Sack Adam O'Brien

[Dr Dr Gimedanews]

I couldn’t believe it when I saw him say that.
Look at our run last year with mostly the same team, very pretty to watch.

with one of the most beautiful moving and attacking weapons I've seen in many years - Ponga

 

[Mr_Knightside]

I sort of get the “playing ugly” thing when you’re down on key troops, which we have been at various times this year. But when you’ve got pretty much your full strength team on the park surely he can offer up something better than that.

 

[Woody90]

Not pointing the finger at him because at the end of the day the buck stops with AOB, but I wonder how much say Green has in the style of football we play?

Regardless of who’s at fault more, I just find it so perplexing that we’d take what was working for us in attack last year and throw it out the window.

I really wish one of the journos would actually ask AOB that in a presser.

 

[alexwilliams_66692007]

AOB in the press conference: "We're not a good looking team, we're an ugly team". He trains them to play ugly. Why are we an ugly team, Adam?

In the Herald the other day, Toohey reckons AOB told his players that "they need to fall back in love with the grind" after the round 1 game against Canberra. .
After one game into a new season, we go back to a style that hasn't worked since about 2018 and he can't understand how we're an ugly team???

Every team had us figured out about 3 months ago. We don't chance our hand or even throw any offloads until we're down by 4+ tries.

 

[Woody90]

In the Herald the other day, Toohey reckons AOB told his players that "they need to fall back in love with the grind" after the round 1 game against Canberra. .
After one game into a new season, we go back to a style that hasn't worked since about 2018 and he can't understand how we're an ugly team???

Every team had us figured out about 3 months ago. We don't chance our hand or even throw any offloads until we're down by 4+ tries.

The ironic thing is that if we’d kept playing the same style we did in round 1 we’d no doubt be in a much better position now.

We looked deadset unhinged in that game but of course nothing stuck, it was round 1 and they hadn’t played a proper game together in 6 months.

What sort of shitty coach throws everything they’d been working on in the off season out after 1 game?

The players will start getting fed up because they’re not enjoying their footy.

 

[mozza91]

Yeah I don’t normally pay much attention to press conferences but that was deadset alarming.

He wants to build a team based on something our blokes aren’t capable of and not to mention that it’s terrible to watch from a fans perspective.

Last year wasn’t a fluke, playing an up tempo attacking orientated game suits this team especially when Ponga is humming. Wanting this side to play a grinding, ugly style is non sensical.

Call me a sceptic but I’m beginning to doubt that Obi has single handedly won 4 premierships.

 

[aqua_duck]

Playing ugly might jag you a win here and there against mid-bottom tier teams and depending on luck and variance might even jag you a spot around the bottom of the top 8 but at the end of the day you’ll always just be cannon fodder for the top sides. Playing ugly and grinding relies heavily on a great kicking game and not making errors, 2 things that we absolutely suck at.

 

[Old dog]

AOB has an ext contract which is likely to keep him on as Coach for the next few years so now, yes this season and 2025 it’s time to make the changes. Would like to see some of those better performing Cup players given opportunities in firsts, not wholesale changes but opportunities on a rotating basis to see what they offer.
Something has to be tried

 

[perverse]

Playing ugly might jag you a win here and there against mid-bottom tier teams and depending on luck and variance might even jag you a spot around the bottom of the top 8 but at the end of the day you’ll always just be cannon fodder for the top sides. Playing ugly and grinding relies heavily on a great kicking game and not making errors, 2 things that we absolutely suck at.

It's very 2008~ era Melbourne mentality. The rules have changed, the game has changed. It's fast, and you're allowed to attack now. We look stuck in the stone age with our play style.

 

[alexwilliams_66692007]

He wants to build a team based on something our blokes aren’t capable of and not to mention that it’s terrible to watch from a fans perspective.

Last year wasn’t a fluke, playing an up tempo attacking orientated game suits this team especially when Ponga is humming. Wanting this side to play a grinding, ugly style is non sensical.

What's even more frustrating is the fact that he even admitted last year that they all realised that up-tempo style works best for them and that's how they want to play.... And then we keep going back to that slow grinding out style that has never worked for us for some stupid reason.

 

[Dr Dr Gimedanews]

I do think AOB has failed to get the best out of the team but would anyone other than Bellamy do much better with our average roster ( our spine is woeful )

Would Trent Robinson do any better with our cattle ? He has a quality rep level team at his disposal year upon year and it could be argued he has under performed.

 

[Knight Tales]

The really sad part about our efforts this year is this title race is wide open. There is not one side that has stood up and is definitively the team to beat. I think the standard is down on last year in a big way. Not saying we would have made the GF. We are not good enough for that. But we could have at worst finished where we did last year and played better and more consistently.

 

[Loose Cannon]

The really sad part about our efforts this year is this title race is wide open. There is not one side that has stood up and is definitively the team to beat. I think the standard is down on last year in a big way. Not saying we would have made the GF. We are not good enough for that. But we could have at worst finished where we did last year and played better and more consistently.

Can’t agree with the first sentence, although you did suggest one outstanding.

It’s Penrith or Melbourne, that’s it. Had Easts in it until their record against the former 2 was reported last night.

 

[Nuke]

The really sad part about our efforts this year is this title race is wide open. There is not one side that has stood up and is definitively the team to beat. I think the standard is down on last year in a big way. Not saying we would have made the GF. We are not good enough for that. But we could have at worst finished where we did last year and played better and more consistently.

If we'd started the same kind of football and got on the same kind of run 2 weeks ago in 2024 as we did at the same point last season, we'd have a much better chance of progressing further into the Finals than we did last year.

But alas, here we are instead.

 

[aqua_duck]

I do think AOB has failed to get the best out of the team but would anyone other than Bellamy do much better with our average roster ( our spine is woeful )

Would Trent Robinson do any better with our cattle ? He has a quality rep level team at his disposal year upon year and it could be argued he has under performed.

Part of coaching is bringing in the right players and building the roster, I know there’s been heaps said about recruitment managers lately but the coach still has a hell of a lot of input and authority over the playing roster, remember when Brian Smith was here we were broke, training on council grounds out of some old shipping containers, no big name in their right mind would sign with us but despite these drawbacks Smith managed to build a reasonably competitive roster under the circumstances and the recruits that were brought in more often than not outperformed their reputation and salary.

 

[Dr Dr Gimedanews]

Smith managed to build a reasonably competitive roster under the circumstances and the recruits that were brought in more often than not outperformed their reputation and salary.

Indeed, and this is something AOB has failed at, many mid to top level signings have performed to below their pay grade = cap killers

I think it is in part the culture that AOB has nurtured. I cannot get over the fact DSaf has continued to phone it in yet consistently been picked in the 17 - under Bellamy Dsaf would have seen a good stint in cup

 

[Yosh]

He is boring. Simple as that. If he is going to play boring footy, then at least get the wins. What's the point of playing boring and losing? He is 2 decades too late to the game.

Must be hard as hell for the players as well because they aren't allowed to play football. Imagine how much better that lads would play if they actually enjoyed their footy.

The worst thing for me is our kicking game. We make 45m coming out from our line, tough metres but then we kick it 30m down field, no contest and the opposition fullback runs it back to his 40m line and they are on the attack. It happens all the time

Or, we finish our set 30m from the opposition try line and then put up a weird chip kick, no contest and tackle them on their 20m or 30m line. They work it up to our 40m and put up a huge contested bomb we either drop or manage to take but get tackled 2m out from our line. Only have 4 tackles to get out of our area and then repeat step 1. We are on the defensive all game. Both Frizzell and KPP are great targets under the highball. They are instructed to wait for the opposition to catch to and then tackle. What is going on? Seriously.

If we contest, we might knock on and then give them the ball there anyway, they might knock on and we get the ball back, hell God forbid we might actually win the ball and score a try.

Seriously, AOB needs to get gone.

 

[Woody90]

Toohey saying that the conservative game plan has been “tailored” for the playing squad. WTF? We have arguably the best attacking player in the game on our roster, and the same roster were 1st in the league for tries scored last year and the “tailored” game plan is this conservative crap?

 

[macavity]

What's even more frustrating is the fact that he even admitted last year that they all realised that up-tempo style works best for them and that's how they want to play.... And then we keep going back to that slow grinding out style that has never worked for us for some stupid reason.

Because you can't play up-tempo when you are gassed, and we are gassed from about 20 minutes in because we have a terrible kicking game and we make too many mistakes.

 

[macavity]

Part of coaching is bringing in the right players and building the roster, I know there’s been heaps said about recruitment managers lately but the coach still has a hell of a lot of input and authority over the playing roster, remember when Brian Smith was here we were broke, training on council grounds out of some old shipping containers, no big name in their right mind would sign with us but despite these drawbacks Smith managed to build a reasonably competitive roster under the circumstances and the recruits that were brought in more often than not outperformed their reputation and salary.

Not giving Smithy a long extension was the start of the rot. We would be a different club if we had kept him.