Sack Adam O'Brien

[aqua_duck]

Harsh, not his fault he has to play 9, poor management of squad with lack of decent backup under injury prone Brailey. Crosslands gives it everything on field, sure not top grade quality but effort is good, I don’t want him in our 17, maybe 14 most likely Cup but it is what it is.
Transfer recruitment people to Cessnock

No player sets out to suck but the unfortunate reality is most footballers aren’t meant to be first graders and Crossland is one of those. No one can fault his effort, heck if you transplanted his heart into one of the Saifiti brothers you’d have a world beater but he just wasn’t born with a whole heap of natural ability

 

[Knight Tales]

Arthur to make Manly debut; Knights coach reveals reason behind Ponga switch: Late Mail

Manly to unleash new signing; Knights coach reveals reason behind Ponga switch: Late Mail

www.foxsports.com.au

So there you have it. Miller trained well at 14. If he keeps Mann out of the squad I will wear it.

 

[Jono078]

At least AOB can identify what all of us have.

 

[Knight Tales]

At least AOB can identify what all of us have.

After half a season. I have no idea at all how to gauge O’Brien now. We have all gone over this time and time again. Another HIA to Kalyn and this season is a coin toss.

 

[Jono078]

After half a season. I have no idea at all how to gauge O’Brien now. We have all gone over this time and time again. Another HIA to Kalyn and this season is a coin toss.

To me it's almost like he knows what should or needs to be done but hesitates to pull the trigger to not hurt anyones feelings. That's the impression I get.

 

[Yosh]

To me it's almost like he knows what should or needs to be done but hesitates to pull the trigger to not hurt anyones feelings. That's the impression I get.

Maybe he can identify the problems but can't find the right solutions for them.

I don't know how he can still have a job if we finish bottom 4 or 5 again this season. Even if he gets us into the top 8 I don't think he deserves to keep his job. His job is to get us into the top 4 every year isn't it?

 

[The Silverdale Phantom]

Maybe he can identify the problems but can't find the right solutions for them.

I don't know how he can still have a job if we finish bottom 4 or 5 again this season. Even if he gets us into the top 8 I don't think he deserves to keep his job. His job is to get us into the top 4 every year isn't it?

I think a coaches job is to get the selected team playing at optimum with a competitive game plan as much as possible.

The players are the raw material to work with.

Some are going to perform consistently, some on and off to different degrees and some there’s no hope.

Overall, they should be building. Even the lessor players should be getting individually better, that would be my test.

That said, I do enjoy his coaching philosophy and verbal polemics on the game. He has good insights and a constructive outlook.

That may not be enough, I understand.

Des might have a fresh take on the issues. If AOB is finished, I’d be talking to him. He’s a great coach on the % wins basis across his career.

 

[perverse]

To me it's almost like he knows what should or needs to be done but hesitates to pull the trigger to not hurt anyones feelings. That's the impression I get.

It was literally at the point where he could either drop Miller or start submitting resumes. He seems to be able to make changes when his job is on the line. Maybe he should be on a 1 year contract along with the players.

 

[Burwood]

I have reservations with Miller at 14, mainly being that it doesn't allow him to hone his skills in reserves. I don't think we're going to see much improvement from him if he's limited to 20-30 minutes each game.

 

[Woody90]

I remember in AOB’s first season with us we had a period where we’d won like 6 games in a row against good opposition. We come to a game against Souths where we still won but let them get some easy points at the end of the game. After the game Pearce and Ponga were interviewed and they were clearly devastated and scared about going back to the sheds because they knew they would get a massive spray from AOB and they’d let themselves down by their standards.

Im wondering where that accountability and standards by the coach has gone, because he just seems to make excuses for them now (at least publicly). Maybe he’s gotten too attached to the playing group and doesn’t want to upset them by making the hard calls. Hey it happens, but when it does it’s probably a sign a new coach is needed.

Just as an aside: I’m a bit worried about Miller being even closer to the ball at 9 with his errors.

 

[Knight Tales]

It was literally at the point where he could either drop Miller or start submitting resumes. He seems to be able to make changes when his job is on the line. Maybe he should be on a 1 year contract along with the players.

With all the emerging coaches both here and the UK he is going to have to start breaking hearts if he wants to be here long term. The fact he ever shifted Gamble from what was working is why he will always be under pressure. I hope this works and we start going on a run. Miller could be a gun from 14. 80 mins under the pump of Playing FB he is not ready for. If ever. No failure in my view by a guy who has only a handful of games under his belt.

 

[perverse]

I have reservations with Miller at 14, mainly being that it doesn't allow him to hone his skills in reserves. I don't think we're going to see much improvement from him if he's limited to 20-30 minutes each game.

Miller isn't a 19 year old development player. He's 29 this year. We need value from him right now, because there aren't too many tomorrows left. We have another fullback in Pryce coming in next year too, giving him even less room in the squad.

We just didn't expect Gamble to kick on. It was obvious to those of us watching that Gamble has been an essential in the team since round 1, but our genius coach had to flush our season down the toilet before figuring it out.

 

[mozza91]

Miller isn't a 19 year old development player. He's 29 this year. We need value from him right now, because there aren't too many tomorrows left. We have another fullback in Pryce coming in next year too, giving him even less room in the squad.

We just didn't expect Gamble to kick on. It was obvious to those of us watching that Gamble has been an essential in the team since round 1, but our genius coach had to flush our season down the toilet before figuring it out.

Agree with the most of this but the we’re less than halfway through the season, it’s far from over. Especially considering how close the competition is this year. Any team who can string a few wins together are likely to find themselves in the 8.

 

[Old dog]

Yes but this is a crunch game, making the 8 means beating those in and around you on the table, the likes of Manly. Don’t have to win games home or away against top 4 but winning games against the others especially at home is important

 

[perverse]

Agree with the most of this but the we’re less than halfway through the season, it’s far from over. Especially considering how close the competition is this year. Any team who can string a few wins together are likely to find themselves in the 8.

It's not impossible by any stretch, but we're in a position now where we need to push a tonne of shit uphill to make it happen.

 

[Woody90]

To be honest even if we do win tomorrow (I don’t have a great feeling - feels like one of those games), I can’t see us winning any of the 3 games after the bye unless we have a massive form change (the Roosters game definitely winnable but I could see them coming back into form right before we play them). So in a way I feel like it’s delaying the inevitable. We needed to win some of those close games against Cowboys and Penrith that we lost on goal kicking.

That’s what’s so frustrating about this team. We have short periods during some games where we’re unstoppable and good enough to take it to the top teams, but we can’t maintain it for a whole game let alone week to week. It doesn’t look like AOB knows what the answer to that is either.

Knowing how we can play we really should feel confident going into the Manly game, but I’m the opposite.

 

[perverse]

To be honest even if we do win tomorrow (I don’t have a great feeling - feels like one of those games), I can’t see us winning any of the 3 games after the bye unless we have a massive form change (the Roosters game definitely winnable but I could see them coming back into form right before we play them). So in a way I feel like it’s delaying the inevitable. We needed to win some of those close games against Cowboys and Penrith that we lost on goal kicking.

That’s what’s so frustrating about this team. We have short periods during some games where we’re unstoppable and good enough to take it to the top teams, but we can’t maintain it for a whole game let alone week to week. It doesn’t look like AOB knows what the answer to that is either.

Knowing how we can play we really should feel confident going into the Manly game, but I’m the opposite.

mhm, that's the facts of the matter. We already lost a lot of games we had to win to make the 8.

 

[The Axe of Druss]

We just didn't expect Gamble to kick on. It was obvious to those of us watching that Gamble has been an essential in the team since round 1, but our genius coach had to flush our season down the toilet before figuring it out.

Not sure this is 100% fair really. Miller was killing it too and there was no way Kayln was going to be left out of the team. Someone had to make way and considering Kayln was training at 5/8 all offseason the obvious choice was Tyson

Sure, Miller has sucked recently and the trigger probably needed to be pulled earlier but it was objectively a 50/50 call which one had to be supplanted at the time

 

[alexwilliams_66692007]

So if we lose today, should the knives be out for AOB?

 

[Knight Tales]

So if we lose today, should the knives be out for AOB?

I think this is arguably the most pressure he has been under since he started. If you also look at what Willie Peters is doing in England with Hull KR who are an exciting side to watch, our attack last year was inexcusable. It does not add up. I get it was last season but it has taken him too long to realise he can’t do it alone.