I'm not suggesting we do or we don't but some objectivity needs to be applied to the question.
Results: < 50% win rate
Coaching staff appointments:
Defence still a massive issue and tbh unacceptable
Attack slow, clunky and cumbersome however not without some moments of skill being evident.
Mental strength & game management: Still extremely poor & extremely costly.
The lack of real and sustained improvement in these areas is highly concerning.
Roster:
S F inherited some real duds so not easy to get it right but fair to say we have had 2 full pre-seasons and 1 completed season and now 4 games into this one (including trials which caused some in here to be wax lyrical) so how do Lawrie & Feagai ever get a start in KOE Cup let sline
Recruitment:
2 duds he sent our way from Manly when he was there. 1 offloaded the other still here and not progressing and needs to be moved on asap.
Hunt extension: Extremely poor judgement, should never of happened and just so bad all round.
CT: Lack of pace highly evident but does the bullocking work and close to the line finishing well. Underlines our method / style of playing which is bash and barge and that is well short of premiership winning quality.
Sele: IMO highly overrated, certainly injury prone a poor signing.
Leilua: Not without ability but lacking dedication to make himself better and fix his long standing faults. Looking at his body shape he seems to get a free run.
Eisenhuth: Wouldn't get a gig anywhere else and we played him in the centre's ffs. His 1 year extension curious unless it is all KOE Cup to help the kids.
Gueller: Going ok needs support and all being equal will be a steady player.
Gutho: Someone we needed and will hopefully last 2 years at the back. More ups than downs with his signing but not without risk.
Cook: Suspecting he is past it and tbh his best years were with Reynolds controlling things. Looked somewhat lost at Souths without him and not going so good here either. Highly debatable that he also provides coverage at lock to allow Liddle time on the paddock.
Holmes: He brings much needed experience and speed. More useful to us than say a top team which we are not at this point in time.
Ilias: Needs some time and patience but also needs to show more than he is currently doing.
Kyle Flanagan: The extension was incongruous for mine.
Daniel Atkinson: A lot of hype around this signing but will he alone fix our immediate halves issues?
Klemmer: Our next 4 games will tell if this is good or not but only 1 year thus far so a tick.
Lack of young SOO quality players despite many changing clubs: Highly concerning considering all the hype around S F as a coach.
Each year we wait for Santa to bring us a couple of stars to put at the top of our tree but invariably we get little more than stocking fillers some of which we pay too much for and that still seems to be the case.
For mine no extension talks for S F until much much later in the year if not the end of the season.
If he wants to do it early or he walks then let him walk.
If no real and sustained improvement is evident we tell him that we won’t be extending him and recommence our search.
i suppose in the end it’s a question of how many games do we give a premiership winning coach to show us what he can do to improve us and actually get us back in the premiership race?
Hi OT,
There is also Several other reasons which justify Flanagan's dismissal:
Allowing our two best players from last season and one of our top juniors to leave the club.
The treatment of Frank Molo which shows he has no control over his coaching staff and insufficient man management skills to ensure inappropriate comments about alcoholism are not made.
Poor bench management, with many players receiving limited game time.
Frequent outbursts in press conferences, including publicly criticizing players like Ilias—behavior unbecoming of a coach.
A lack of direction and urgency in our attack.
Signing a slow, past-his-prime player in Gutherson and prioritizing him at fullback over a promising junior.
Cheers
IH
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