Stop keeping us in suspense... who is the perfect candidate dammit?
Tim Sheens.
He is a man that teaches all players no matter who they are and at what stage of development, the fundamentals of the game. You have probably heard all the stories that when friends see him and say "Hi" in passing the next thing you know 2 or 3 hours have gone by because he just can't stop talking about football.
Well that is the type of guy we need at the Eels. His stellar record speaks for itself. Lets not forget that he has coach some of the greatest spine players of all time with the highest success which includes, Walters, Stuart, Daley, Belcher, Mullins, Prince, Marshall and Farah.
Marshal recently praised him in teaching the very talented Tigers team of 05 the very basics of the game which sounds weird, but many players haven't been taught coming through. They have gotten away with their natural born talents, so when they get to the highest level they are still relying on that to see them trough.
This is why for example you see players prefer to pass right to left and so often stuff up what should be an easy setup draw and pass and they either don't pass or pass to the right side when it should have been a left side pass or pass way to early because they sh*t themselves. This sh*ts me no end. Or how the 6 and 7 don't know how to bring the backrowers into the game properly, which I have been banging on about all year.
Bennett is famous for his first 3 or so weeks at every preseason training session to do nothing with the player other then drills practicing 3 on 4s and 4 on 5s. The more experienced players in particular who haven't done this before and are new to his methods think it's stupid and can't believe he is training them these basic fundamental plays. But he still does it to this day and most players after doing it get that light bulb moment when they see the influence and results in real game situations.
What this means is all players, no matter who they are need to learn the game from the ground up. The building blocks of the game can not be ignored even if you are the most naturally talented individual. The NRL will eventually find you out. Like I have said ad nauseam Moses and Brown are both very, very brilliant individuals, but they both lack the basic fundamentals of the game and it shows during games, especially when the pressure is on.
Someone like Tim Sheens can address so many parts of their game that they probably don't even think or know need addressing. He is exactly the type of guy that can and loves to teach young players how to a, b, c... or whatever. As we all know, players like A. Johns are geniuses and know more then 99.999%, but are they good teaches? The best teaches are the one who love to teach and have all the skills and knowledge to back it up. Sheens is one such person and at the moment he is over in England coaching a 2nd division team. He is the kind of guy that was born to teach. Can anyone say that about Johns?
Surely it wouldn't be that hard to entice him back to Oz under the right circumstances. He probably wouldn't be a major threat to our touchy coach either, seeing he is around 70 years of age and probably wouldn't be wanting to deal with all the stress that a fulltime NRL coach has to go through. So I can't see BA having to much of a protest against him being appointed as an assistant coach. In fact I think BA would benefit so much having someone that knowledgeable with him on a daily basis and during games that his coaching would improve out of sight.
The only drawback that I can see is that Sheens and our HoF Mark O'Neill are old mates from their Tigers days together and BA may think that they would conspire against him somehow. But really he should just suck it up and be willing to adapt and learn for the good of the Club and ultimately it will benefit him too. It would be a win, win scenario if everyone involved put egos aside and worked towards making Parra Great Again.
Just my thoughts.
