Misty Bee
First Grade
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From this morning's SMH
What a difference a jeer makes. Parramatta players, embarrassed by the cascade of boos that greeted the name of their coach Brian Smith on Sunday and chagrined by their own inept performance against Wests Tigers, last night held a meeting at the home of Nathan Hindmarsh to discuss the inadequacies inside their own jumpers.
Over the past 18 months, Smith has volunteered to the board, management, his own staff and senior players to resign, yet has received only encouragement.
Following a humiliating loss to St George Illawarra in round 11, he again offered to go, destroying the myth Parramatta management won't sack him from the three remaining years of his contract because to do so would cost them $1 million.
"I've had ongoing meetings with everyone from Denis Fitzgerald to Nathan Cayless and given them all the opportunity to say I'm not the man for the job," Smith said. "They've had the chance to say it but they have been rock solid."
Smith also has a great ally in his wife, Karen. When Sydney radio station 2GB revealed international centre Jamie Lyon had written a letter to Parramatta management complaining about Smith's micro-managing ways, Karen called Lyon in Wee Waa, where he has lived since leaving the club.
"Karen was flabbergasted when she heard the report," Smith says. "She said to me, 'Why don't you ring him?'
"I was disappointed but Karen knows him well. He's been a guest in our house. Anyway, she called him but he told Karen what she wanted to hear.
"He told her I was a great coach and a good bloke just to get her off the phone. He didn't deal with her request for an honest answer. He hasn't had the whatever to repeat what he said to Karen to anyone at Parramatta."
Lyon's sidestepping preceded the Eels anaemic effort on Sunday, at which Smith sat on the bench, watching the last juice of a season's promise leak away, listening to the groans of kick-offs going out on the full, balls dropped over the try line, scrums lost against the feed, suffering as his dauntless team lost badly.
Smith has always been confident in his ability to turn other clubs' discards into competent tradesmen, reasoning that if he can encourage them to do the simple things well, he can turn an ordinary team into a play-off contender. He bought Chris Muckert and Shane Muspratt from the Cowboys and Junior Langi from Melbourne but only Muspratt made the bench for the team that played Wests Tigers.
He says, "For the coach of that type of journeyman player and the player himself to do their best, you need a bit of confidence and continuity and that comes from the team playing at a reasonable level on a continuing basis. We haven't had that equilibrium this year."
Smith has always been direct with players, never sugar-coating his words. When he began coaching first grade 21 years ago, players had jobs and they had their coats pulled by fellow workers when they got out of line.
But today's players won't work for $15 an hour and therefore don't relate to a normal work environment. Treated like Ming vases by their clubs, they don't handle criticism well. Smith has built an entire career on challenging players and some don't like it.
"I've taken that on board and made some adjustments, particularly because I've got kids of my own," he says. "If anything, I could be accused of being a bit soft."
This season he opted for bulk, buying six props, perhaps believing the way of the future was slower play-the-balls. His recruitment policy was at odds with all other coaches who see the game as speeding up.
Of Smith's beefy new props, the lightest - 102-kilogram Craig Stapleton - is the only one not to play premier league this year.
"I'm not committed to the world's biggest team but I'm glad we went for bulk," Smith says. "We've five players out with broken whatevers and if I didn't have the new buys, we'd be using kids from the park."
Today's players have the attention span of a gnat, meaning it's hard to hold the concentration of someone who has already been at a club seven years.
When Channel Nine cameras took viewers into the Parramatta dressing room at half-time in the loss to St George Illawarra, fans contrasted Smith's use of a whiteboard to instruct the players with Dragons coach Nathan Brown's upbeat, "come on, boys" manner.
The Parramatta players were seen seated, knees together, silent. It activated the ancient anti-schoolteacher prejudice in the code, inviting criticism of Smith, a former chalkie.
"I've been told people have made a massive deal of this," Smith says. "I can remember as a player being instructed on a white board by coaches other than schoolteachers.
"That particular night, I spent two to three minutes with a problem we had on our right-hand edge with outside defence. It needed a quick diagram which words could not do. That said, it didn't help."
Last Sunday, Smith looked hollowed out. It was like seeing him fall into a grave. It happens when you make football more than a game. Asked whether he was pleased the players had decided Parramatta have many worthy scapegoats not named Smith, he said, "They are at a point where they recognise I can't do anything for them and they need to do something.
"Hallelujah!"
Some extrememly interesting points:
1) Smith has offerd his resignation, and it has been REJECTED!!!!!!
You all know my opininon on the matter. Hearing that Smith has done that merely confirms I guess what we all know about his character. We all know that he's probably the nicest bloke in the word - he comes across that way in the media. However it seems we are not so much dealing with a stubborn coach, more like a stubborn Board. Parra, post '86, are used to being lower than average under this board. Maybe those banners should be aimed at Fitzgerald instead!
2) Lyon. Masters makes a valid point re fragile players. Lyon, IMHO, isn't one of them. I have been shocked to read of Hindmarsh's comments re the fans after some of the tripe they have dished out. It's as if they are only discovering that their performances are not up to it- DUH!!!!
I doubt that Lyon is on his Pat Malone re his personality traits, especially re his platitudes towards Karen Smith.
3) The Whiteboard. I had no problem with him using it. However, we rarely see Parra firing each other up in the rooms. It's not that Smith uses a whiteboard that is the issue, it's that the players don't leave the sheds comitted enough.
But to hear that Smith has ofered his resignation, and it has been rejected, flabergasts me. What the F is the club doing?????????
What a difference a jeer makes. Parramatta players, embarrassed by the cascade of boos that greeted the name of their coach Brian Smith on Sunday and chagrined by their own inept performance against Wests Tigers, last night held a meeting at the home of Nathan Hindmarsh to discuss the inadequacies inside their own jumpers.
Over the past 18 months, Smith has volunteered to the board, management, his own staff and senior players to resign, yet has received only encouragement.
Following a humiliating loss to St George Illawarra in round 11, he again offered to go, destroying the myth Parramatta management won't sack him from the three remaining years of his contract because to do so would cost them $1 million.
"I've had ongoing meetings with everyone from Denis Fitzgerald to Nathan Cayless and given them all the opportunity to say I'm not the man for the job," Smith said. "They've had the chance to say it but they have been rock solid."
Smith also has a great ally in his wife, Karen. When Sydney radio station 2GB revealed international centre Jamie Lyon had written a letter to Parramatta management complaining about Smith's micro-managing ways, Karen called Lyon in Wee Waa, where he has lived since leaving the club.
"Karen was flabbergasted when she heard the report," Smith says. "She said to me, 'Why don't you ring him?'
"I was disappointed but Karen knows him well. He's been a guest in our house. Anyway, she called him but he told Karen what she wanted to hear.
"He told her I was a great coach and a good bloke just to get her off the phone. He didn't deal with her request for an honest answer. He hasn't had the whatever to repeat what he said to Karen to anyone at Parramatta."
Lyon's sidestepping preceded the Eels anaemic effort on Sunday, at which Smith sat on the bench, watching the last juice of a season's promise leak away, listening to the groans of kick-offs going out on the full, balls dropped over the try line, scrums lost against the feed, suffering as his dauntless team lost badly.
Smith has always been confident in his ability to turn other clubs' discards into competent tradesmen, reasoning that if he can encourage them to do the simple things well, he can turn an ordinary team into a play-off contender. He bought Chris Muckert and Shane Muspratt from the Cowboys and Junior Langi from Melbourne but only Muspratt made the bench for the team that played Wests Tigers.
He says, "For the coach of that type of journeyman player and the player himself to do their best, you need a bit of confidence and continuity and that comes from the team playing at a reasonable level on a continuing basis. We haven't had that equilibrium this year."
Smith has always been direct with players, never sugar-coating his words. When he began coaching first grade 21 years ago, players had jobs and they had their coats pulled by fellow workers when they got out of line.
But today's players won't work for $15 an hour and therefore don't relate to a normal work environment. Treated like Ming vases by their clubs, they don't handle criticism well. Smith has built an entire career on challenging players and some don't like it.
"I've taken that on board and made some adjustments, particularly because I've got kids of my own," he says. "If anything, I could be accused of being a bit soft."
This season he opted for bulk, buying six props, perhaps believing the way of the future was slower play-the-balls. His recruitment policy was at odds with all other coaches who see the game as speeding up.
Of Smith's beefy new props, the lightest - 102-kilogram Craig Stapleton - is the only one not to play premier league this year.
"I'm not committed to the world's biggest team but I'm glad we went for bulk," Smith says. "We've five players out with broken whatevers and if I didn't have the new buys, we'd be using kids from the park."
Today's players have the attention span of a gnat, meaning it's hard to hold the concentration of someone who has already been at a club seven years.
When Channel Nine cameras took viewers into the Parramatta dressing room at half-time in the loss to St George Illawarra, fans contrasted Smith's use of a whiteboard to instruct the players with Dragons coach Nathan Brown's upbeat, "come on, boys" manner.
The Parramatta players were seen seated, knees together, silent. It activated the ancient anti-schoolteacher prejudice in the code, inviting criticism of Smith, a former chalkie.
"I've been told people have made a massive deal of this," Smith says. "I can remember as a player being instructed on a white board by coaches other than schoolteachers.
"That particular night, I spent two to three minutes with a problem we had on our right-hand edge with outside defence. It needed a quick diagram which words could not do. That said, it didn't help."
Last Sunday, Smith looked hollowed out. It was like seeing him fall into a grave. It happens when you make football more than a game. Asked whether he was pleased the players had decided Parramatta have many worthy scapegoats not named Smith, he said, "They are at a point where they recognise I can't do anything for them and they need to do something.
"Hallelujah!"
Some extrememly interesting points:
1) Smith has offerd his resignation, and it has been REJECTED!!!!!!
You all know my opininon on the matter. Hearing that Smith has done that merely confirms I guess what we all know about his character. We all know that he's probably the nicest bloke in the word - he comes across that way in the media. However it seems we are not so much dealing with a stubborn coach, more like a stubborn Board. Parra, post '86, are used to being lower than average under this board. Maybe those banners should be aimed at Fitzgerald instead!
2) Lyon. Masters makes a valid point re fragile players. Lyon, IMHO, isn't one of them. I have been shocked to read of Hindmarsh's comments re the fans after some of the tripe they have dished out. It's as if they are only discovering that their performances are not up to it- DUH!!!!
I doubt that Lyon is on his Pat Malone re his personality traits, especially re his platitudes towards Karen Smith.
3) The Whiteboard. I had no problem with him using it. However, we rarely see Parra firing each other up in the rooms. It's not that Smith uses a whiteboard that is the issue, it's that the players don't leave the sheds comitted enough.
But to hear that Smith has ofered his resignation, and it has been rejected, flabergasts me. What the F is the club doing?????????
