Mitch Healey

[MTK]

Mitch Healey is assistant coach at Souths.

What a tragedy. He was such a great clubman, and as far as I can understand, he got on well with Raper. It's a pity there wasn't room for him on the coaching staff at Cronulla.

He has been saying for a while that he had hoped to get into coaching one day. Sadly for him, he has ended up in a no-hope dead-end job.

Here's to Buckets.

 

[coolumsharkie]

Hardly a no-hope dead end job :roll:

He's an assistant coach for a first grade RL side.....

What do you do for a living?

 

[King of the Hill]

Good post

One related point is that Phil Gould recently voted Healey as one of his all time favourite five 5/8s...better than Brett Kenny

Even I wasnt really keen on Healey

 

[blacktip-reefy]

He rated him that because Mitch was good.
His kicking was precise, he had good turn of speed over short distances, great defense & pass both ways.
His downside was his kicking game went off when we needed it the most at times.
Out on the full, too short etc.

 

[King of the Hill]

kicking was good and he passed effectively from the scrum base

i'd hardly call him a superstar 5/8 though

but i'd sure take him now over the current option

 

[Alan Shore]

Healey was OK, but not to be rated highly.

 

[Jimbo]

His downside was his kicking game went off when we needed it the most at times.
Out on the full, too short etc.

You sure you're not thinking about Dykes?

 

[coolumsharkie]

Yeah I thought Mitch was a good all round player,always solid.

but i'd sure take him now over the current option

Spot on.

 

[blacktip-reefy]

I'm talkin about all of them!
Mitch, Greeny, Dykesy, Nick, Matty.

In some finals we needed kicks in very tight spots. The kicks were not good enough & we lost.

 

[Nullajet]

i reckon mitch healey was always a solid performer who gave everything at all times......but he wasn't a star 5/8th.....in fact i dont think we have ever had a star 5/8th in the last 20 years......the best was probably speechley for mine...and again nothing starry attackwise...

BUT gould has got to be on drugs or have some sort of problem with Kenny if he doesnt rate him better than healey...GIVE ME A BREAK!!!!!!

watch some old tapes...Kenny was one of the best PLAYERS ever...I can think of none better....for mine he was equal to lewis...but in a different way...

MAGIC to watch.

 

[cheese]

I agree nullajet.

Dont get me wrong, i certainly appreciated heals's efforts for the sharks. He always put in, and rarely had a completely shite game. But f**k ..cmon .... gould must have just punched a bowl full to say something like that. Kenny was pure silk

 

[blacktip-reefy]

Burt was great, but I reckon his best position was actually centre or fullback.
It's just that those positions were well covered at Parra.
He was found wanting on quite few occasions against Wally in Origin at 5/8.
Sensational to watch run.
Ordinary kick game. Struggled with size against bigger players close to the line.

 

[cheese]

Yea i'll give healey that one. He definitely had a better kicking game than kenny.
But when you've been standing next to sterlo for a decade, i reckon learning how to kick wouldnt have been the highest of priorities

 

[Nullajet]

He was found wanting on quite few occasions against Wally in Origin at 5/8.

.
i disagreee reefy....check the origin records and you will find that when kenney oposed lewis as 5/8th in origin..NSW won more than Qld....that is a fact..and read Lewis's books.he always rated kenny as the ONLY 5/8th to trouble him at origin.
I never saw him found wanting...oops wrong one game.......Australia v NZ at Lang park one year..he had a shocker.....but thats the only one....and quite frankly.all but Les davidson in that game were atrocious

as far as kickinga game goes...Kenny didn't have a long range kicking game but as we all know......with sterling there.......he didnt need it......few if any could beat lewis in that dept.

I stilll believe he was an excellent centre as you say but I prefer him in his time as 5/8th where he got the ball sooner....and i dont ever recall him playing fulback...i know they had those spots covered but I dont think he was even considered for that spot ever, not even in rep games or kangaroo tours

I hope no one has mistaken my comments as a go at heals....I loved the bloke....and rated him as super reliable, but there are very very few that did what brett kenny did....

he is the equal of any of the greats....without question. I wish they would show highlights of some of those guys more often, like grothe and rogers and fulton....so that people didnt allow time to fade just how great these blokes were.... brett kenny was like ET..he provided some brilliant moments and was a marvel to watch....

 

[blacktip-reefy]

No I'm with you.
It's just hard to explain because they were such different players but in the end Kenny had one thing that Mitch didn't have & that is what probably seperated them. That is, made Kenny better.
Pure f**king speed over the distance of the field.
Imagine what Mitch could have done with that speed!!

I can only ever remember Lewis scroring try after f**king try in origin.
many were straight through Kenny.

& no, he wasn't ever played at Fullback. Taylor was & liddiard.

 

[The Popper]

I heard Gus had a disagreement with Kenny and that's why he didn't mention him.
IMO Bert is up there just behind the likes of Bozo and Sludge. IMO Mitch was not in the same class but did possess one of the finest tactical kicking games of all time. St.George-Illawarra recognised that, when they took him out early in the 99 final along with Matty. They knew who our danger men were. After Mitch left the field The Mouth had a field day.

 

[Docking]

i reckon mitch healey was always a solid performer who gave everything at all times......but he wasn't a star 5/8th.....in fact i dont think we have ever had a star 5/8th in the last 20 years......the best was probably speechley for mine...and again nothing starry attackwise...

I agree, Speechley was probably the best. Dykes would be second but he was always seemed to be a bit lost when not playing at Shark Park.
At least you knew with Speechley that he was solid in defence with his grassing tackles.
I still have a lot of respect for Healey, he was another true Cronulla man who never roes to great heights but used his skills to full advantage.

 

[MTK]

Hardly a no-hope dead end job :roll:

He's an assistant coach for a first grade RL side.....

What do you do for a living?

I take your point Coolum.
What I was getting at was that very few players or coaches (I know there are some exceptions) go from Souths to be successful over the past fifteen years.
It is also apparent that they are already trying to undermine Langmack and that it is unlikely he will be there next season. Generally, if you are going to change coaches, the whole staff goes.
I just feel that Mitch could've had a better coaching apprenticeship at pretty much any other club in the NRL bar Wests/Cowboys.

 

[carinashark]

Mitch will be at the Sharks , it might take a year but he would be great with Raper.
Carinashark

 

[DJDL]

Man people look on Mitch through rose-coloured glasses.
He was a solid player, nothing else. He gained a good reputation from being the least worst of a very ppor bunch of performers in the early 90's (ET and Ox excluded).

His passing game was spot on, no two ways. His running game was non-existant, his options were limited and very predictable, and his kicking game was good only in the early part of his career.

Check some videos of '96 and onwards. I lost count of the number of bombs he put into the crowd on the ET Family Hill or whatever it's called these days. Or grubbers being a mile too long, or too short.

For mine, he is a major reason we never won a thing back through that age.
Great, hardworking forward pack, lightning fast, evasive backline, and an old, unimaginative dog trying to link the two together.