Round 1 Dragons v Broncos at Kogarah

[ouryear]

Do you think Ricky Stuart is a good coach?

I think Ricky needs the cattle.
He does not get the best out of his teams. In fact they finish behind their potential.

His record at Cronulla, Parramatta
And at Canberra is evidence he is not a good coach. He won one with the roosters when a good coach would have won minimum of 2, if not 3

I can't recollect a team he has taken to a higher level than their playing roster suggested.

Can you?

I rate him equal with Madge, And no better than Mary.

 

[Overseas dragon]

I think Ricky needs the cattle.
He does not get the best out of his teams. In fact they finish behind their potential.

His record at Cronulla, Parramatta
And at Canberra is evidence he is not a good coach. He won one with the roosters when a good coach would have won minimum of 2, if not 3

I can't recollect a team he has taken to a higher level than their playing roster suggested.

Can you?

I rate him equal with Madge, And no better than Mary.

No better than MARY .half this forum is better than MARY .

 

[ouryear]

No better than MARY .half this forum is better than MARY .

That's true, half are better than Mary.
And better than sticky.
There are a few poor coaches.
Mary isn't alone.

 

[Crush]

I think Ricky needs the cattle.
He does not get the best out of his teams. In fact they finish behind their potential.

His record at Cronulla, Parramatta
And at Canberra is evidence he is not a good coach. He won one with the roosters when a good coach would have won minimum of 2, if not 3

I can't recollect a team he has taken to a higher level than their playing roster suggested.

Can you?

I rate him equal with Madge, And no better than Mary.

So based on that would you say that Dragons can go deep into the finals this year with Mary as coach as Raiders did in 2016 or do you reckon Raiders roster in 2016 was better than Dragons 2018?

I agree that Ricky is a poor coach yet he got Daly M coach of the year in 2016 which helped me form the opinion that with a good roster, a lot of luck with injuries and bounce of the ball even a shit coach like Mary or Ricky can go deep into the finals.
Edrick Lee catches that ball against Storm in that Semi Final and I reckon Raiders would have beaten the Sharkies and won the premiership the following week.
I'm sure many will disagree with us that Ricky is no better than Mary btw.

 

[ouryear]

So based on that would you say that Dragons can go deep into the finals this year with Mary as coach as Raiders did in 2016 or do you reckon Raiders roster in 2016 was better than Dragons 2018?

I agree that Ricky is a poor coach yet he got Daly M coach of the year in 2016 which helped me form the opinion that with a good roster, a lot of luck with injuries and bounce of the ball even a shit coach like Mary or Ricky can go deep into the finals.
Edrick Lee catches that ball against Storm in that Semi Final and I reckon Raiders would have beaten the Sharkies and won the premiership the following week.
I'm sure many will disagree with us that Ricky is no better than Mary btw.

Canberra have had the team to be in the Top 3 to 4. Mary nor Ricky can get them there. If Wayne, Bellamy, or Greene coached them, yes, top 2 to 3.

I think Canberra have a better team than us, but it won't help Ricky get them in the top 6. Nor would it help Mary.

Roughly, Mary, Hasler, Madge and Ricky are similar. All poor.

 

[ouryear]

Crush.
I'm sure many will disagree with us that Ricky is no better than Mary btw.[/QUOTE]
Yeah I know, more than half this forum think Madge, Hasler, Ricky... and even Griffin are world beaters.

Their own clubs don't think so, but this forum does. Some on here even wanted Taylor from the Tigers. Wow.

Guess it just shows what a knob Mary really is.

 

[Frank Facer]

I read that Cooper Cronk has basically been taking control of training sessions at Easts. Nobody is knocking Robinson. It made me think, that maybe we should have signed Cronk. He may become a very good coach. Technically, he is one of the best halfbacks I have seen.

I will add that I would be happy for us to have a new coach, but I am not going to carry on about the coach in so many posts, like so many on this forum do.

 

[muzby]

I'm sure many will disagree with us that Ricky is no better than Mary btw.

Maybe if everyone ignores the fact that as a coach Ricky has:
- won a premiership
- made a number of grand finals
- made the top 8 numerous times
- coached his state & country

Then maybe they could agree with you..

 

[ouryear]

Maybe if everyone ignores the fact that as a coach Ricky has:
- won a premiership
- made a number of grand finals
- made the top 8 numerous times
- coached his state & country

Then maybe they could agree with you..

And failed as many times. Yeah, he won one comp with the rorters.

Should have won 3.

Then cronulla, parrra and canberra.

Under performer

 

[blacksafake]

Broncos don't have a halfback. We do. Broncos don't have Bird. With the exception of Boyd and Roberts their backs are no better than ours. Their forwards are no better than ours. Dragons by 18

 

[Overseas dragon]

Haven't got anything

 

[getsmarty]

Hunt to open vault to Brisbane's secrets for Dragons
Send via Email
His club lumps one of the most wretched head-to-head records in recent NRL history, but Dragons coach Paul McGregor is not hiding the fact he has tapped into Ben Hunt's Brisbane bank of secrets to snap a frustrating curse.

While Hunt will be the man firmly in the spotlight ahead of the season opener against his old club on Thursday night, McGregor has quickly sought advice from his multimillion-dollar halfback about how to snap St George Illawarra's run of outs against the Broncos.


The Red V have beaten Brisbane just once in their last 13 clashes - stretching back to 2010 during Wayne Bennett's reign in Wollongong - but don't have to look far for fresh intelligence on halting that dominance.

Asked about consulting Hunt on some of Brisbane's inner workings, McGregor said: "We've openly chatted, for sure. We spoke a few weeks ago and I spoke to him again about it twice this week. Why not?

"He's played at the club for 180 games and most of them have been under Wayne. He's played with all those guys and he's a halfback so he certainly knows what they're about.

"But at the same time most coaches know the habits of the opposition as well to try to nullify the opposition."

McGregor is the only Dragons coach to have toppled the Broncos in almost eight years, but still boasts an unflattering 1-5 record in teams he has coached against Brisbane.


Dragons
Hunt vows to take control straight away
While Roosters recruit Cooper Cronk last week conceded he would be reluctant to open up on the Storm's trade secrets, Hunt can give a little advice on how best to tame his old club.

The clash against his former employers has been more than a year in the making as the Dragons pitch renewed hope on the back of his signing to complement James Graham's arrival, but McGregor has been quick to warn the rest of his squad not to take the foot off the gas.

Following late season fade-outs in two of their last three campaigns where they've plummeted from the top four mid-season, McGregor is demanding improvement from some of his established stars on the verge of higher honours.

"Tyson [Frizell's] at the right age, Jack de Belin's at the right age, Cam McInnes is coming off a career best year and I think if we can have a good learning from what we've done well and haven't done so well for 2018 then we have a nice blueprint," McGregor said.

"We're not complete - that's for sure - but as a coach I feel we're in a better place than at any other time at this time of year.

"I think a lot of those guys did go to the next level last year ... they all had good years individually, but we weren't consistent as a team. For those guys outside of James, Gareth [Widdop] and Ben to get rep honours they need to be consistent week in week out in the NRL. Then the club will be the beneficiary and they'll get rewards from it.

"They can't rest on individually on anything they've done in the past because the team didn't reach the finals last year. The big thing for us is closing the gap between our best and worst performances."


https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/sp...ne-s-secrets-for-dragons-20180304-p4z2sg.html

 

[Old Timer]

Coaches need to be evaluated at the end of the playing rounds and then again after the finals series.
IMO if you don't get your team to the semis you have failed miserably.
If you get your team to the semis and finish in 5,6,7 or 8 you get a passmark but only just a pass because you didn't secure 2 bites of the cherry, but if you are a good enough coach you can still retrieve the situation.
If you finish 1,2, 3 or 4 you get a pass + as you at least have given your team the best possible shot at it.
The harsh realty is, that In the end if you don't make it to GF day, you may have passed the preliminary test, but you have ultimately failed as you can't win a comp if you aren't playing on the last day of the season.
Now this rule of thumb can't be a applied just for 1 year it needs to be looked at over a few years to get some relevancy.
So some coaches will get a pass mark, lots get a fail and the shit one's get failed miserably, so on that basis our coach should be already out of work or at another club and we should have employed someone who has the required skill set.

 

[Frank Facer]

Coaches need to be evaluated at the end of the playing rounds and then again after the finals series.
IMO if you don't get your team to the semis you have failed miserably.
If you get your team to the semis and finish in 5,6,7 or 8 you get a passmark but only just a pass because you didn't secure 2 bites of the cherry, but if you are a good enough coach you can still retrieve the situation.
If you finish 1,2, 3 or 4 you get a pass + as you at least have given your team the best possible shot at it.
The harsh realty is, that In the end if you don't make it to GF day, you may have passed the preliminary test, but you have ultimately failed as you can't win a comp if you aren't playing on the last day of the season.
Now this rule of thumb can't be a applied just for 1 year it needs to be looked at over a few years to get some relevancy.
So some coaches will get a pass mark, lots get a fail and the shit one's get failed miserably, so on that basis our coach should be already out of work or at another club and we should have employed someone who has the required skill set.

Games are won on the field and a coach is only as good as the cattle he has to work with. Injuries to key players can break a team's season. Remember when Easts lost both their props, Hermansson and Lowrie leading into semi finals. They capitulated. One player can be more important than a coach. Remember when Newcastle was one of the best teams in the comp, with Andrew Johns in their team, but when he was out they could hardly win a game. Nth Qld have capitulated when Thurston has been injured in previous seasons. I recall when Melbourne were missing Slater a few years ago, they struggled to win a game. Easts used to struggle to win a game without Fittler. Manly used to be a different team with Brett Stewart out to when he played. Parra were a different team if Price was playing to when he wasn't.

Last year, Nth Qld made the Grand Final, but if we would have won our last game, Nth Qld would not have even made the top 8. That is a very fine line between a successful season and a failure.

I think that if Nathan Brown was coaching Easts or Nth Qld this year, they could still win this year's comp and I believe that if Robinson, Bellamy or Bennett had been coaching Newcastle for the last 2 seasons, with the players they had, they still would have got the spoon.

I think some people are under the impression that if we still had Bennett as our coach, we would have won a comp or 2 in the last 5 years. I believe that having a good spine is the most important thing and way more important than a coach. The Supercoach, Jack Gibson said that if you have got the best halfback, (referring to Peter Sterling) then you are half way there to winning a comp. He also said that the best coach is the best recruiter.

I gauge a coaches performance on what he does with the team that he has at his disposal, not where the team finishes on the ladder. I think Brian Smith coming to us in 1991, when we had not made the semis since 1985 and taking us to grand finals against the star studded Brisbane team full of Origin and Australian players in 92 and 93 was a much better achievement than Bennett coaching Brisbane to win the 2 comps against us. Smith taking Easts to the Grand Final after they won the spoon the year before was a great achievement. I also rate David Waite taking us to the Grand Final in 95 higher than Bennett winning comps coaching Brisbane. I seriously believe that I could have coached Brisbane to win the comps that they won under Bennett. I actually do rate Bennett coming to us and turning us into a premiership force and winning a comp a very good achievement, as I did not think that he had a great team at his disposal, I especially did not rate Hornby or Soward.

 

[Dennis Papaioannou]

Hunt to open vault to Brisbane's secrets for Dragons
Send via Email
His club lumps one of the most wretched head-to-head records in recent NRL history, but Dragons coach Paul McGregor is not hiding the fact he has tapped into Ben Hunt's Brisbane bank of secrets to snap a frustrating curse.

While Hunt will be the man firmly in the spotlight ahead of the season opener against his old club on Thursday night, McGregor has quickly sought advice from his multimillion-dollar halfback about how to snap St George Illawarra's run of outs against the Broncos.


The Red V have beaten Brisbane just once in their last 13 clashes - stretching back to 2010 during Wayne Bennett's reign in Wollongong - but don't have to look far for fresh intelligence on halting that dominance.

Asked about consulting Hunt on some of Brisbane's inner workings, McGregor said: "We've openly chatted, for sure. We spoke a few weeks ago and I spoke to him again about it twice this week. Why not?

"He's played at the club for 180 games and most of them have been under Wayne. He's played with all those guys and he's a halfback so he certainly knows what they're about.

"But at the same time most coaches know the habits of the opposition as well to try to nullify the opposition."

McGregor is the only Dragons coach to have toppled the Broncos in almost eight years, but still boasts an unflattering 1-5 record in teams he has coached against Brisbane.


Dragons
Hunt vows to take control straight away
While Roosters recruit Cooper Cronk last week conceded he would be reluctant to open up on the Storm's trade secrets, Hunt can give a little advice on how best to tame his old club.

The clash against his former employers has been more than a year in the making as the Dragons pitch renewed hope on the back of his signing to complement James Graham's arrival, but McGregor has been quick to warn the rest of his squad not to take the foot off the gas.

Following late season fade-outs in two of their last three campaigns where they've plummeted from the top four mid-season, McGregor is demanding improvement from some of his established stars on the verge of higher honours.

"Tyson [Frizell's] at the right age, Jack de Belin's at the right age, Cam McInnes is coming off a career best year and I think if we can have a good learning from what we've done well and haven't done so well for 2018 then we have a nice blueprint," McGregor said.

"We're not complete - that's for sure - but as a coach I feel we're in a better place than at any other time at this time of year.

"I think a lot of those guys did go to the next level last year ... they all had good years individually, but we weren't consistent as a team. For those guys outside of James, Gareth [Widdop] and Ben to get rep honours they need to be consistent week in week out in the NRL. Then the club will be the beneficiary and they'll get rewards from it.

"They can't rest on individually on anything they've done in the past because the team didn't reach the finals last year. The big thing for us is closing the gap between our best and worst performances."


https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/sp...ne-s-secrets-for-dragons-20180304-p4z2sg.html

So, if so many of our players went to the next level and had career best seasons, why did we miss the finals?
Surely the "blueprint" and melding all the individuals into a premiership force, is the coach's responsibility.
How does he get into the media so often anyway? He must have a bunch of journos on auto dial.
Another load of guff from the guffmeister!

 

[Dennis Papaioannou]

Games are won on the field and a coach is only as good as the cattle he has to work with. Injuries to key players can break a team's season. Remember when Easts lost both their props, Hermansson and Lowrie leading into semi finals. They capitulated. One player can be more important than a coach. Remember when Newcastle was one of the best teams in the comp, with Andrew Johns in their team, but when he was out they could hardly win a game. Nth Qld have capitulated when Thurston has been injured in previous seasons. I recall when Melbourne were missing Slater a few years ago, they struggled to win a game. Easts used to struggle to win a game without Fittler. Manly used to be a different team with Brett Stewart out to when he played. Parra were a different team if Price was playing to when he wasn't.

Last year, Nth Qld made the Grand Final, but if we would have won our last game, Nth Qld would not have even made the top 8. That is a very fine line between a successful season and a failure.

I think that if Nathan Brown was coaching Easts or Nth Qld this year, they could still win this year's comp and I believe that if Robinson, Bellamy or Bennett had been coaching Newcastle for the last 2 seasons, with the players they had, they still would have got the spoon.

I think some people are under the impression that if we still had Bennett as our coach, we would have won a comp or 2 in the last 5 years. I believe that having a good spine is the most important thing and way more important than a coach. The Supercoach, Jack Gibson said that if you have got the best halfback, (referring to Peter Sterling) then you are half way there to winning a comp. He also said that the best coach is the best recruiter.

I gauge a coaches performance on what he does with the team that he has at his disposal, not where the team finishes on the ladder. I think Brian Smith coming to us in 1991, when we had not made the semis since 1985 and taking us to grand finals against the star studded Brisbane team full of Origin and Australian players in 92 and 93 was a much better achievement than Bennett coaching Brisbane to win the 2 comps against us. Smith taking Easts to the Grand Final after they won the spoon the year before was a great achievement. I also rate David Waite taking us to the Grand Final in 95 higher than Bennett winning comps coaching Brisbane. I seriously believe that I could have coached Brisbane to win the comps that they won under Bennett. I actually do rate Bennett coming to us and turning us into a premiership force and winning a comp a very good achievement, as I did not think that he had a great team at his disposal, I especially did not rate Hornby or Soward.

FF I always respect your opinion and read your posts with interest.
In this case I have to fundamentally disagree with your argument.
I am not going to respond line by line but would like to make the following observations:
1. Many of your examples come out of an era with a different set of criteria.
The best coach was not always the best recruiter with Bath's Babes being a standout exception.
And even though Jack Gibson did say those things, he was also the genius coach of that era. He was also humble and not one to blow his own trumpet.
In reality he massively influenced the outcomes of the teams he coached.
2. Your Nth Qld example is paper thin because Nth Qld have never been easy beats even when Thurston was not playing. They are hard to bead no matter who plays.
Last year disproved their reliance on Thurston once and for all.
The fact that we collapsed to give them a shot at finals footy is more about our ineptitude in the coach's box rather than North Queensland being lucky.
Don't forget they had a horror run with injuries and still they competed with grit and determination in every game they contested.
3. Let's take a serious look at McGregor by comparison.
Don't tell me we didn't have a good roster in 2017.
Did you really believe the club spin doctors manipulating the early predictions about us being candidates for the wooden spoon?
There were a number of games which I can point to last year which were coaching abominations.
*First round win against Newcastle - remember we were booed off Kogarah at half time after conceding 5 tries in the first half?
We came back and won out of sheer embarrassment and with the help of a Newcastle team that was so inexperienced, they shat their pants and failed to close out the win, against us
* Second round loss to Newcastle where Brownie showed us up and demonstrated, in startling fashion, that his team (who had nothing to play for) had learnt from the first round loss and we (who had everything to play for) learnt nothing to lose to the wooden spooners
* Second round against Souths - we lost the unlosable and threw away 2 competition points because of our inability to close out the result.
* Second round last game of the season against Canterbury (who also had nothing to play for) with our season on the line - we were terrible. Again we surrendered the lead to lose.
All these examples were at a time when we desperately needed competition points in order to scrape (by that stage) into the finals.
Then to see McGregor throw a tantrum in the coach's box at the end of the Canterbury game - all show no substance.
So if you can seriously tell me a coach like Bennett would not have guided us to a much better table finish in 2017 - then we are watching different football matches.
Good quality rosters + great coaches, win premierships.
Great coaches have the ability to get an average roster to over achieve.
Bad coaches + great rosters always underachieve.
Unfortunately, we are in the last category and the addition of Hunt is what everyone is banking on.
I hope and pray I'm totally wrong but we need a lot more and that to become a premiership contender..

 

[possm]

Cast you mind back to 2009/10 and recall:
Our team's confidence in their coaching staff
Our player's confidence in each other
The noticeable improvement in key players
Our brick wall defence
Our left side attacking raids

Ah those were the days. I long for a decent coaching staff, sound team selections, good bench management and game plans that are targeted towards the opposition team we are facing each wee, It would be great to have a B plan each week or a least a captain who has the authority to make on-field decisions when things just aren't going to plan.

 

[Crush]

Maybe if everyone ignores the fact that as a coach Ricky has:
- won a premiership
- made a number of grand finals
- made the top 8 numerous times
- coached his state & country

Then maybe they could agree with you..

Nice highlights package.
Care to list the lowlights?

 

[muzby]

And failed as many times. Yeah, he won one comp with the rorters.

Should have won 3.

Then cronulla, parrra and canberra.

Under performer

Always find it funny when a bloke with a premiership ring is seen as a failure..

Particularly when you consider in the NRL era only 14 coaches have won a comp out of who knows how many coaches have competed in that time..

But regardless if you consider Stuart an underachiever or an overachiever, the argument at hand is whether Mary is better than Ricky..

And comparing CVs, it’s pretty clear..

 

[ouryear]

Always find it funny when a bloke with a premiership ring is seen as a failure..

Particularly when you consider in the NRL era only 14 coaches have won a comp out of who knows how many coaches have competed in that time..

But regardless if you consider Stuart an underachiever or an overachiever, the argument at hand is whether Mary is better than Ricky..

And comparing CVs, it’s pretty clear..

Winning one title does not mean you are a good coach.

Win 3 or more.. ..sure.

The team Ricky had at the roosters would have most likely won 3 with a good coach. Losing to Penrith and the Bulldogs was a terrible under performance by Stuart.

The club thought so too and sacked him.

Done nothing since to add further evidence the guy is not a good coach.

Did a poor job with SOO too.