. Shane Flannagan (first Divy coach) would be a great choice for Smith's replacement.

 

[Misty Bee]

Nice to see some intelligent discussion on the Smith issue. far better than the "Brian Smith is God" yes-men on the official site!

Brian Smith should never have let the side slip so far down the NRL food chain. We should be a top 4 club - up with the dogs and the Chooks and the Bronx. Injuries? An excuse - all teams get 'em. Nathan Hindmarsh being injured for 10 weeks doesn't make Daniel Wagon and Mick Vella play crap. Check out how good Saints go without Barrett. There is always some enthusiastic youngster ready to come up into first grade and play out of their skin.

Parra need an enthusiastic coach who can get the best out of players. Smith can't.

 

[Ron Jeremy]

Nice to see some intelligent discussion on the Smith issue. far better than the "Brian Smith is God" yes-men on the official site!

Brian Smith should never have let the side slip so far down the NRL food chain. We should be a top 4 club - up with the dogs and the Chooks and the Bronx. Injuries? An excuse - all teams get 'em. Nathan Hindmarsh being injured for 10 weeks doesn't make Daniel Wagon and Mick Vella play crap. Check out how good Saints go without Barrett. There is always some enthusiastic youngster ready to come up into first grade and play out of their skin.

Parra need an enthusiastic coach who can get the best out of players. Smith can't.

He's got a point Boy's & Gal's!!, Parramatta's lack of drive this year has been very evident......IMO this comes down to respect!!,

I think to many players seem unmotivated & going through the motions for most of the year, we do enthusiasm & fresh ideas!!,

The only problem is who do we go after??, and besides i can't stand around and watch Brian let go the like's of great players like Joel Clinton, P J Marsh, Steve Witt, Shane Dunley, David Solomona to a degree!!,

Our retention & buying policy's are nothing short of unethical & pathetic!!

 

[Matta]

He's served well for us. We may not have gone very well this year but we have shown some momentum at the latter stages of this year. Obviously injuries have gone to some of our key players like Hindy, Cayless, Burt, Hodgson but you can't blame the coach for that. Then there's the other injured players like Green, Dykes, Chan, Meads, Armit, Vella, Hopkins, and Wagon at various times of the year. Obviously you can't blame the coach for that. He served well for us and he will serve his full contract. Parramatta won't sack him and we will just hope for a strong and secure 2004 and beyond. We have signed well (with the exception of Kativerata and MoiMoi) and we can hope the new breed can help us towards the future. But I also agree we need to look towards Canterbury, Cronulla and St.George Illawarra's juniors if we need more depth.