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Rumours and Stuff

Stagger eel

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
66,214
I would say that Sticky and Smith are on par yes Sticky has won a grand final but let's not pretend that the team was there for him ready to go.

Both have longevity and built some pretty decent teams over the years Smith at the Eels and Sticky with the Raiders.
Both seem to look at junior development as well

granted Sticky's coaching career at the Raiders isn't too bad but like BA he's been given enough time to hit a jackpot, nearly done it in 19 might nail it this year, who knows?
 

T-Boon

Coach
Messages
16,855
I still judge Brian Smith by the fact he picked that leaper Ben Kusto over Casey McGuire - if we had a Casey McGuire in our reserve grade now being kept out by for example D Brown this place would erupt. Casey was god-dang all class in reserves.
 

Stagger eel

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
66,214
I still judge Brian Smith by the fact he picked that leaper Ben Kusto over Casey McGuire - if we had a Casey McGuire in our reserve grade now being kept out by for example D Brown this place would erupt. Casey was god-dang all class in reserves.

mmm!! Casey was still a bit of a plodder who made a decent career out of playing in a successful system.. Kusto was much maligned but wasn't a terrible option and actually won us a couple of games too.

we certainly had worse halves than Kusto in side over the years.
 

King-Gutho94

Coach
Messages
17,600
One big difference is Ricky has had newscorp in his pocket for over a decade since he got the NSW job in 2011.

PR is half the battle when it comes to coaching as keeping the media at bay and having them on your side changes the narrative.

Brian never did

Ray Hadley also hated Smith because he would always do last minute changes and piss Hadley off when it came to communication and not deal with Hadley a lot on 2GB.

Hadley made his personal mission in a grubby way to have Smith Sacked a lot earlier then he was.
 

JokerEel

Coach
Messages
16,559
Whoever is doing the recruiting for Sticky deserves most of the credit..

For mainly getting any good player to want to live in Canberra not because it's bat shit boring but because Pou now lives there!
 

Corrimal Dragon

Juniors
Messages
18
Speaking of Shane Flanagan he could be a chance to win the spoon this year.

After they play us in 2 weeks,

I have seen the Dragons run home i doubt they would start favourites in more then 1 game.

Horror run home i reckon if we could manage to knock them off they would be shorter odds with the Knights, Titans to get the spoon.

Eels @ Wollongong - Favourites
Raiders @ Canberra - Outsiders
Roosters @ Kogarah - Outsiders
Bullodgs @ Accor - Outsiders
Cowboys @ Townsville - Outsiders
Raiders @ Wollongong - Outsiders
Sharks @ Kogarah - 50/50
Warriors @ Mt Smart - Outsiders
Souths @ Accor - Outsiders
Manly @ Kogarah - 50/50
Penrith @ Wollongong - Outsiders

How many do you see them winning in that run home


We can't be underrdogs. We got your boy buy of thr year Gutherson. How can you be favourite
 

Jez

Juniors
Messages
18
One big difference is Ricky has had newscorp in his pocket for over a decade since he got the NSW job in 2011.

PR is half the battle when it comes to coaching as keeping the media at bay and having them on your side changes the narrative.

Brian never did

Ray Hadley also hated Smith because he would always do last minute changes and piss Hadley off when it came to communication and not deal with Hadley a lot on 2GB.

Hadley made his personal mission in a grubby way to have Smith Sacked a lot earlier then he was.
100%
Brian Smith had to earn everything as a coach, going up through the grades and spending 4 years at Illawarra in their early days, which would harm his win record. One thing for Ricky is he has done his best work at Canberra.
 

Avenger

Immortal
Messages
35,526
I would say that Sticky and Smith are on par yes Sticky has won a grand final but let's not pretend that the team was there for him ready to go.

Both have longevity and built some pretty decent teams over the years Smith at the Eels and Sticky with the Raiders.
Both seem to look at junior development as well
Anasta has been coached by both and reckons Smith is the smartest coach he has ever had. What would he know though?
 

Stagger eel

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
66,214
Anasta has been coached by both and reckons Smith is the smartest coach he has ever had. What would he know though?

it's an absolute tragedy that 1) we never got him back at the club even as an administrator and 2) no other club hired him ( other than the Warriors as a consultant )

easily the greatest ever coach not to win a GF.
 

Poupou Escobar

Post Whore
Messages
95,075
Smith easily. You seem to be ignoring the squads they both inherited.

Use whatever metric you want but opinions matter.
That might be true for a season or two at a new club (e.g. Flanagan’s poor record at the Dragons so far) but Smith and Stuart have both coached hundreds of games. That’s what I’m judging them on, not a tiny sample of 24-48 games.
 

Poupou Escobar

Post Whore
Messages
95,075
would Sticky have taken the 92/93 St George squad to a grand final? ...forget about what he's done for our club for 1 moment.

compare Smiths 92/93 squad to Stickys manufactured 02-04 Roosters squad..then tell me what the greater achievement was.
Why are you just looking at a handful of seasons? What about the dozens of other seasons these guys coached?
 

Poupou Escobar

Post Whore
Messages
95,075
I would say that Sticky and Smith are on par yes Sticky has won a grand final but let's not pretend that the team was there for him ready to go.

Both have longevity and built some pretty decent teams over the years Smith at the Eels and Sticky with the Raiders.
Both seem to look at junior development as well
I agree they’re on par. And Smith did a lot more for Parramatta than Stuart ever did. But over their entire careers, Sticky is a shade ahead. Results prove it. Not just that one grand final, but across hundreds of games.

I mean, Maguire won a premiership. It doesn’t mean he’s a great coach. It’s not a metric, it’s a trivia question.
 

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