Opinion Is Ricky Stuart the most overrated coach ever?

[Lambretta]

The Eels playing The Ricky Stuarts twice in the last 5 rounds is beyond perfect.

I would be laughing like a drain and making a huge thank you sign if I were an Eels fan

 

[God-King Dean]

In 2008 they only missed the MP because of +/-.

The theme with Ricky has been a good start, then a fast dwindle. The problem is, Eels & Canberra weren't any good, so he never had that short window. And we all know all players regress under him.

As someone above said, he creates a toxic environment. At both Raiders & Eels he said they don't have the players to go well. How inspiring..... FFS when he took over NSW in '11, he said "I'll be happy to win 1 game...." WTF? :lol:

 

[God-King Dean]

Sick part of me hopes Canberra win, just so we can get the 'Stuart can't win consecutive games/Dragons' never beat Raiders' paradox.

 

[Meapro Ham]

Absolutely this. Taking a look at the new posts in this thread is one of the first things I do when I check in here. Plus, it takes some of the attention away from the waste of a season the Knights are enduring as we speak. Like, things are not good up the F3 right now (McKinnon's injury, Bennett's fly-by-night deal with the Broncos, on-field ineptitude etc.)…but at least we're free of Ricky Stuart!

Knights are still looking for a coach aren't they? Ricky may well be available. I hear he has a 5 year plan in mind...

 

[Penrose Warrior]

Sick part of me hopes Canberra win, just so we can get the 'Stuart can't win consecutive games/Dragons' never beat Raiders' paradox.

No no no no..this is all about Ricky, baby.

The thing I can't get my head around is why Ricky is seemingly such a protected species.

The 1836 days without a consecutive win is a great story, yet I've never seen any media outlet run with it. I can understand why the reporter from the Canberra Gazette (or whatever it's called) doesn't go after him in a small town but surely it's free reign for Sydney and beyond? The DT are obviously biased because he used to write columns for them, but why can't anyone just give him a nice old clip?

 

[Russell Crowe's Band]

You're a Sharks supporter, how did they? I remember them playing a really wrestly, slow, niggly, grinding sort of 13-12 sort of brand but I could be wrong.

yeah

2008 was the peak of the slow niggle game. one ref, Manly, Melbourne and Cronulla dominated the wrestle and the ruck.

we won a bunch of games by two and one as well.

the next year the game sped up again with the two reffs and we were so far off the pace it wasnt funny.

but it was weird that team won so many games.

 

[GreenMachine121]

Lose / lose situation
Canberra Beat Parra- Ricky " We are improving "
Parra Beat Canberra -Pricky " I made a lot of improvements at Parra , so not surprised"
Canberra beat Parra and the world will end as we don't lose to saints and Ricky cant win two in a row...

 

[Meapro Ham]

yeah

the next year the game sped up again with the two reffs and we were so far off the pace it wasnt funny.

Actually it was pretty funny. Sharks circa 2009 were always good for a giggle

 

[Knightmare]

Knights are still looking for a coach aren't they? Ricky may well be available. I hear he has a 5 year plan in mind...

Ricky's "plan" belongs next to Ribot's "vision" in a skip bin somewhere...

 

[butchmcdick]

The answer is he probably wasn't very good to start with. Roosters 02-04 was all the Gus and Freddy show. Stuart has done pretty much nuthen since without Gus and Freddy there to make him look good.

Graham Murray had a fair bit to do with it too

 

[Charlie124]

If clubs, especially under performing ones, are going to offer long contracts (or even shorter ones) to a coach, why don't they ever insert performance based clauses to cover their own arses and back out if he's not working out?

Something along the lines of "if we finish in the bottom 4 the club reserves the right to pay out the current year and then walk away". Ricky doesn't give a shit if the raiders perform, why would he? It makes no difference to him.

 

[boonboon]

The sharks team in 2008 which came 3rd was an interesting anomaly in NRL terms. They had the 2nd worst attack in the comp (14 of 16 teams scored more points then them but fantastic defence in a very niggly season. They had a season where they won an amazing amount of close games -

Manly by 6
Melbourne by 1
StG by 2
Souths by 2
Cowboys by 6
Broncos by 7
Penrith by 2
Parra by 2
Newcastle by 3
Dragons by 1

They won those 10 close games - which could have easily gone the other way - even if they went half half sharks would have missed the finals but occasionally something like that happens and a team wins every close game. The had a great run wit injuries with 12 of thiers top 13 playing 18 games at least and 2 bench players playing most of the year as well.

The sharks had a really good side that year and some players who had the seasons of thier career especially in the backs with a great pack

Gallen, Bird, Douglas, Snowden, Nutley, Ben Ross with Isacc De Gois at hooker made up a great pack while Kimmorley pushed them around the park ably supported by Brett Seymour befor his issues and Brett Kearney at the back and 2 undertated winger in David Simmons and Luke Covell - even Ben Pomeroy was always defensively solid

 

[POPEYE]

Graham Murray had a fair bit to do with it too

Graham Murray had everything to do with it. With Stuart's above and beyond duty as a father and his appearance at the press conference it is not unreasonable to imagine he may suffer depression or even self harm

 

[oldmancraigy]

In 2008 they only missed the MP because of +/-.

The theme with Ricky has been a good start, then a fast dwindle. The problem is, Eels & Canberra weren't any good, so he never had that short window. And we all know all players regress under him.

As someone above said, he creates a toxic environment. At both Raiders & Eels he said they don't have the players to go well. How inspiring..... FFS when he took over NSW in '11, he said "I'll be happy to win 1 game...." WTF? :lol:

That's right, they weren't trying to win the series in 2011, were just building for the future, and would only play players in their 'correct' positions.
So don't pick Hayne, because he's 'not a fullback' in Ricky's opinion, he's a 5/8.

Then pick Hayne on the wing.

Then pick old farts for game 3

Then change it all again in 2012, and say 'we are building for the future'

Nicely done Ricky.
The joke isn't on him though, he still has a job. The joke is on the people who keep hiring him (goodness knows how the Eels got rid of him 2 years early. Unfortunately for the Raiders, I cannot see how anyone else will bail them out?)

 

[herbert henry1908]

No no no no..this is all about Ricky, baby.

The thing I can't get my head around is why Ricky is seemingly such a protected species.

The 1836 days without a consecutive win is a great story, yet I've never seen any media outlet run with it. I can understand why the reporter from the Canberra Gazette (or whatever it's called) doesn't go after him in a small town but surely it's free reign for Sydney and beyond? The DT are obviously biased because he used to write columns for them, but why can't anyone just give him a nice old clip?

A big part of the Ricky Stuart protection racket is his manager , John Fordham.


Very powerful man with lots of connections.

 

[oldmancraigy]

If clubs, especially under performing ones, are going to offer long contracts (or even shorter ones) to a coach, why don't they ever insert performance based clauses to cover their own arses and back out if he's not working out?

Something along the lines of "if we finish in the bottom 4 the club reserves the right to pay out the current year and then walk away". Ricky doesn't give a shit if the raiders perform, why would he? It makes no difference to him.

Probably because nobody would want to take the job if it made it possible for them to be sacked based on players getting injured...

Eg Cowboys: Take the job, Thurston and Scott go down in week 1 for the season, a few more first grader injuries, and you're in spoon contention. Coach gets sacked because things get a bit tense - nobody thinks he actually could have done better, but they fire him because the clause is there, and it's the easiest option available.

 

[herbert henry1908]

Graham Murray had everything to do with it. With Stuart's above and beyond duty as a father and his appearance at the press conference it is not unreasonable to imagine he may suffer depression or even self harm

Everything ?

He deserves a lot of credit no doubt , but Gould & Fittler turned the club around in the mid 90's. Made it a credible force that laid the foundation for others.

Murray also did a great job of improving them.


Stuart was in the right place at the right time.

 

[POPEYE]

I'm in one of those moods today . . . never hurts to remember the great Muzza

 

[Penrose Warrior]

A big part of the Ricky Stuart protection racket is his manager , John Fordham.


Very powerful man with lots of connections.

Right..that'll explain it. Nice work, some fine insight on this page including boonboon.

 

[Tom Shines]

Would love to see some blue and gold "THANKS RICKY!" banners at Parra v Raiders