Mick Potter

[madunit]

Plenty of articles about him over the past 2 weeks or so. May as well put them all here.

 

[madunit]

Newly appointed Wests Tigers coach Mick Potter. Source: The Daily Telegraph

MIDWAY through the unveiling of Mick Potter as the new coach of the Wests Tigers, chief executive Stephen Humphreys was asked if Potter had been the first choice.

Talk about a loaded question. Potter was stunned.
"How can you ask that question?" he said with a grin, looking at other reporters. "I'm sitting right here. I've got feelings."
Welcome to the jungle, baby. While Potter might have been the best available choice, he may well have been asked if the Tigers were his first choice.
A talented but underachieving side, with headstrong players in Benji Marshall and Robbie Farah having too much to say, with a board apparently split right down the Balmain-Wests divide, and a footy club rumoured to be struggling financially.
Throw in the increasingly messy imbroglio with Tim Sheens and you wonder if Potter had just entered rugby league's version of the ninth circle of hell.

Fortuitously, he's seen far worse. In July, Potter was made redundant as head coach when the Bradford Bulls were placed into receivership.
Those close to him told him to abandon the Super League and return to Australia, yet Potter stayed on, without pay.
"You start a job, you finish it," he said.
Potter then guided the Bulls to the brink of their first play-off spot for four years, despite the dire financial predicament.
"I think I served above and beyond what I needed to do there," Potter said yesterday. "I felt obliged to do that. It has made me a better coach. The reasons I want to coach aren't financial but because you love the game.
"You love to teach players some things and you love to test the players out and get the best out of them."

Humphreys flatly disputes the Tigers have financial issues, although they remain unprepared - or unable - to pay out the rest of Sheens' contract, which is close to $1 million.
Potter will also be one of the lowest paid coaches in the NRL on a deal said to be worth about $250,000 a season.
Sheens returns from annual leave next week and the Kangaroos coach seems unlikely to accept the offer of a development role.

"That ball is in his court at the moment," Humphreys said of Sheens' future. "As you know, we remain keen for Tim to play a senior role with us overseeing our development activities. Tim is considering that as well as some other possibilities. We continue to talk."
Asked if it was tenable to have Sheens stay on, with Potter now driving the bus, Humphreys said: "I think it can. It wouldn't want to be a role looking over Mick's shoulders. It's a completely separate role in our business that I have talked about. That will be up to Tim.
"I would hope and expect that Tim and Mick would have some dialogue about the team. We would be foolish not to try to tap Tim's experience here in that regard. At the same time I know Tim would want to give Mick all the space he needs to get on with his job."
Despite the uncertainly, the upshot for Potter is that he's being paid for this one.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...h-circle-of-hell/story-e6frexnr-1226502656482

 

[madunit]

New Wests Tigers coach Mick Potter to lay down the law to playmaker Benji Marshall

WESTS Tigers coach Mick Potter will this morning sit down with star player Benji Marshall for the first time and atop the agenda will be the mercurial half's on-field leadership and cutting out the "trick shots".
In a revealing radio interview yesterday, Potter also said new recruit Braith Anasta will be considered at lock instead of halfback.
And he declared the Tigers' maligned forward pack wasn't aggressive enough last season.
"I don't want to tread on anyone's toes, but I thought they could have got forward a bit more, with a bit more vigour," he told Sky Sports Radio yesterday.
How Potter juggles the dominant personalities of Marshall and captain Robbie Farah in his first season at Concord Oval remains one of his main tasks.


He said upon his appointment last week that nobody was bigger than the team. Yesterday, he said he would challenge the pair to become stronger leaders on the field.
"I'll be demanding on him, and I think he will be demanding on himself as well," Potter said of Marshall. "About how he gets around the park, how he cracks the whip on other people, and how he leads. I want him to lead by example. I think he does a good job at that, but I will reinforce what he does on the field every week.
"I don't see them (Marshall and Farah) as being a problem. It's a case of letting them know that they are leaders. They are influential players and everyone looks towards them, the young players look towards them.
"They have to set an example all the time. They have done a good job up until now, but I want them to take it to another step. When it gets tough, they are the ones the young guys look at to get them through."
Potter remains undecided about his halves for next year. Anasta was signed from the Roosters, with sacked head coach Tim Sheens suggesting the veteran would play halfback to take pressure off Marshall.
But under-20s star Jacob Miller is highly regarded, attracting interest from Super League powerhouse Hull.
"Braith can play halfback, but he can also play five-eighth," Potter said. "He's not unaccustomed to lock either. I want to see how they scrub up in the pre-season and where they fit best for the team."
As for the Tigers' signature attacking style of play, Potter said he would be looking for more discipline.
"The style they played was very good but they tilted the balance to being too flamboyant down their own end, not getting out of jail with a really hot kick-chase game," he said. "They would come up with a little trick play they tried once or twice too often."
Asked about the Sheens situation, chief executive Stephen Humphreys said: "There's no update in regards to Tim. I would suspect that it will take some time to resolve and we've said that we'll give him the time and space he needs to consider things."

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...r-benji-marshall/story-e6frexnr-1226504914501

 

[madunit]

RECENT appearances at Western Suburbs and Balmain junior presentation nights has helped convince new Tigers coach Mick Potter that the club has a bright future.
While the performance of the NRL team may have cost Potter's predecessor Tim Sheens his job at the end of last season, Wests Tigers have never been in as good shape.
Contrary to speculation about the Tigers financial position, they have one of the most profitable football operations of any Sydney club and were third in the NRL this year for merchandise sales - despite failing to make the finals.
On the field, Wests Tigers won the Under 20s grand final, Balmain was SG Ball premiers and Balmain Ryde-Eastwood made the NSW Cup decider.
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In addition, two of the three high schools aligned to the Tigers - Holy Cross Ryde and Keebra Park - made the semi-finals of the GIO Cup national schoolboys competition.
''There is quite an optimism around the place about the young fellows and I share that view,'' Potter said.
''The recruitment has been pretty good over the last few years, and having the dual areas of Balmain and Western Suburbs has been quite good for the club as a whole.''
Bringing the likes of NYC halfback Jacob Miller, winger Marika Koroibete and props Jesse Sue and Mosese Fotuaika, who both played for the Junior Kiwis two weeks ago, into the top team will be a task for Potter next season and there are a host of other promising players coming through the Tigers ranks.
SG Ball halves Mitchell Moses and Luke Brooks and centre Paul Simona played for Australian schoolboys this year, while hooker Manaia Cherrington represented NSW Under 18s.
Potter has already met some of the next batch of Tigers stars as he handed out the trophies at the Balmain presentation evening last Saturday and attended the Western Suburbs awards night the week before.
''I just stuck my head in to have a look,'' he said. ''There was some good kids at both of them.
''Wests Tigers have got Keebra Park, St Gregorys College at Campbelltown and Holy Cross as well so they will keep producing them. It is just making sure that the club holds on to as many as they can.''
It is for that reason that Tigers officials get frustrated by criticism over the departure of Chris Heighington and Beau Ryan to Cronulla.
''Given the strength of our Under 20s and Under 18s that does force you into making some decisions because you have got to find space and opportunities for those kids,'' Wests Tigers chief executive Stephen Humphreys said. ''That is a tricky thing to manage at times and often people who aren't close to it can't see that part of the puzzle but we certainly do and we are very conscious of it.
''I know people are saying it is a rabble or whatever but internally we feel that we are in for a really strong year in 2013. We've got everything happening.
''We started premiership favourites this year because of the strength of our roster and that has not really changed. We have got two or three guys who have moved on but wherever you look we have got talent coming through.''
Wests Tigers recruitment manager Warren McDonnell added: ''I dare say there are 15 other clubs who would love to be in the dire straits that we are in at the moment.''
Off the field, Wests Tigers are also in a strong position and do not rely on the huge leagues club grants that rivals such as Canterbury, Parramatta and Sydney Roosters receive.
As a football operation, they are one of the most profitable in the NRL due to ticketing, sponsorship and merchandise sales.
''We always make the eight and more often the top four,'' Humphreys said.
''This year we have had a more difficult year because performances on the field have such an impact but our financial results over the last three or four years have been relatively very strong and as a consequence we have not had to rely on the same grants from leagues clubs that a number of other Sydney clubs do.
''Our leagues clubs will always invest in the business as is required but if you look now at 2013 and beyond, with the high level funding that clubs will receive [from the NRL] and the fact we manage our business carefully, we won't be relying on funding from leagues clubs.''


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...-young-cubs-20121109-2939r.html#ixzz2Bo0Nvv8A

 

[madunit]

New Wests Tigers coach Mick Potter knows he has a long summer of soul-searching ahead of him.
But far from having cold feet about turning the underachieving joint-venture around, Potter views the uncertainty around his starting line-up as a sign of the club's depth and versatility - and took the chance on Friday to put everyone in his squad on notice.
A quick glance at the Tigers' squad reveals how few players are guaranteed to hold onto their spots in the starting line-up.
Captain Robbie Farah is certain to stay at hooker, while Benji Marshall will fill the six or seven jersey and Chris Lawrence is assured of a centre spot, while the forward pack could get an overhaul due to the departures of Gareth Ellis (Hull) and Chris Heighington (Cronulla) - but even for the team's stars, Potter was giving no special consideration.
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"You're only as good as your last game, but they've certainly got some runs on the board, those players," he told AAP on Friday.
Even at fullback, where Tim Moltzen played the bulk of his 20 games last season, he has serious competition for his spot in the form of young guns James Tedesco and Kurtis Rowe.
"And that's a good situation to be in," Potter said.
"They wouldn't have got this far if they didn't have that competitive nature about them.
"That internal competition creates a good atmosphere and good environment to work in.
"Everyone is competing for a spot and they're competing against each other. That brings the best out in each player."
Potter is yet to decide on how most of his starting 13 will line up, but expects it will take shape by around Christmas - where only a few of the contentious spots will remain.
Among them is halfback, where former Sydney Rooster Braith Anasta is still being strongly considered alongside the likes of Jacob Miller and Curtis Sironen, Moltzen and Marshall.
"Halfback seems to be the question on everybody's lips at the moment but we've got some good options there," he said.
"We've got some versatility there as well which gives us other options.
"We're by no means at the end of the road. And by no means it's made any decisions about any players in particular.
"I want to see how they perform next week and then right up until Christmas. Then we'll start to formulate plans on which people get first crack."

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-new...atility-excites-new-coach-20121109-293bq.html

 

[Pistol_Pete]

I am liking what I hear of Potter. He will be hard but fair with the players
I heard a couple of snippets yday ... one is that of the assistants, Georgialis is likely to be moved on
The second piece will cheer us all
Timid has been told to start preparing to play earlier in the day and at training has been put in a group called `the fringe'

 

[Eddie.]

Like what I'm hearing from Potter. Whilst our squad might have a couple of holes in it i'm sure we will surprise many next year. Many don't consider we have been run by a ego maniac, stubborn fossil for the best part of a decade.

 

[innsaneink]

I like what I hear too......but then I remember Ive heard a lot of things these past years, seeing is something different

Eagerly anticipating the season tho

 

[Pistol_Pete]

I never heard supercoach say he wanted us to run with more vigour. Potter has seen it and basically said publicly our forwards run like cats (bar 1 or 2 of them) and so do a good chunk of our backs. He has publicly exposed them and put them on notice. No longer will the hino tippy tappy hot shoe shuffle be seen or the fizzy type donuts on tackle 2. Every other team manages to run straight and hard perhaps we can as well

 

[madunit]

Fitzy is long gone....you gotta move on moth

 

[Pistol_Pete]

Who is moth ??
:-d
My point was which other coach would have tolerated te fitzy/Ryan ineffective running styles
Or hino's, sattler, graham, Ohara etc
It was not only encouraged it was coaches

 

[851]

I am liking what I hear of Potter. He will be hard but fair with the players
I heard a couple of snippets yday ... one is that of the assistants, Georgialis is likely to be moved on
The second piece will cheer us all
Timid has been told to start preparing to play earlier in the day and at training has been put in a group called `the fringe'

Where did you read that,Benji won't be happy,but Potter won't care either,bring on the new era.

 

[moller]

I never heard supercoach say he wanted us to run with more vigour.

This is easily the most impressive thing so far. Talk is cheap and all, but FMD it's not rocket science. We've been saying it for years, our new coach has said it before a ball has even been kicked, and yet Sheens saw no issue.

 

[Vic Mackey]

Every Off season id hope for something different the following year. Then come tackle 4 of the foundation cup id see robbie scoot out sideways of dumnyhalf, show it once, then turn heighno inside who ran straight at the markers for a grand total of 3ms made.

I would then sigh and resign myself to another year of shit.

It's still going to take a while for the players to get used to a new style of play. I'm not expecting us to start out on fire. Hopefully the attitude will be different, and that's all I'll be looking for in first few rounds.

 

[benched tiger]

Andrew Johns summed it up when he said that the WT attack was predictable and had not changed since 05,seven years later its definitely time for a new approach in both A&D.

 

[super_coach]

In just a few press releases Potter has identified what a few us have been saying since late 2006, piss poor kick chase,lack vigor,lack aggression and too much circus plays. I would imagine he has also seen a lot more relating to individual players that he is keeping to himself. Anyway its only talk but at least its on the money and not the wishy washy stuff we have been served up with for so long.

I like what Iam hearing, fingers crossed the players embrace and react to our new coach and dont sulk when they are told that they need to change and are not perfect