To his credit however, he did pull our side out of the depths and got them at least competitive....
BUT
He won comps with a Canberra side that was way over the salary cap and a Wests Tigers side that played a half of a good season.
Maybe you missed his sacking from NQ, the John “our Cooper Cronk” Morris signing, the continuous shuffling of the deck chairs week on week, or maybe when Danny Galea was selected in the front row, or the continuous selection of Tim Moltzen at FB....I could go on..
Please do go on
Let's look at your points Canberra was deemed to be over the cap in 1990 and 91. They weren't in 1989 or 1994 or 1993 when they probably would have won the competition but for Ricky Stuart's injury.
So he doesn't deserve credit for this now lets see, I'm seeing you are projecting that they were always over the cap which must mean you think Trent Robinson also is a bad coach and Bellamy and Bennett, Flanagan, Hasler, Gould, Fulton basically every coach you can think of is a bad coach or unworthy even Jack Gibson since his teams would have been miles over the salary cap had it existed.
He built one of the greatest teams ever in Canberra as well as building the backbone of the Penrith team which won the competition in 1991. When Tim Sheens took over as Penrith coach in 1984 when no one wanted the job the club had 5 players registered for that season that is it the club was close to folding and had achieved absolutely nothing in the league in their first 17 years.
He basically changed junior development created pathways for young players and built the club single-handedly into the force they were to become. Penrith just missed out on the finals in 1984 and made it in 1985. He brought through all the young players which played a part in the 1991 success with the exception of Brad Fittler who he played a huge role in signing him for Penrith as Fittler mentions in his book and Steve Carter who Sheens also signed before leaving for Canberra.
Fair enough he failed at the Cowboys no one can dispute that.
Saying the Tigers only played well for half a season so what it was their only premiership in 50 years. Do you remember how bad the Tigers were under Terry Lamb that was only 3 years before 2005 he turned them from being memorable for having players laughing about someone sticking their finger in the oppositions arsehole to becoming premiers.
Tim Moltzen scored 29 tries in 55 games as a fullback it hardly sounds like the disaster Tigers fans make it out to be.
John Morris played over 300 first grade games he was only the 17th player in history to achieve this feat what a disastrous signing.
Danny Galea in the front row wasn't a good idea but given who his assistant coach was at the time, I would more say it was a Royce Simmons idea since he did the same thing to Matt Adamson, Sid Domic, Bobby Thompson, Morvin Edwards, Jason Williams and numerous other players when he was coaching at Penrith.
Is Warren Ryan a bad coach because he picked Greg Smith a guy who couldn't play Rugby League at all and fraudulently said he played in the NFL?
Does that undo all of Warren Ryan's previous achievements in the game? Considering his Bulldogs teams would have been over the cap if it had existed at the time.
