Facts

[Voice of Reason]

Fact- The Knights LOST 5 from 6 games throughout the SOO series. I know there are lots of other VALID reasons like stood down players and injuries BUT one has to consider the impact that having Hages away and/or having Miller in charge. If our head coach is to be permitted to pursue his career (and so he should) as a state coach then we MUST have a high quality assistant coach. The results, and moreso the attitude players exhibited, in the games while he was in charge were less than aceptable. Players ability doesnt "have a holiday" when Hages is away so tell me why they played the way they did in his absence. The coach has to get the best out the players and it seems to me that Miller doesn,t have that ability. No employee will contribute to their maximum if they do not respect the boss. Maybe that is the case here. Although no player will publically berate any coach, I have the feeling that in reality, Miller does not enjoy the confidenece of the players. My opinion is from the "fringe" so is there any "inside" information out there about this?

 

[northey]

hages is a top coah that is why he is coaching the QLD team

hages needs to consider that:

1.the knights have lost 5 from 6 games through out origin.

2. the knights should have won yesterday

3. is it worth seeing your club lose while you coach QLD origin?

4. will the lossing continue after origin?

5. if hages is QLD origin coach next year will the knights lose as many games?

IMO i think hages should focus on the club not QLD origin.
the way i see it is have the SOO teams coached by someone who is not a club coach therefore the club does not have to lose their coach.

 

[keeney]

i think it just shows that miller is not upto getting the boys into a match frame of mind through the week

 

[antonius]

Miller can't be blamed for yesterdays first half embarasment, Hages was there, and he was calling the shots. Somebody metioned in the game thread that we really missed Buderus around the rucks and that was spot on. Our marker defence yesterday was non-existant, the Sharks were running straight up the middle from the play the ball and not a hand laid upon them. The tackling (when they made some) for the most part was shirt pulling, how many times did the Sharks unload the ball in the tackle? I'll tell you, it was almost at will. The try Bird scored honestly he ran through a gap at least 15 metres wide??? that is bloody disgracefull from a first grade side, and that has been going on for the most part, all last year and most of this year. That's not a one off thing because Hages isn't around, it's poor defensive coaching, or just plain lazy play from the players.

 

[northey]

i think our boys really need a lesson on deffence. hopefully at the video session they get it drilled into them

 

[keeney]

yes, butit was millers job to get them i the right fram of mind during the week, they ddint turn up initially

 

[antonius]

Keeney our defensive lapses have been going on for the best part of two years now, that's not Millers fault. It's basic stuff.

 

[northey]

so why is it so hard for them to defend???

 

[antonius]

so why is it so hard for them to defend???

Exactly northey why is it indeed?

 

[Bring it home Knights]

The two games where miller has been in charge, we have lacked intensity. I'm not surprised that VOR has raised that point.

 

[northey]

BUT.. as antonius has pointed out our defence has been below standard for a few years.
and you can see that just pull out a tape from the last few years and you will see that we just let them through and don't defend.
eg. souths v newi last year at newi. souths could have won as they kept breaking our defence! we only won because we could put the points on them when they were asleep.

as much as i love the bloke todd lowrie was asleep yesterday. i was so surprised when he let 2 tries was it through. but he did make up for it with thoes brilliant runs!

 

[miladi]

Yeah, but the defense issue is an on going problem. Hages, Miller, doesn't matter who is coaching if no one is listening / following through.

What is the problem? I have seen Junior sides put more into their defense. Lack of intensity and direction seem to be major factors. Anyone know WHY????

 

[keeney]

todd lowrie didnt make up for anything, he was continually made to look stupid in defense, even if he scored 3 tries, that wouldnt change

 

[northey]

as i said before i hope at the video session they ram DEFENCE down their throats!
D-E-F-E-N-C-E

it really isn't that hard!

 

[antonius]

It's fairly basic stuff to get into marker in the play the ball, our blokes were'n't even getting to that yesterday that is plain lazyness (leave it to the next bloke stuff,) coaches like Bennett and Stuart would do their blocks with their players for that sort of thing. As for getting the players up for a game, the days of bashing lockers and slapping faces with steak are gone, it's a professional sport, they shouldn't need "getting up." Even setting a defensive line seems beyond them at times, yesterday half of them were still getting into place whilst the attacker had long gone (Birds try demonstrated that perfectly) and shirt grabbing isn't how you tackle, like I said the Sharks offloaded in tackles at will yesterday. It's all basic stuff not rocket science.

 

[miladi]

I can't remember any game this year when I haven't spent at least half the time screaming for the players to stop the opposition with the ball. And then watched as the opposition ran right through, or right off, or whatever.

We managed to get to the Parramatta game (I don't live in the Sydney / Newcastle area) and I was hoarse by the end of the game screaming "Tackle him, don't just stand there!" You guys know what I mean. I just don't get it, surely they are taught how to tackle somewhere along the line?

 

[antonius]

The two games where miller has been in charge, we have lacked intensity. I'm not surprised that VOR has raised that point.

Miller wasn't in charge for the Sharks game. Hages was. Hages would draw up the game plan anyway, he'd select the team, and he'd have Miller putting them through training for the couple of days he was away.

 

[Holla if ya hear me]

Defence is about 'attitude'
If your in the "ZONE" then it almost comes naturally.
We had it in round 1 and V the dogs this year.
As VOR and has been mentioned previously-MILLER CANT GET IT DONE!!! simple as that.

If you look at the roosters-they WANT to tackle-they love the SMASH
If you look at ours yesterday-no one WANTED to tackle or even HIT!
Wrong attitude and wrong coach.Like school kids..If the regular teacher aint there..its play time

Imagine if Johns was out there..Capt. Cranky would be ropable!!!!! :evil:

 

[Nuffy]

The jury is still out on Hagan as a coach as far as I am concerned.

I am yet to see an overall improvement in the club over the last 4 years, compare the rise of the Roosters under Stuart.

Plus being origin coach hasn't delivered any benefit to our club, Stuart being the NSW coach is already attracting players to the Roosters, hence Joel Mona's comments.

Defence is based on attitude and intensity and we have lacked it ever since Reilly left.

There is not enough pride in their effort, clubwise, defence wins the big matches and all the good teams have great defence.

Until we start muscling up in defence, there is going to be plenty more losses in the future.

 

[Voice of Reason]

This thread was not intended to be a Miller bash. Maybe he does have the ability, then again maybe has doesn't. I like many others, have been calling for the employment of a specialist defense coach for the last two seasons, so Antonious is correct in saying that the defensive deficiencies are not new for this year. I am trying to understand why a group of players "decide" to as Antononius says, "leave it to the next bloke" in defense ALL IN THE SAME GAME. Hages was there yes,but he was not there during the week for the preperation. There is a distinct difference between doing something because you want to do as opposed to doing that same thing because you have to do it. It looked to me that we had only a few players doing positive things because they wanted to in the first half. I still stand by my comment that if players dont respect the coach they WON,T want to achive for him hence they WON'T put in for him.