It's going to be very important for the club and the supporter group to not get too caught up in the early hype.
I like what I've seen & heard early on from Dean in interviews and media conferences. It's a refreshing (and less frustrating) change from that we've experienced in the last few years. It is not within any doubt that has a lot of passion for club, it's history and it's values. As player, he never left anything in the tank after the 80mins. The standards and expectations he will set for the group during this interim period will be in line with his values.
But, as others have mentioned, what we saw last Friday night was still no different to the Mary-era. There was no team selections on Tuesday where any of us read the list and thought 'hmm... interesting'. The game plan was pretty much the same, as was the use of the bench throughout the course of the 80mins. Early days and Dean acknowledges that, despite coming away with the last two wins, we've got to keep getting better. Personally, I will reserve judgement of this interim period until the final whistle of our final game.
We've been here before though. The results somewhat improved in the second half of 2014 when Mary took over from Price. The supporter group and media were quietened down while the board quietly went about the business of finding a new full time head coach. I know we fell short on Bennett due to the last minute back flip on his part / Broncos swoop in. But there was no back up plan for that scenario almost to the point where the club. particularly the Illawarra mafia, was almost wishing Bennett wouldn't say yes to Dousty so that Mary could be instilled (the rest is now history).
This time around we have also been competing in a market where three (soon to be four) other clubs have sacked their coaches. The names who've been rumored / discussed are:
- Not 'officially available' for one reason or another (Flanngan, Bennett)
- Rookies, even if serving good apprenticeships as assistants (Fitzgibbon, Ryles) [Old Boys]
- Currently coaching overseas... COVID situation, might be hard to move to Australia at this time (Wane)
- Experienced assistants with former NRL head coaching experience (Furner, Cartwright)
- Experienced currently out of the game with former NRL head coaching experience (Griffin, Toovey)
- Well outside the box, but name mentioned (Walters)
When I look at the names who've been rumored and discussed:
- Bans aren't going to be lifted (Peter V'Landys is a stickler for it)
- Contracts / Agreements are unlikely to be broken
- You're on a good wicket as an assistant so why would you bother
- Making an overseas move for a job at this time will be a very considered decision
- Of those who currently have NRL head coaching experience, who would be the right fit for our culture and would any of them even want the job
- More likely that most of these guys will either stay put in what they are currently doing or end up elsewhere
If the club does go down the Dean Young route - he is going to need a very experienced team of assistants / staff to see him through the first couple of years (the honey-moon period will very quickly wear off). I'm all for trying a Young / Flannagan / Shepherd combination - but you'd need to lock that in for at least two years and ensure that Flanno & Shepherd are adequately compensated to prevent them being enticed away for another gig in 2022. If it's not Flanno & Shepherd, then it probably needs to be Bennett as the mentor to Young.
Additionally, we need to stop the revolving door of assistants that occurred throughout the entire Mary-era, and ensure consistency of staff whilst we go through the re-building.
