Early tip: Sandow won't see out his contract

[Djay]

We have by far and away the worst forward pack in the comp. Mannah has rapidly declined sadly, Poore was a waste of 350k and can piss off. Lasalo, Horo, Ryan Ben Smith are all reserve graders. The only forward who works hard week in week out and should be captain next year is Maitua. I don't think the fact that we've had piss weak forwards has helped Sandows cause, and I don't rate Kelly I'd be starting with Roberts at five-eight, if Stuart could iron out his defensive mishaps his a game breaker. Also Sandows been playing alot better since SK has left, we all knew what he was like in defense, we didn't sign him to be a tackling machine that was part and parcel of him coming so I don't see the issue. We need to learn how to hide him better. We need a better forward pack going forward because not many halfbacks look good when there forwards aren't laying a foundation.

I don't think Stuart realizes what his in for to be honest, and I can't see next year being any better. Sorry about the rant but had to post this some where.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

(Does a good coach develop the talents and abilities of the forward packs, so that they grow into big and hard merkins...

You can't coach merkins to be big, and making them hard is the job of the senior players (it's called 'culture').

Look how soft Fui has become over the years. He was a f**king animal once upon a time (but looks like our 'culture' got the better of him). Now Reni is our only hard case. He'll be stoked to have Lussick at the club next year.

So no, a coach doesn't make big, hard merkins out of nothing.

Does a good coach recruit to build their packs into the big and hard units that work together to win matches... Or does all this happen totally randomly at some clubs, giving our poor-performing coaches the ultimate easy excuse?)

Given the salary cap, you can't replace players until they're off contract. That's why we couldn't get Lussick and Harrison - two forwards from a club with a tough culture - until Hindy, Poore and Shack were gone.

So yes coaches can recruit big, hard merkins, but he can only time it as existing contracts allow.

But good question. Hopefully you've learnt something.

 

[emjaycee]

I am tipping us to make the top 4 next year.

Based on the logic of some posters here, ALL of our issues and problems over the last 2 years have been related to our shit coach and so with a change of coach we should surely see:
- immediate improvement by 300% (at least) of our under-performing forward pack;
- a drastic decline in dropped balls, wayward passes and under-6 level play the balls;
- a style of play that makes us the immediate envy of all other clubs with the most radical changes experienced since the introduction of the 10 metre rule;
- the rapid improvement in strength, running style and hardness of our inexperienced forward pack such as Lasalo, Horo, Ryan, POH, Allgood
- the return to 2010/11 SOO selection form of T Mannah
- the sudden ability for our back line to break tackles at will, distribute the ball with confidence and return kicks with no less than 50 metre gains each time

All of this for me means an improvement of at least 300%.
So if we won 6 games this year and we win 3 times as many next year, 18 wins + 2 byes = 40 points.
Top 4 for sure... :roll: :roll: :roll:

 

[bartman]

You can't coach merkins to be big, and making them hard is the job of the senior players (it's called 'culture').

So senior players can somehow shape other guys into hard players, but coaches can't? And culture is down to the senior players, and coaches somehow aren't responsible for this, or can't influence it? :lol:

Stopped reading there tbh. Had enough laughs for today.

 

[bartman]

All of this for me means an improvement of at least 300%.
So if we won 6 games this year and we win 3 times as many next year, 18 wins + 2 byes = 40 points.
Top 4 for sure... :roll: :roll: :roll:

Haven't seen anyone tip us for top four.... however you seem to still be upset that people came to believe Kearney was a crap first grade coach?

The mood and optimism seems understandably pretty low after the past two poor seasons, and people seem to (still) just be hoping for some improvement, and maybe for the possibility of slipping into the bottom of the 8 staying alive beyond say round 12.

 

[natheel]

We won't see what sandow is capable of in the blue and gold unroll we get some mongrel in the forwards. We have good metre eaters but they're as soft as a pillow. Timmy gets on the edge offering up then pulls back. Only aggressive forward we have is poore an he's going. Under Ricky I think we could've seen him back to his angry best

 

[Poupou Escobar]

So senior players can somehow shape other guys into hard players, but coaches can't? And culture is down to the senior players, and coaches somehow aren't responsible for this, or can't influence it? :lol:

Stopped reading there tbh. Had enough laughs for today.

Mate nobody can make a hard merkin out of a softie. But a hard merkin can inspire courage in them out on the field. A coach can not.

Two questions, since you know everything:

1. Why is there a leadership group, if the coach is solely responsible for leadership?

2. Why do coaches recruit players, if they should be able to just turn the ones they've got into the players they need?

Take your time. These questions challenge the core of your rugby league beliefs.

 

[bartman]

Bollocks the questions challenge anything.

Your claim that a coach doesn't create culture or inspire courage is absurd. No one has claimed it these are solely the responsibility of the coach, so your attempted refutation is off the mark.

You and I both know why coaches recruit players, and it much more complex than your simplistic questions suggest. The choice to recruit players comes down to a lot more factors than much improvement they can get out of their current fodder.

#gettingboringnowpoupou
#whendoesyournexttripstart

 

[The EELiminator]

with the tough new penalties coming in for shoulder charges i hope sticky gets in sandows ear during the offseason and tells him to stop doing it

 

[cv8z]

with the tough new penalties coming in for shoulder charges i hope sticky gets in sandows ear during the offseason and tells him to stop doing it

Cause his shoulder charges can injure the player or himself? :lol:

 

[The EELiminator]

Cause his shoulder charges can injure the player or himself? :lol:

mostly because he misses half the time

 

[eel01s]

I like Sandow, as another poster said his highlight reel is the bigest for us this year.

What he desperately needs to improve (besides his defence!) is the amount of times he touches the ball in an attacking set of six. Also, we can't afford for him to be tacked on the 5th as happened many, many times this year.

Sandow is not an organising half, and probably will never be one. But with the right halves partner (Kelly looks likely) he gives our team another focus in attack.

Next year with Paulo, Sandow and Hayne we will have three threats to the defencive line. I agree with everyone else regarding the lack of go forward from our pack. What can Thurston do if his forwards don't give him room?

 

[Gronk]

Sef Paulo does what Sandow should be doing. I hope Luke Kelly can step up and do all the talking and direction at 6 so we can use Sef as a lock.

I don't mind Sandow, he clearly has a talent for taking the line on and has a great long kicking game. On the downside he has no money ball and if he has a short kicking game, does not use it enough (how many repeat sets did we get in 2012?). His defence is worse than Soward IMO.

 

[forward pass]

Sandow just needs coaching - that is all. Now that the shoulder charge is virtually banned, I think it will make him re-assess his tackling style. A tackling boot camp is all he needs and a quiet word in his ear about not kicking on the 2nd tackle will set him straight.

If Kelly can organise at five-eighth Sandow doesnt need to. Same way Thurston does at the cows.

Fmd - some people on here are hard to please. He set up our only try with the type of halfback play we havent had for 20 years. He can be brilliant but is a work in progress. You can have Robson back Avenger if that makes you happy.

 

[Bigfella]

Back to the thread rather than the perennial Anderson v Kearney bullshit:

I have been very critical of sandows decision making, but he should definitely be first choice next year.

He has undoubted skills in a position that is the hardest to fill: he has speed, tackle breaking skill, a passing game and at its best a sublime kicking game.

I don't really care about his defensive issues and don't see them as much worse than most halves.

Decision making is a skill that can be developed and learned. Much more chance of that than trying to develop a runnin or passing game.

But there's no doubt he has to be far more consistent and he has to try much harder than he did for the first three quarters of this season.

 

[Gronk]

Back to the thread rather than the perennial Anderson v Kearney bullshit:

I have been very critical of sandows decision making, but he should definitely be first choice next year.

He has undoubted skills in a position that is the hardest to fill: he has speed, tackle breaking skill, a passing game and at its best a sublime kicking game.

I don't really care about his defensive issues and don't see them as much worse than most halves.

Decision making is a skill that can be developed and learned. Much more chance of that than trying to develop a runnin or passing game.

But there's no doubt he has to be far more consistent and he has to try much harder than he did for the first three quarters of this season.

Yep, we also need to remember that he's only 24 in Jan 2013. His best years are ahead of him.

 

[Gronk]

Sandow's nickname is KUSTO.

#WTF

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Sandow

 

[Packy]

Send the Sandcow over the Dogs way. We'll get him sorted with Des guiding the way.

 

[Sphagnum]

Send the Sandcow over the Dogs way. We'll get him sorted with Des guiding the way.

He'd either learn to tackle or play reserve grade for the rest of his tenure there. Parramatta are happy to accomodate sub standard ability because they don't want to upset the pathetic culture at the club.

He will be picked up post Parramatta for bugger all and go on to be a star at whatever club took the punt. Meanwhile, we'll top up his retirement fund for the next 2 years and allow his defense to continue being worse than Toyota cup standard as we wallow on the bottom of the table.

#BunchOfSoftMerkins

 

[Parramatta1947]

I would agree with the title as well. Forget our forwards, some of the just dumb things Sandow kept doing week in, week out makes me think he is a lost cause. His shoulder charges are one thing, but once we got into the attacking 20, he only had one play - kick to the corner.

I just hope that with Ricky in charge, he will really coach him. If he can't apply himself and have disipline under Ricky, he will be cut loose.