I love me a groundhog day argument, I just don't understand where this whole "boring footy" notion comes from.
No we weren't winning the comp under Ivan, but what was so boring about McKinnon and co. slaughtering opponents in '07 (+ we finished 4th with the third best PD, and then Login f--king Swann happened....). Price & Matulino were beasts, Manu was racking up tries like nobody's business, Witt was on that goal kicking streak, Michael Luck was a fortress like no other, that Roosters tie, the '08 Storm victory followed by the home final was some of our club's best times, the '11 Tigers comeback I think about to this day, and we didn't disgrace ourselves in the grand final.
I sure as hell wasn't bored.
We snuck into the finals in 08, but got there reasonably comfortably the three other times. Anderson's the only other coach who could claim we even /looked/ like a top 8 team. Was Ivan a Bellamy or Bennett (or a current Cleary)? Nope. But I'm pretty happy with what we got and it was no reason to let him go.