1) Re Price's success following 'external assistance'. How do we know this wasn't at his request, hence a smart move on his part?
Answer: We don't.
Therefore people alluding to this as being a sign that management had no faith in him are talking out of their arse. We have absolutely no idea how this came into being. It may have been something in train for twelve months before it came to fruition. I'm stunned he didn't have 'external assistance' in this regard well before it was revealed. It's common practice in coaching nowadays, it may have just been a matter of availability of the party in question.
2) Various people claiming they know definitively that either Price is staying, or Sheens is coming, or both, or neither, or making up fantasies about board decisions with Sheens coming and Arthur being his preferred assistant. Dead set we have enough scenario writers in here to set up in opposition to Disney or Dreamworks. The most likely scenario is nobody knows shit because the Board hasn't made a decision yet. Why?
Answer: Because that would be the most prudent and intelligent thing to do.
It's too soon to see if Price can meet his first challenge which is to see if he can improve on last year's performance. As some have rightfully said, the real measure in that regard comes in the next three weeks, not the last three. A circumspect management team would want to see how he handles games against three formidable opponents, not three middle of the road opponents.
I for one hope we
don't know a decision after the Board meeting tomorrow night. A decision to either can or keep Price would be premature in that time frame in my view. Sheens isn't going anywhere yet, neither is Arthur if it comes to that. There are other options as well in both ESL and the NRL as current assistant coaches at various clubs. There are solutions available it is deemed that they are required.
3) Those slicing him up over being at the helm of a one off cobbled together 'International' team in Samoa are just using it to reinforce their own bias. What a joke. Frankly I don't give a f**k how Samoa went apart from enjoying the game as a spectacle. I don't see that game as a measure of anything except how unlikely it is we will ever see it played again following the scenes at full time.
As for blaming him for the team selection, did he even select the team? Does anybody know that for sure? Wouldn't it help to know that before blaming him for it? I'd be surprised if he was wholly responsible for that. I'm happy to hold him wholly responsible for the selection of the Saints side week on week, but not for the exhibition event.
4)
getsmarty said:
Smoke screen... He'd know for sure... been told to keep quiet.
Not necessarily. Players often change clubs without knowing for certain the coaching situation at that club with 100% guarantee. Maloney to the Roosters for example. At the time he made that deal he had no way of knowing with any certainty who the Roosters coach would be in 2013. Money, lifestyle, career, there are many other drivers to decision making.
5) Recruitement. Again, none of us know what role Price is playing in this apart from what we see in the media. If such reports are to be believed, very little. Hence blaming him for lack of recruitment is dumb at best with lack of any supporting evidence.
We also don't know why this approach is being adopted. Maybe it is seen as a sound management practice to allow him to focus on his core task, which is establishing systems and practices of his own. A gradual hand over may follow. To assume it is a lack of faith in his abilities in this regard is presupposing that one has the ability to read into other people's motivations. I'm fairly confident that no one here has that ability, so second guessing is pointless.
People constructing phantom Bord meetings and subsequent decisions in their own minds smacks of delusion designed to support fallacious arguments. However what will be will be and nothing said here will change it, so fantasise away.
