trust me u dont want sheens,btw the 2000 team was awesome and would of made the finals if it wasnt for stupid injuries
sheens did a good job at rebuilding but lets face it hes not that great at getting the best out of the young talent
lets take bronson as a example,he tried to turn him into a prop when most people knew his strengths
theres been others like Dene halatau,Ryan Tandy,David Gower,Shannon Gallant,Lewis Brown,Ben Teo and Peni Tagive as wll
Your 2000 team wasn't awesome it just got off to a good start then the wheels fell off. Plus making a top 8 in a 14 team competition isn't really much of an achivement.
You see you are wrong the whole turning players into prop's thing is Royce Simmons. He moved Sid Domic from the centre's to second row and prop. Brett Boyd moved from hooker to prop. Matt Adamson moved from fullback to second row and prop that was a success that he has tried to emulate since. Bobby Thompson from fullback to lock, Morvin Edwards from centre/fullback to lock/second rower.
Royce Simmons once thought that future forwards would be fast and nimble so he went through a phase in the mid to late 90's of turning back's into forwards. Tim Sheens never did this at Canberra, to my knowledge the Cowboys or Penrith. This only started at the Tigers when Royce Simmons was the assistant coach.
Sheens not that great at getting the best out of young talent, You don't know what you are talking about.
Let's go through history young players brought through by Tim Sheens
Penrith 1991 Grand Final starting line up
and the ones who are linked to Sheens
1. Barwick (Gould)
2. Mackay (Gould)
3. Fittler (Sheens) signed him as a schoolboy
4. Bentley (Sheens)
5. Smith (Sheens)
6. Carter (Sheens)
7. Alexander (Sheens)
8. Clarke (Gould)
9. Simmons (pre 1984)
10. Dunn (Gould)
11. Geyer (Sheens)
12. Walker (Sheens)
13. Van Der Voort (Sheens)
14. Izzard (pre 1984)
15. Cartwright (Sheens)
That is 9 out of 15 of Penrith's starting side linked with Sheens. This isn't including the likes of Butterfield and Carroll either who both had links to Sheens. Not bad for a coach who left the club in 1987.
Canberra 1994
1. Mullins (Sheens)
2. Nagas (Sheens)
3. Meninga (Qld)
4. Wiki (Sheens)
5. Nadruku (Sheens)
6. Daley (Sheens)
7. Stuart (Sheens)
8. Pongia (Sheens)
9. Walters (Qld)
10. Osborne (Sheens)
11. Furner (Sheens)
12. Croker (Sheens)
13. Clyde (Sheens)
14. Hetherington (Sheens)
15. Westley (Sheens)
Lomax was suspended he is a Sheens signing also. I was even generous and put down Steve Walters under Queensland even though he did nothing at all until Sheens got there then he became one of the best if not the best Hooker the game has ever known. Daley debuted in 1987 but didn't become a regular first grader. Lazarus also in the same boat some of these players are the best the game has seen. David Barnhill,Nigel Gaffey,Mark Bell really there are so many players he brought through at Canberra it is ridiculous.
North Queensland by far his worst spell but still brought through Scott Prince and had a hand in signing Matt Bowen.
Wests Tigers
Now let's look at this fairly before Sheens took over the best players to be brought through this club was Luke O'Donnell.
Team Sheens inherited in his first game
2003 vs St George round 1
1. Caine
2. O'Halloran
3. Fitzhenry
4. Hill
5. Miles
6. Buettner
7. Withers
8. Pearson
9. Senter
10. Skandalis
11. Laffranchi
12. O'Neill
13. Galea
14. Bradley - Qualilawa
15. Heighington
16. Paterson
17. Wozniak
Tigers 2005 Grand Final team
1. Hodgson (Wests) but brought back by Sheens
2. Fitzhenry (2002 pre Sheens)
3. Elford (Sheens)
4. Whatuira (Sheens)
5. Richards (Sheens)
6. Marshall (Sheens)
7. Prince (Sheens)
8. Laffranchi (2002 pre Sheens)
9. Farah (Sheens)
10. Skandalis (Wests)
11. Galea (Penrith)
12. O'Neill (Balmain)
13. Halatau (Sheens)
14. Fulton (Sheens)
15. Heighington (Sheens)
16. Gibbs (Sheens)
17. Payten (Sheens)
Including players bought that is 13 out of your 17 starters with a direct link to Sheens. Bearing in mind that he had only been at the Tigers for 2 seasons this is a hell of an effort.
Since then you have brought through, Ayshford,Moltzen,Lawrence,Lui,Murdoch-Masila,Fifita,Dwyer,Tuiaki,Ryan.
you also have guys who were going nowhere until picked up by Sheens Galloway,Brown etc.
there are probably some more but can't quite think off the top of my head.
we can make an all star team of players Sheens has brought through
1. Alexander
2. Mullins
3. Daley
4. Fittler
5. Nadruku
6. Marshall
7. Stuart
8. Lazarus
9. Farah
10. Cartwright
11. Geyer
12. Furner
13. Clyde
I think this is pretty impressive.
Tigers fans like to complain on here about Sheens but as you can see he has done the Tigers a huge amount of good over the years. For all the complaints about Fitzhenry and players out of position which is clearly a Simmons trait. He has helped two clubs which were going nowhere and helped them become the most entertaining and a premiership contender.
I'm gutted we didn't get him his record for bringing through Penrith Juniors is really unrivalled. It's a shame Penrith couldn't keep hold of him i have wanted him to come back for years.
To other topics
At least now Penrith have made a play by showing the money and hopefully it will bring in a very good coach. If it's Ricky Stuart i will be absolutely gutted. Nathan Brown i have no problem with all of his mates would almost be retired now.
