Do you have an insight into what role our assistants have at the club or are you just guessing ? You make it sound like the assistants dictate how we attack and how we defend. Do you think that other assistants tell Bellamy or Robinson or Bennett how the team attacks ? Or do they run training and skills based on the head coach's instructions ?
Keen to hear your thoughts (without the usual condescending sarcasm if possible).
No as I have said before, I don't have inside information. I have made an assessment from what I have heard or seen from players coaches or anyone involved in the game when they talk about Parra. It isn't such a national secret if you are keen to listen and learn and from what I have picked up over the last couple of years is that we don't do anywhere near enough multiple game plan training. Well not in the Storm class of training as an example anyway.
As for assistants telling Bellamy, Robinson or Bennett how the team attacks or defends? It's horses for courses in this area. Those three are obviously the best of the bunch, so they lay down the agenda and the assistants then follow and execute. But don't be fooled, even they need help at times.
Perfect example is the story of Bennett not being able to beat a curtain other NRL coaches teams ever. He just couldn't get what they were doing and were beating him(his teams) every time. So Bennett one season went out and hired one of the other coaches assistants and then sat him down and got him to show him and explain exactly what this other coach was doing. Finally Bennett got it and that was it Bennett teams started winning against that coaches teams.
But in general, depending on the type of coach, the input of offensive or defensive tactics would vary up or down for the assistants and how much they lead the process. With our coach, well I'm sure you remember the time when after another heavy loss on the flight home, our coach sat next to Anasta and asked him for defensive advise and so then Anasta showed him on the back of napkins different scenarios. That in itself shows us that he isn't so tactically minded at the least. I don't have a problem with this as long as he recognises his short cummings and brings in the necessary help needed.
Which brings us to who has he hired to show him the way forward? I can't say I feel like we are in safe hands with the two he has around him. It also suggests why we may not value training our offensive and defensive structures endlessly and mercilessly as much as some of the other teams do. Let alone training for multiple plans as I have heard our own players mention over the last couple of seasons now, that we don't train for this or that. It seems as though we train for the collision and the front loading and everything revolves around that. But not much else. That doesn't leave much room for error and or adjustment when things go awry.
Look at Ciraldo who is considered a brilliant defensive coach. What does that mean? I would have thought that it meant that the head coach would have enough confidence in him to allow him to lead the defensive agenda and tell the coach how he thought the team should go about defending different attacking raids and structures. They are the number one defensive team in the NRL.
So lets see, has anyone ever praised our assistant coaches for their brilliant input or admired the way we defend or attack in general, not just the individual moment here or there or game, but the way we play as a team other then our power game when that works? It's the formation and structure of offence or defense that I am referring to here, not the individual players ability to defend or attack. But how they work in the systems they have trained at and nailed them. That can only happen if you have smart operators leading and guiding the way and merciless repetition at training. Listen to Bellamy coached players how they are always referring to the endless hours they practice everything they do on the field at training every week and the different game plans they go through. Bellamy is brutal on this aspect of preparation. They practice everything till it is perfect and then practice some more.
Does it look like we do the same thing out there on the field to you? We barely look like we recognise each other out there at different times during the season. Even when the Storm, Panthers or Roosters don't play well or lose, do they ever look as inept or confused as we do when we are playing badly? Remember we are in the same ball park for quality of players. Sure they may have an extra superstar or two then us, but we have quality right across the board that should be so well prepared that we should never look so lost. But we so often do and not just against the better teams either.
That to me tells me we are not doing something right on the training paddock and the people responsible for driving and executing that are the coaches, most players are see monkey do types. If the coach staff don't think there is a need for something, most players will follow and like I said earlier, I have heard our players say that we don't train for...fill in the blank. Example a hooker going down or being a player short(but I think they started to train for this one now).
But the real obvious and more concerning part is that we don't train for what comes after plan A. We need to have at least a plan B, but we totally don't have one and when we play the Panthers tonight, if we aren't dominating them and scoring points, what then?
Remember they have the best defense in the NRL, so what do we do then? If they play like I expect them to and be real energetic and aggressive in defense, what will we do to get around that? This is where the coaching staff earn their supper. What will they have devised to thwart the Panthers smothering defense? The hitup, frontloading and chase the collision alone won't win this contest if the Panthers come to play. So what else tactically have our brains trust sat down and nutted out to combat the Panthers brilliant defense or their set play attacks? Have we worked out how to smother their attack? You can bet that the brains trust of the Storm or the Roosters would have worked on something and practiced it forever. I'll give you a clue, I would focus on Cleary and To'o.
So what is our solution? Well I suppose we will know tonight if they had one.
I think we have the players, but do we have the coaches? I really hope so, but I am sick of hoping and so expect a loss and a big one. That way I can only be happily surprised if by some miracle we actually win tonight.
