"IN WANE WE TRUST" ................ Shaun Wane that is.

[DragonInTheInnerWest]

Sorry, a couple of corrections there, 34 on Manly this year and 2018 the year in question when we dusted off the Broncs and everything seemed so hopeful, sadly a false dawn.

if not Flanagan or Fitzgibbon NOW, then yes, some options are there but none are obvious ‘tick-every-box’ fits:

Bennett: see above

Young: Price, Mary, rinse and repeat. We’ve had enough of that.

Green: Could be a decent fit. Comes with the authority required but questionable relationship with players. Wants the Broncos job?

Fitzgibbon: Do not buy the loyalty to Roosters card. Maybe he feels it would be too much pressure too soon. If he wanted a top job surely he would jump at the role and they wouldn’t stop him. If not, stay at the Chooks. He’s one of theirs now anyway.

Ryles: Views it as ‘too hard basket’ obviously.

Toovey: He will apply buy not realistic. Blood and thunder coach. Got good results at Manly but that was a while ago now. Would it translate and can he rebuild? Had an established team at Manly.

Griffin: Proven and a safe bet to make us contenders quickly. Can he take the next step though? Also wears thin on players very quickly, like Maguire.

Wane: An adventurous punt but a completely fresh start. Would bring a great track record. Other foreign coaches have done ok and not so much. Reilly and Lowe. But there’s also Kearney, Endacott, Iro, et al.

Walters: Has been looked over time and time again but he would bring an attack-first mentality.

Tony Smith?: what’s his situation now? Girls all finished school? COVID second wave starting in the UK?

Payten: He is out there. Comes highly recommended and looks like a ‘no fuss’ type. Almost landed the Tigers gig, Seems to have galvanised the Warriors and they wanted him. No small feat Stranger combos have worked. I’d imagine that once upon a time Robinson looked to be on a similar trajectory as an assistant.

Some coaches are destined to be instant successes, even when the success still takes time, like Flanagan, B Smith, Green, Maguire. That’s when you find them first, with the juice in them. We need to find that type of person for ourselves now. Be brave.. Appoint and (Hopefully) sit back in the knowledge that you have a six or seven year coach who can generate renewal, attract players, make grannies, create a suitable identity and culture.

Unfortunately I think we are too late and today should have happened 12 months ago instead of the Gould charade. We could have nabbed Justin Holbrook who looks like the best coaching talent around Right now.

If we can’t get the right fit then maybe appoint a care-taker who has some smarts and wait for Flanagan. I think Head or Shepherd both know what they’re doing and can swap roles with Flanno in 12 months time.

 

[hewi]

I hope I’m wrong but I’m getting a feeling that Dean Young is the anointed one. If they havnt learnt form the last two coaches that we need a proven coach from outside the club then we are doomed. Surely they couldn’t be that stupid.

 

[Forbes Creek Dragons]

Wane just extended his England contract. Won’t be coming. Time to move on, our next coach has to fit two criteria 1.Development coach 2. Can attract players. Young is not that guy, nor I suspect is Griffin not the attracting players part anyway. Paul Green is next cab off the rank I suppose unless by some miracle we can entice Fitzy or Bennett.

 

[rasaint]

Fair enough all this talk about coaches and what they can or can’t do is relevant to some extent.

A coach has to have the roster and 3rd party deals extra which keep top players at a salary cap discount ( the right money in a players hands but less cap impact).

Wayne Bennett, Green, Flanno Jack Gibson Des Hasler, Ricky Stuart ( ok wont bore you anymore) all have won comps when their roster sweet spot arrived. All have tanked when the best players were injured or not in the roster. Robo and Bellamy are long term coaches of clubs with long term strong 3rd party deals in place. Good luck to them. They are good coaches. The Roosters are under the cap this year, Sonny Bill come on down under. Again I’m fine with that / the world is not an even opportunity place. We won in 2010 with a marvellous rooster and Gaz on a reported heavy back ended deal cherry on top.

Yes a good coach helps but cap and roster are so important.

 

[Dragsters]

Wane just extended his England contract. Won’t be coming. Time to move on, our next coach has to fit two criteria 1.Development coach 2. Can attract players. Young is not that guy, nor I suspect is Griffin not the attracting players part anyway. Paul Green is next cab off the rank I suppose unless by some miracle we can entice Fitzy or Bennett.

"Bosses at Rugby Football League have been so impressed with his work behind-the-scenes they have extended his deal until the end of 2022.

Chief executive Ralph Rimmer hopes the contract extension will fend off any attention from NRL clubs."

Does not automatically preclude him from both roles.

McGuire is NZ coach and Kristian Woolfe also balances club and Tongan national coaching roles.

Time will indeed tell...

 

[Walpole]

Wane or Fitzgibbon for mine. Fitz would be a rookie coach but he's coming from an established system and has worked under a very good coach. It's also 20 years since he was part of the Dragons setup so the "no old boys" argument doesn't really hold up. Wane would give us an in with any English talent, was very successful at Wigan and would bring a different perspective to any of the other candidates.

No to Young (no coaching credentials of any sort - "assistant to McGregor" shouldn't even get you a gig in the Illawarra league), Flanagan (I'd prefer a coach with a bit of character, not someone who attempted to rort the system and then tried to lie his way out of it) or Bennett (the bloke's 70 FFS, just let him retire).

Most of the others - Toovey, Green, Griffin etc. - all have plenty of baggage, which I'm not sure we need.

 

[Mjab]

Wayne Bennett would be the wrong appointment at this moment in time. It would be a ‘safe’ appointment, doesn’t show much daring or thought to a long-term vision, more a quick fix.

On the plus side:
He certainly would bring instant respect and attract the high quality players we need. He took the Broncos to within a minute of the flag with our current halfback. It may be that he’s simply a great fit for us. That unexplainable chemistry. He had us well under the radar the best part of his first two seasons With Saints. He would toughen us up instantly. He makes a lot out of a little, usually only needing a couple of flair players surrounded by a lot of worker bees and tough guys.

now the negatives:
Let’s look at his record since leaving Saints. In the ten years since he’s made one GF and one prelim. He had a blow out tear at the Knights and cried off a year before his contract finished.

He manoeuvres to his next gig before the last one ends. And takes players with him. He took several key planks of our side away with him to the Knights. Been moved on from two of his last three clubs as the third weighs up doing the same.

These days he also brings the whole sideshow. He brings a hard edged and tough winning culture but at times also looks bereft of solutions such as in 2011 when we won 5 of our last 13 games in an Uber late-season fade that rivalled any under Mary.

Maybe most tellingly, he hasn’t left a legacy of success anywhere He’s been after he’s left. Just pale Xerox’s of his style which is set up to fail without his personality to steer it. And also the style of football. It’s ugly, conservative, defence-oriented. Our points high tally for the season in 2010 was 32, twice. Even the current side put 34 on Cronulla this year, 40 on a couple of teams previously.

As much as Mary failed to deliver, the 48-18 SF win against the Broncos eclipses any win we had under Bennett, from a pure fan perspective. I mean the enjoyment of the football played, not the stakes. Maybe it was the surprise of it rather than just expecting to collect the wins as we could Safely do under Bennett, I don’t know.

to me the worst thing about Mary’s tenure was the dull, unimaginative, structured football we played. The lack of players with flair to get you on your feet. We would be trading that in for a winning, high-octane version of it.

But let’s face it, he hasn’t set the world on fire at Souths and there are no excuses. He’s mis-managed certain areas of their roster in my view. The magic seems to be wearing off.

it’s a no to Bennett. Show some imagination, let’s get away from dull football. Appoint somebody who will guarantee an entertaining journey along with a good win percentage. Let’s face it, No club (without unlimited resources) can win comp after comp. You have to enjoy the down years as well.

1983-84, 1998, 2002, 2005, 2017. These were not premiership or GF years but they gave hope, excitement, promise. Pleasure.

Great summary and I agree

 

[Dragon David]

Fair enough all this talk about coaches and what they can or can’t do is relevant to some extent.

A coach has to have the roster and 3rd party deals extra which keep top players at a salary cap discount ( the right money in a players hands but less cap impact).

Wayne Bennett, Green, Flanno Jack Gibson Des Hasler, Ricky Stuart ( ok wont bore you anymore) all have won comps when their roster sweet spot arrived. All have tanked when the best players were injured or not in the roster. Robo and Bellamy are long term coaches of clubs with long term strong 3rd party deals in place. Good luck to them. They are good coaches. The Roosters are under the cap this year, Sonny Bill come on down under. Again I’m fine with that / the world is not an even opportunity place. We won in 2010 with a marvellous rooster and Gaz on a reported heavy back ended deal cherry on top.

Yes a good coach helps but cap and roster are so important.

Very much agree with what you say Rasaint. If you have a great coach but poor roster you are not going to be getting consistently good results. I don't think our roster has been/is a great one and a lot of this contributed to the demise of Mary on top of his inabilities as a coach to improve most of the guys we had/have.

Whether we get Wane, Fitz, Ryles, Bennett etc, we still need a stronger roster that we do not pay overs for and keep our cap intact and for several of the "better" players to obtain third party deals.

A lot of water will run under the bridge before we have stability in our ranks and be a significant force in the years ahead.

 

[denis preston]

Mcgregor being punted may also help the chances of landing him...

Agree, seemingly uninterested nominees only become interested when the position is officially open.Bit like a auction really !!

 

[denis preston]

My first choice would be Geoff Toovey.

He is the bloke that said a week ago ( and he has no agenda or vested interest to say this ) McGregor is a great coach !! Dont know if i want a guy with that sort of thinking.

 

[Dragon David]

"Bosses at Rugby Football League have been so impressed with his work behind-the-scenes they have extended his deal until the end of 2022.

Chief executive Ralph Rimmer hopes the contract extension will fend off any attention from NRL clubs."

Does not automatically preclude him from both roles.

McGuire is NZ coach and Kristian Woolfe also balances club and Tongan national coaching roles.

Time will indeed tell...

Bennett of course did the same until he was axed.

 

[denis preston]

As Much as we Believe the best for the Dragons is Wane or Flanno, Dean Young will be our next long term coach, God Help us!

With respect , how the hell do you deduce this ? Based on what ? If it is past history even our dumb board knows the last thing they can do now is appoint from within and put there hand back on the old boys club.

 

[Mickthedragon]

A

Mcgregor being punted may also help the chances of landing him...

Ah, those sweet words we have all been waiting for. Still sounds great a day on.

 

[possm]

Wane or Fitzgibbon for me.

Do either of these two coaches intend to apply for the job?

 

[possm]

With respect , how the hell do you deduce this ? Based on what ? If it is past history even our dumb board knows the last thing they can do now is appoint from within and put there hand back on the old boys club.

We need to say no more than the words 'Craig Young' director of the Board.

 

[possm]

Mcgregor being punted may also help the chances of landing him...

The Roosters will let him go if he wants to go. Maybe he is being lined up to take over as head coach of the Roosters in a couple of years time.

 

[Forbes Creek Dragons]

"Bosses at Rugby Football League have been so impressed with his work behind-the-scenes they have extended his deal until the end of 2022.

Chief executive Ralph Rimmer hopes the contract extension will fend off any attention from NRL clubs."

Does not automatically preclude him from both roles.

McGuire is NZ coach and Kristian Woolfe also balances club and Tongan national coaching roles.

Time will indeed tell...

I’m not against you mate for the record. He’s my #1 pick. I just find it even more unlikely he will come now than I did even yesterday. If I’m wrong I will be so over the moon I’d probably take the day off work to celebrate.

 

[possm]

Wane just extended his England contract. Won’t be coming. Time to move on, our next coach has to fit two criteria 1.Development coach 2. Can attract players. Young is not that guy, nor I suspect is Griffin not the attracting players part anyway. Paul Green is next cab off the rank I suppose unless by some miracle we can entice Fitzy or Bennett.

Bennett is the obviouse one but, will he apply?

• I see Bellamy moving to Brisbane.
• Smith retiring to coach Melbourne.
• Fitz to stay at the Roosters and eventually take over as head coach.
• North Qld to appoint Walters as head coach.
• Bennett to coach the Dragons on a 3 year deal with Young as his assistant.

 

[St Georgio]

With respect , how the hell do you deduce this ? Based on what ? If it is past history even our dumb board knows the last thing they can do now is appoint from within and put there hand back on the old boys club.

Everyone in the media like Brent Reed is basically saying all the top coaches a not available and it's highly likely D Young would be the hottest prospect ATM,as the trend shows McGregors was given every 2 to 3 years of contract extensions!
Most on this forum have been saying for the last 2 years NO MORE ROOKIES, but it seems the board tends to do the opposite to what the fans wants, I truly hope we get a Premiership winning coach with a great win loss record, Shaun Wane ticks 90% of those boxes bar one,Not coaching in the NRL, but for me 90% is better than McGregors 40%!

 

[TruSaint]

Everyone in the media like Brent Reed is basically saying all the top coaches a not available and it's highly likely D Young would be the hottest prospect ATM,as the trend shows McGregors was given every 2 to 3 years of contract extensions!
Most on this forum have been saying for the last 2 years NO MORE ROOKIES, but it seems the board tends to do the opposite to what the fans wants, I truly hope we get a Premiership winning coach with a great win loss record, Shaun Wane ticks me 90% of those boxes bar one,Not coaching in the NRL, but for 90% is better than McGregors 40%!

I dont think they would appoint Dean, but you are right about the hype.

Laurie Daley is the latest to suggest Young is the man for the job. They are really talking him up.