Ivan Cleary One Step Away from the Dragons!!

[God-King Dean]

Tomorrow is friday

Could it be.....

 

[St Georgio]

Bellamy and Bennett are obviously the best coaches.
The Dragons have had little
success in appointing coaches which shows that their selection process is flawed. They should search far and wide and undertake a proper recruitment process.
I would be prepared to back my judgement but that will probably not happen as they
will probably appoint Cleary and then sack him like Gould did. Bennett was the only standout coach employed by the Dragons since Harry Bath.
However Brian Smith and Andrew Farrar/David Waite got them to Grand Finals so it does not hurt to look outside the square. If Cleary interviews the best appoint him.

Andrew Farrar was a reject coach!

 

[betcats]

On the subject of John Lang he could be a good coaching director for a Demetriou/Head coaching combination. He
would instil some toughness into our players and solve the positional problems.
He is a no nonsense type of guy noted for his tenacity.

Mate Lang is a legend in my books but he isn't the guy you wont to fix your problems. Ive heard it from Brandy himself that he was not a hard trainer and not big on attacking game plans.

 

[betcats]

Which narrows it down to Bellamy, Green, Robinson or Bennett. Thats all.

Using a winning percentage alone is not enough to judge a coach. It's the equivalent of saying Hazem El Mazri was the best player to ever play because he scored the most points. Or that Merritt deserved to play origin because he was the best try scorer for so long. There's a lot more factors involved, with the obvious one being the team itself.

If you look even the tiniest bit deeper at Cleary, his career is very impressive. He took the Warriors to the finals 4/6 years he was there, and would have been 5/6 except they lost points due to being over the cap the previous year (before he started). That record included a grand final. By comparison, the Warriors have made the finals 3/15 years without him. Those stats clearly indicate that theres a far deeper cultural issue at the Warriors, and that Cleary was able to overcome that to build success.

You then look at Penrith. Before him coming along, Panthers had made the finals once in 8 years, narrowly avoided the spoon and had salary cap issues that make our club look like a well-oiled machine. Within 2 years, he re-vamped the roster and built to a Top 4 team and a pre-lim final. Yes, he had a crappy 2015 with an almost reserve grade side for most of the season due to a horrible injury run, but the evidence is there. And that rebuilding is something we will need over the next years too.

He is by far the best coach on the market, and better than half the coaches currently employed. To say he's a level above Mary is the understatement of the century; he's in a whole new league to McGregor. Not signing him would be a monumental f**k up.

The other year Cleary missed the 8 with the warriors was when Sonny Fai died in the preseason. What he did with the Warriors was awesome I still cant believe they didn't retain him.

 

[St Georgio]

Mate Lang is a legend in my books but he isn't the guy you wont to fix your problems. Ive heard it from Brandy himself that he was not a hard trainer and not big on attacking game plans.

I think coaches believe too much in this defence wins premierships, that only works if you have 13 great players who only like to attack..for instance a team like the Broncos of 92/93 you would repeatedly say defend defend because they had a star studded line up of attacking players who's instincts was to attack on every occasion, so too the Raiders of that era, defence/attack should be looked at the cattle you have at your disposal, who know's McGregor could have been correct in hindsight..maybe this squad assembled may have been so bad.. that last year was a miracle and this year was a reality..hence the D factor!

 

[BennyV]

I am not saying do not sign Ivan Cleary. We need to have a shortlist which includes at least Cleary(49%), Hagan(53%) , Toovey(58%), Demetriou and Head(65% this year) and pick the coach with the best credentials. I do not necessarily believe that Cleary is the best option and that there may be other alternatives which need to be considered. Demetriou and Head together could be a good option as they intimately know the skills of the players and their teams this year won nearly 2 out of 3 games that they played compared to Mary's success rate of 2 out of 5 games. I do not want us to maintain Mary as he has lost the plot and his selections are illogical.

Again, you are throwing out the winning percentages as if they are the only thing we should be looking at. If you break them down:

Hagan: Not a bad option, but hasn't coached in years and his percentage comes from coaching a team containing the single greatest all-round football player in history. I know that it takes a good coach to get the players to work together, but I'd go out on a limb and say that Joey is the exception.

Toovey: Took over a grand-final winning team who had player together for years and knew each other's structures in-and-out. Was simply a case of maintaining that.

Demetriou/Head: That percentage is not first grade. Remember, Price had a fairly successful record as a junior coach, doesn't mean a thing when you get to top grade. Demetriou shows promise, but as a club we simply can't take that risk.

Personally, I hope the club doesn't conduct a review or world wide search. The last 2 times this happened, we ended up with the 2 worst coaches in our history, with Mary's appointment chosen over the likes of Brad Arthur and NIel Henry. Instead, I hope they just sign Cleary. He is the obvious stand out, outside of Tony Smith or Shaun Wane from ESL (who would still have to adjust to the play style here).

 

[twinkletoes]

All this talk about Cleary is hypothetical. By the time the Board gets around to reviewing the season..after our lower grades have completed their commitments..and looks at the coaching options available, the coaching options will have disappeared. I am expecting the Warriors to name Cleary as their new coach within the next 2 weeks...our board still be sitting on their hands....Both Henry and Arthur were willing and available before McGregor was appointed. ...same situation, we waited too long

 

[betcats]

Surely they have seen enough of Mary, I mean things were pretty dour this season and you barely brought any players through until the last couple of weeks and then for some reason he insisted on given Benji his farewell instead looking at a potential replacement.

Its time to bring in some new blood to the coaching staff to look over the squad with fresh eyes and come up with some fresh ideas.

 

[Dragon Revival]

When Nathan Brown was appointed coach the other 2 contenders were Mick Potter and Brian Johnson. I believe that Brown was too young and another alternative should have been chosen. What I am saying is Cleary should earn the appointment not be gifted it as was Brown, Price and Mary who all had an easy ride. Pick the best 2 candidates and make them justify their appointment. I believe we need a hard headed coach who can get exceptional results.

 

[Gareth67]

All this talk about Cleary is hypothetical. By the time the Board gets around to reviewing the season..after our lower grades have completed their commitments..and looks at the coaching options available, the coaching options will have disappeared. I am expecting the Warriors to name Cleary as their new coach within the next 2 weeks...our board still be sitting on their hands....Both Henry and Arthur were willing and available before McGregor was appointed. ...same situation, we waited too long

I tend to agree , twinky . The impression I had was that there would be money available to pay out Mary and also to sign Cleary , with Demetriou as his assistant .
It also made sense to wait until all teams commitments were over . However , as you said , the longer they wait , the more likely that he will go to the Warriors . Lets hope that it not the case , as I also believe that he is indeed the man the Dragons need to push them into a winning combination .

 

[St Georgio]

Harry Bath

Something random, great kit hey!

 

[Gareth67]

Harry Bath

Something random, great kit hey!

Not only did dashing young Harry have the looks , but he also had the brains to go with it .
If only there was someone available on the market with 1/10 of Harry's football nounce ,
the Joint Venture would have a very bright future indeed !

 

[dannyt]

When Nathan Brown was appointed coach the other 2 contenders were Mick Potter and Brian Johnson. I believe that Brown was too young and another alternative should have been chosen. What I am saying is Cleary should earn the appointment not be gifted it as was Brown, Price and Mary who all had an easy ride. Pick the best 2 candidates and make them justify their appointment. I believe we need a hard headed coach who can get exceptional results.

Brown's appointment was to block Melbourne's advance to be assistant to bellyache.

Unproven at FG, as were Price and mary.

Cleary, while he hasn't won a premiership, does have a reasonable FG record.

 

[dragonssamy61]

Not only did dashing young Harry have the looks , but he also had the brains to go with it .
If only there was someone available on the market with 1/10 of Harry's football nounce ,
the Joint Venture would have a very bright future indeed !

Gareth spot on between coaching gigs and harry ran the local news agency at south hurstville. What a ledgen he was

 

[Old Timer]

Harry Bath

Something random, great kit hey!

Fearless Facer & Killer Kearney acknowledged how pivotal Harry was to the St George club during the early part of the great run.
He was brought back form England where the RL was of a much higher level and the forwards in particular were very skilful and tough.
Despite the fact he was getting long in the tooth when he came back we were very lucky that Balmain were not willing to pay the high (for the time) transfer fee.
Great player, goal kicker, coach and publican.

 

[Old Timer]

Perhaps some of the only footage of Harry Bath playing

 

[dragonssamy61]

Perhaps some of the only footage of Harry Bath playing

Thats old timer never seen the great man play live. But that was interesting

 

[Objective View]

When Nathan Brown was appointed coach the other 2 contenders were Mick Potter and Brian Johnson. I believe that Brown was too young and another alternative should have been chosen. What I am saying is Cleary should earn the appointment not be gifted it as was Brown, Price and Mary who all had an easy ride. Pick the best 2 candidates and make them justify their appointment. I believe we need a hard headed coach who can get exceptional results.

Please, give it a break.

Straight Shooter

 

[SaintHarry]

We wont sign no one not cleary not toovey not smith not anybody we dont money to hop on a bus from parra you think the club has money to payout marys contract plus sign a half decent coach we should be storming the leagues club with pitch forks i say!

 

[Saintsified]

What about Mick Potter, not like he was given a good go at Wests.