People Please!

[benno]

Have you people..in the time that its been known that hagan is being let go ever thought about giving the bloke some slack and stop being so one eyed about this issue.

I would have LOVED to have seen ANY coach in the NRL or SUPER LEAGUE do ANY BETTER then what Michael Hagan did in his time here.

The reason being.

NO coach in the NRL (had) to deal with the enequities(mind the spelling) of the facilities and the LACK of support staff and the in-house bitching.
Add to that the injury crisis we had last year. and also the injuries suffered to the teams playmaker and influencial persona of Andrew Johns over the past few seasons. 2001 and 2002 we were pritty lucky in the way of injuries. He won it in 2001 and 2002 we prob would have won if not joey fell down. Yet with him out of the last 2 games, we still came awlfully close to winning (dragons n roosters) . Granted hagan dosent seem to have had a back-up plan for joey but no past coach has (leo denoyvar is the only mavel).

He has slowly built Mullen up and Recruited Dane Campbell.

I personally feel sorry for Hages that he wont get a chance to try out the new facilities for a couple of years but one will do..and he'll pron end with a premiership and leave most of us with egg on our face.
Good luck to him.

 

[macavity]

I would have LOVED to have seen ANY coach in the NRL or SUPER LEAGUE do ANY BETTER then what Michael Hagan did in his time here.

same here.

 

[Misanthrope]

Odd, Warren Ryan and Mal Reilly didn't seem to have so much trouble producing results at the club...

 

[jamesgould]

Granted hagan dosent seem to have had a back-up plan for joey but no past coach has (leo denoyvar is the only mavel).

I think you'll find that both Reilly and Ryan had much better records than Hagan when Andrew Johns wasn't in the side.

 

[antonius]

Have you people..in the time that its been known that hagan is being let go ever thought about giving the bloke some slack and stop being so one eyed about this issue.

I would have LOVED to have seen ANY coach in the NRL or SUPER LEAGUE do ANY BETTER then what Michael Hagan did in his time here.

The reason being.

NO coach in the NRL (had) to deal with the enequities(mind the spelling) of the facilities and the LACK of support staff and the in-house bitching.
Add to that the injury crisis we had last year. and also the injuries suffered to the teams playmaker and influencial persona of Andrew Johns over the past few seasons. 2001 and 2002 we were pritty lucky in the way of injuries. He won it in 2001 and 2002 we prob would have won if not joey fell down. Yet with him out of the last 2 games, we still came awlfully close to winning (dragons n roosters) . Granted hagan dosent seem to have had a back-up plan for joey but no past coach has (leo denoyvar is the only mavel).

He has slowly built Mullen up and Recruited Dane Campbell.

I personally feel sorry for Hages that he wont get a chance to try out the new facilities for a couple of years but one will do..and he'll pron end with a premiership and leave most of us with egg on our face.
Good luck to him.

I posted in the other thread about my reasons for being happy to see him go, but I'll ask you the same question here. Tell me one area where the club has improved under Hagan? There is no excuse for the lack of heart shown by the team during the past couple of seasons, and that is something Hagan has control over with or without Johns. Johns absence is also not an excuse for the soft defense displayed by Knights sides since day one of his arrival here. I see no reason why anybody should cut him some slack. He has supervised the gradual decline in all areas of the Knights over his 5 years here. I would also doubt very much if he has had much influence over Mullens development here, but he would certainly have influenced plenty of promising juniors to seek recognition elsewhere.

 

[MrCharisma]

Odd, Warren Ryan and Mal Reilly didn't seem to have so much trouble producing results at the club...

BURN!

 

[jamesgould]

To knock the one on the head - our records since 1997 with and without Johns (he hardly missed any games before 97):

So ... Mal Reilly won 53% without Johns, Warren Ryan won 62.5% without Johns, and Hagan has won a grand total of 30% without Johns there. 15 WINS OUT OF 50 GAMES!!!

Fun fact: we bet NQ in 2000 with Mark Hughes at 5/8 and Buderus at half!!! Haha.

 

[Alex28]

Benno...you are delerious. Hagan is a hack. He has butchered the club, has added nothing (Dane Campbell is not adding anything, and guys Jarrod Mullens age are already playing NRL and the most promising player the club has had since Johns and he'll be behind Kidley. Again.), and is leaving the club reliant on one player that has played barely a third of the last 2 seasons.

He should have been gone years ago.

 

[benno]

Tah Gould for the staats i been looking for those.
Fair enough on that one thought they'd be about the same.
And CW.Bush yes congrats on that Burn haha.

Alex ill admit that we havnt gone leaps and bounds since hages took over.
But off the top of my head.
2001. he won it (yep cool warren ryans side) but still he coached the team really well.
2002. "wat if". That WAS a great year until the injury grwatly coached and team jelled awsomely. Im with u guys in saying i whish someone was there to back johns up but we dont..neither do raiders, roosters, dragons. i know u guys will say "But they still win without barret, fittler, Smith...but those players even knowing how good they are are NO WHERE near as influencial as Johns..u would be very surprised of the influence joey has on the knights let alone other teams. if you get a chance guys ask a knights player what the difference is with him and without...i did (shamefully) and they virtually said "Mate no-one understands the influence he has..no-one can"

2003..i cant exactly remember what happened that year..but i think it was a major bugger up.
2004 without johns for most year, we did a VERY good job..Hagan did his absolute best and so did the players without the brain of the team there.. plus injuries were just starting to stick their noses out which exploded last year.still no excuse but the roosters didnt make it last year so they went and brought (supposebly) a brain in Anasta.

And 2005. c'mon worst injury toll in nrl history for a club we had players from reserve grade who definantly werent ready then and the facilities were worse then ever. Plus we had lost huge talent in tahu kennedy morris odavis and others (a bad move by sargent and hagen so yeh ill blame them for that one.

ANYWAY cant wait for this year...should be interesting.

OH and Alex..Im not delerious...im just an avid Knights fan like you who comes onto this sight seeing you guys whinge every day so i thought id have a say.

 

[benno]

OO and Antonius...The knights would have improved under hagan had the facilities been sh*t loads better..No coach can improve a team when they have no Massager, Physio, rehab officer, ice baths, ...basically around the clock service....cant improve a team whem most of them are in a make-shift rehab class!!

South Newcastle had better services for christ sake.

 

[Johns Magic]

OO and Antonius...The knights would have improved under hagan had the facilities been sh*t loads better..No coach can improve a team when they have no Massager, Physio, rehab officer, ice baths, ...basically around the clock service....cant improve a team whem most of them are in a make-shift rehab class!!

South Newcastle had better services for christ sake.

The previous coaches did...

 

[northern knight]

C'mon lets give the guy some support and stop wingeing. Forget the past lets look forward to this year. Do you still remember the smell of your last fart, no its gone . Forget all this negative stuff and support the boys. Who will be in trouble for alcohol abuse before this season. PLease no steroid problems. I hear Thaiday knocked out Craig Smith at training.Lets talk about that. PPlease.

 

[Bring it home Knights]

the knights have ice baths.

Let me ask you these questions benno. Early in 2005 simpson was our best forward, but hagan put him in the centres due to an injured outside back. Was this the right decission?

Josh perry in 2004 has admitted he fell into a comfort zone and didn't put in anywhere near what he could. Should hagan have put him on the bench or dropped him?

Rudder did the same things as perry. Should hagan have waited untill mid season to give him a wake up call?

One former knights player has told me hagan isn't anywhere near as good as the coaches he's had previously, is that a good accolade?

Hagan said when he came to newcastle that he was going to build the team around johns. of the last 5 seasons that has cost the team, do you agree?

For the 1st half of season 2005 did the team play a game of almost nothing but dummy half runs and simple hit ups rather then testing the defence?

I await your answers

 

[Johns Magic]

C'mon lets give the guy some support and stop wingeing. Forget the past lets look forward to this year. Do you still remember the smell of your last fart, no its gone . Forget all this negative stuff and support the boys. Who will be in trouble for alcohol abuse before this season. PLease no steroid problems. I hear Thaiday knocked out Craig Smith at training.Lets talk about that. PPlease.

English please...

 

[northern knight]

wuddaya meen inglish don u text.

 

[Gene Krupa]

Hagan has been an abject failure during his tenure at the club. He should have been sacked last year, but management couldn't afford the money for a payout.

We're cashed up now. Get rid of him!

 

[benno]

"Bring it home Knight"
Tah for that champion..im not trying to pic a fight with ya's I mean hec i love the knights as u do.

I honestly havnt gone through each season through its stats to arrange a big argument towards u all.. You have some great and very very valid points there mate. tah 4 that....i just havnt remebered them haha.

so u want answers..ill make them quick cause tea is ready.
Pery slacko yup, i member sayin stuff at games that hagan needs to do sumthing about him..and was annoyed when he didnt.but i spose i was waiting for him too get back to his form he can create...

Rudder was a spits and spats player..i was surpised over his efforts in 2001 but he struggled in the years after..
was simposon put in centers during a game or during week wen team named???

cool u got an outside comment on hagan.

And i didnt scrutinise the knight 2005 season b4 i wrote this..i just typed...sumthing

so now uve brought those things to my attention i agree aNd disagree witha few things there...nice chattin.

 

[Ben]

Hagan has definitely provided both positive and negative impacts to the club.

Defence
This is the part where Hagan has dropped the ball the most ever since he stepped in as the Newcastle Knights coach. The two previous coaches, Mal Reilly and Warren Ryan, built the Newcastle Knights side around brutal defence that scared the sh*t out of opposition teams. It is also known the teams where frightened to travel to Newcastle because win lose or draw, they knew that their bodies would be hurting after the game. When Hagan stepped in, where did all this go? Where was the brutal defence? As a matter of fact, we had no defence. Surely people will argue that the game has modernised and the game is now in a state that there is more emphasis on attack, but you can’t win games without defence. Statistics show, in 1999, Knights conceded 514 points, in 2000, Knights conceded 574 points, and then in 2001, our premiership year, the Knights conceded 639 points. So a team that was able to defend their goal line for lengthy periods of times had just lost that ability over the course of a few months?

Attack
I have to give Hagan some credit here. He truly ratified the way the Knights played exciting attack football. He managed to turn a team of reasonable scoring ability to a side that could score tries from any place on the field. He built the side around Johns and with Johns at the centre of the action every play, tries were rolling in from around the park. This was needed for Hagan, because despite our defensive inefficiencies, our attacking game was strong enough to ensure victory.

However, this way of attack eventually led to Hagan’s downfall. He did not take into account what would happen if Johns was not there for the Knights. He didn’t have a backup plan if Johns would eventually be injured. Although Johns injuries were through no fault of his own, his own self-belief that Johns would always be there for him led to his demise.

Transfers
The Newcastle Knights has always been a side that never needs many imported players from other regions of the country because the local stocks of quality football players were always good enough to succeed in first grade Rugby League. However, when the local rugby leagues were no longer producing the likes of Haragon, Simpson and MacDougall and instead producing Tanner, Price, and Carmont, Hagan should’ve realized that recruiting was needed to boost the squad. Also, his transfers had to be questioned because he was the one who decided to release Tahu and Kennedy and yet decided to keep Carmont.

 

[macavity]

neither McDougall (Cronulla) nor Price (Canberra) ever played in the local leagues. Tanner is a Tamworth boy I think?

 

[Matt23]

Tanner is Maitland or Kurri junior I think.