Should Luke Burt have been dropped ?

[Poupou Escobar]

remember what people use to say here about Brett Finch - "at least he can tackle"

That's just admitting he's poor in everything else.

The difference is Finch plays in the halves, which are the one (two?) positions on the field where teams are prepared to carry a poor defender. The reason for that is there's so much more you want from a halfback than just defence - you want him to be able to kick, pass, run and talk. If he defends well that's a bonus.

Centre is different. The first thing you really need from a centre is defence, specifically one-on-one defence out wide. That's why the Dragons shifted Beau Scott to centre now that Gasnier's gone. That's why Kearney picked Ben Smith at centre rather than promote Vai Toutai last year.

Great attacking centres that can't tackle end up on the wing. Which is what happened to Chris Walker early in his career. He only played centre for us last year due to lack of options on our part. And his final game was on the wing.

Morgan wouldn't be a starting centre at any other club

True but he's as good a third choice as most clubs have.

 

[Springs]

You know how well they're performing after only one season? What do you judge it on?

Well nearly winning the wooden spoon would be a good indication.

I see a coach needs a few seasons for others to judge his performance but one average game from Burt (I say average because he was nowhere near the worst player) for the year and that warrants him getting dropped for two players with 3 games between them (who haven't really been impressive) and a very very average centre.

Last year was our worst for a long time and if we have a similar year this year why shouldn't Kearney be let go? There's been several coaches who have led their team through many good years and have been sacked after one bad one.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Well nearly winning the wooden spoon would be a good indication.

What a load of shit. Des Hasler nearly won the wooden spoon in his first season at Manly. Was that his fault or was it the fault of the previous coach leaving him to inherit a shitty team?

On the same note, Ricky Stuart and Michael Hagan won premierships in their first season at the Roosters and Knights respectively. Did they build those awesome squads or was it the hard work of previous coaches Gould and Murray (Roosters) or Reilly and Ryan (Knights)?

Stuart and Hagan went on to leave their clubs in shit state, but they had much better debut seasons than Des Hasler and Steve Kearney.

 

[tresurehunt]

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...r-wentworthville/story-e6frexnr-1226296500724

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Club in crisis!!!! :crazy:

 

[tresurehunt]

hayne and 2 rookies (sio and blair)

http://dailytel.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/viewer.aspx

 

[Parramatta1947]

As long as Kearney is consistent, I am fine with it. Burt had a good game yesterday - if the wingers have a poor game tonight, Kearney has to reinstate Burt. I am fine with dropping out of form players, but you need to reward them if they perform in the lower grades and the players in the top 17 need to be dropped if they aren't performing

 

[Stagger eel]

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...r-wentworthville/story-e6frexnr-1226296500724

:lol::lol:...

if Burt was man of the match yesterday, I'm David Gallop..

Jake Mullaney, Justin Horo, Danny Howard, Troy Savage and Shane Shackleton all played better than him..

anyway...it is good for a headline! lol

 

[Stagger eel]

oh and Brendon Waters who was in everything..

 

[Stagger eel]

I think it's a good decision and for the reasons i was given it was a very valid one...just remains to be seen whether it's the right one but it's refreshing to see a coach who's willing to back a difficult decision.

 

[Jake the snake]

Burt's two or three trys were walk in trys. Burt missed a fair few goals yesterday as well.

 

[Stagger eel]

Burt's two or three trys were walk in trys. Burt missed a fair few goals yesterday as well.

exactly..and if you recall the lead up to the first try that wests scored, it cam from a miss kick by Burt..

love the bloke to death and always will but but some people need to take a step back and take a breath.

 

[Jake the snake]

What made me laugh even more is that 2gb were trying to turn it political involving the board and the elections. Andrew Moore is becoming a bigger dickflop than Hadley.

 

[Stagger eel]

What made me laugh even more is that 2gb were trying to turn it political involving the board and the elections. Andrew Moore is becoming a bigger dickflop than Hadley.

and this is why this club will always find it difficult to move on..unless of course we start winning!

 

[eloquentEEL]

Just realised the real reason behind Burt falling out of favour.

First it was Shack Attack, now it's Thirty with Burty and I hear they have the Prince of Squince lined up for something.

For the rest of the boys, if you get tapped on the shoulder to do a regular segment, run!

 

[Maroubra Eel]

Burts a good player. For him to be playing for Wenty just goes to show how strong our backline now is. It's great.

 

[Ron Jeremy]

People power wins again!

 

[oldmancraigy]

exactly..and if you recall the lead up to the first try that wests scored, it cam from a miss kick by Burt..

love the bloke to death and always will but but some people need to take a step back and take a breath.

I'm with ya Staggs.

Here we are, old Eels fans who remember Luke Burt debuting at the age of 11 (or so it seemed!)
Big things expected, never panned out as well as we all hoped (NSW/Aus rep), but certainly became a guy who put his heart and soul into the Eels team. Kicked us to any number of victories from the touchline, found himself crossing the tryline with regularity.

But the glory days are past for him.

It made me sick last year watching a senior member loafing around and not 'having a dig' in different scenarios. Gutsy move by Kearney to pull the trigger on the axing - but hopefully it will light a fire under Burt. If not, thanks for the long time service of the club!!!

 

[eel01s]

I am comfortable with SK's decision to drop Burt. After all, he must live or die on his performance as coach.

Looking forward to seeing how the backline goes tonight with Hayne and hopefully Willie in it.

 

[eel01s]

I voted yes. We need more from a first grade winger.