SMH Footy Guide Singelton agenda

[cooba]

In the Sun Herald Footy GUIDE 2007 :
Canberra Raiders
STRENGTHS Dear oh dear. The only thing going for them is I am going to tip them for the wooden spoon.

The wooden spoon might be the least of this clubs problems. Watch this space, folks.etc etc knocking Canberra as a place to live.

Who wrote this crap!!
Is all this coming from the Singelton agenda to get a team on the Central Coast?
It seems like a concerted media campaign

 

[Sydney_Raider]

I believe it was Phil Gould.

 

[aussies1st]

I'll be noting that comment into my head.

 

[Bay53]

I think this is something that the club needs to stamp out very quickly.

I have no problem with people making their predictions for the year and if they think we will come last, thats their opinion and there entitled to it.

However I am really, really disappointed when I see comments like that. My understanding is that the club is very much viable. To the best of my knowledge we have pretty much a full book of sponsorship for the next couple of years, not to mention the fact we probably have more players signed up for the next couple of years than any other club in the competiton. We also have a number of profitable leagues clubs. Very few clubs in the NRL are rolling in money, so I would be surprised if we were any worse off than anyone else.

If we got a bit of support from the media (especially free to air television) it would help a lot. But what we do need is the Canberra people to support this club, buy memberships and get behind it.

The other thing that is forgotten is that many of the players who left last season were at the choice of the club. Now you may or may not agree with management's decisions but it was the Raiders that decided not to offer Smith, Woolford and Hodgson contracts and to let Kahler go with a year to run. Croker was only ever going to play this year at best, Mogg was allowed to be released (probably before he started playing really well - don't forget his 2005 was very ordinary). So in the end the one that we lost that no one saw coming was Schifcofske.

In that case I don't think that he so much jumped ship, rather he wanted to go back to Qld and wanted a new challenge. I also think that Raiders management probably made an error in that they didn't really take the first rumors of him leaving seriously. But whether that would have stopped him leaving is debatable.

So in the end, the way we have built our list has been based on being really successful in the last few years of this decade. The players that we lost were not going to be here then anyway.

Whether these players leaving is going to harm our young players development or force them to take responsibility early and make them better players is something we will learn over the next couple of years.

 

[donkey|rope]

Wtf is wrong with Gould? I understand why people don't rate the Raiders, hell I’m sceptical about our chances, but this is nothing more than mean spirited slander.

 

[sydraider]

Its not just gould, its the whole sydney media, classic example is the old cliche that a week is a long time in rygby league.

Last week we lose to a composite qld cup side, ther is full article after article that wanks on about it.

This week we smash a near full strength tigpies, with marshall and we get two paragraphs if we're lucky.

 

[Tom Shines]

I think it's a case of having an easy target out of state to bash. It used to be Melbourne and North Queensland, now Canberra.

 

[ak47]

yes i got this thing on sunday

went thru the papers first - nothing in the sun herald mentioning our win against the Tigers

are lil 2cm deep piece from the Telecrap - every other game had a good write up

The i turn to the footy guide

I read the first few comments, then looked at the bottom - Phil Gould

Immediately took the thing with no seriousness...threw it over the balcony...watched it waver in the wind side to side, as it fell stories - dont worry i picked it up and in the bin when i decided littering on my premises aint a good look....and the ciggarette but i threw after it

We should start an anti-gould campaign

Starting with shirts, banners etc

Any channel 9 games, would be a bonus, and the Anti-Gould campaign would be exposed on free-to-air, with the merkin commentating from box on other side - it would definately get a mentioning on the air

As long as we avoid the spoon, which I am 99% sure we can (am getting on a GF win at those odds and to make the 8) - Gould will have nothing more than a formal apology.

That write up of the Raiders is the most part disgusting, disrespectful, and in a sense unprofessional...you should never imply 'watch this space' as though armeggedon is coming to the capital, without getting into the details

Gould also was dumb enough to imply he is giving credit when he says "i am tipping them for the wooden spoon, but that would be a doing them a favour, as in the past teams i predict wooden spoon have gotton away with it" - WELL FOOLS GOULD YOU TWIT, HAVE YOU FORGOTTON IT IS THE RAIDERS YOU PICK FOR THE SPOON EVERY YEAR SINCE 2002.

ABSOLUTE DICKHEAD!!!!

 

[skeepe]

WELL FOOLS GOULD YOU TWIT, HAVE YOU FORGOTTON IT IS THE RAIDERS YOU PICK FOR THE SPOON EVERY YEAR SINCE 2002.

ABSOLUTE DICKHEAD!!!!

Not to disagree with the general tone of your post, but Gould has not, in fact, picked the Raiders for the spoon in at least 2003 (Panthers), 2004 (Sea Eagles) or 2006 (Rabbitohs). I'm not sure about 2005.

 

[Tony Greig's Car Keys]

pretty much gould can go deralick my balls

 

[ak47]

yeah i know but somewhere along the line during the past 5 seasons each year he has said we'll get the spoon

i know its not from his footy guide predictions - already his footy guide predictions is out wack with St George Illawarra - big write up on Gasnier - NOW VOID.

injuries play a part, and during the course of the seasons gone by he has stated - we'll get the spoon, or should get the spoon, and always over achieving.

WHAT I WANNA KNOW IS - Penrith - THE RITH............They have Elliot......according to Gould Elliot saved the Raiders from wooden spoons in the past - his great insight and coaching ability - one of the best in the game...........I know its only trials, but how many games have Penrith won under Elliot?

At this point in time - Ellliots departure is a god send for the Raiders, and the demise of the Rith.

but deadset, the bottom line is Gould is getting semi-personal with his comments on the Raiders.......like a hidden agenda
We need someone if the Raiders HQ to take a pot shot back - tell me.......we beat him in 1990, he got one back at us in 91........did he coach canterbury in 1994, or was that
Anderson?.........I know i have pictured Gould in Bulldog land....maybe he played for them way back.

 

[skeepe]

Gould coached the Bulldogs before Anderson I believe. Of course I could be completely wrong.

 

[ocko]

yes he did coach the dogs before anderson (1988 and 1989, was reserve grade coach in 87) left and went to penrith for 1990 after falling out with peter moore. played you blokes the gf his first two years there, as a matter of fact, one of my first memories of rugby league is watching the 1991 grand final as a 5 year old.

 

[thickos]

Sent this to Phil Gould's email address at the SunH (shsport@mail.fairfax.com.au) this morning. Like all of you I'm disgusted with the agenda at play here...

Dear Phil,
it is time you come clean with your agenda against the Canberra Raiders. I and many like-minded Raiders fans are sick of hearing uninformed and poorly researched opinion pieces saying that Canberra is a 'club in trouble.' If you want to tip us to run last in season 2007, then fine - that is your opinion and you are not alone, and someone has to collect the spoon. But to question our existence in the NRL - what right do you have to do such a thing, if you're not going to back it up with some evidence? Are you leading an agenda to have the Raiders' licence relocated to the Central Coast?

Fact is, the Raiders are supported by a string of league clubs throughout the ACT. We have a full array of sponsors - jersey, sleeve, short and signage - lined up for the next three years at a good price so there is no financial issue at stake. Canberra and surrounds produce some of the finest juniors year after year and some of the league's hottest young prospects are on our books right now - some until 2010. The Raiders club may have only been around for 25 years but we have produced more legends and won more titles in that time than many of the 'glamour' sides in Sydney who hog more than their fare share of media space - including your beloved Chooks.

So rather than writing 'easy' articles about "ooh look at all the players who have left Canberra" - why don't you do some research and write something positive about young guys like William Zillman, Todd Carney, Michael Weyman, or even rookie coach Neil Henry? These guys are going to be superstars and Neil has all the makings of a great NRL coach - yet all the Sydney-centric media can do is savage the Raiders to pieces, because, simply, it is the easy option. Last week when the Raiders lost to the Broncos 'reserves' it was like the beginning of the apocalypse in the eyes of the Sydney tabloids - you're only as good as your last match though and last time I checked the Raiders knocked off the 2005 premiers 26-4... and they were at full strength. However I'm sure the write-up will be that "it's only a trial" and "the Raiders are still crap." Funny how things like that stay true.

So Phil, either come clean with evidence or shut up about the Raiders' future. Your position and influence means that the unfounded diatribe you come up with about Canberra means that a lot of people will start to believe it and that is just not fair, right or just.

Looking forward to the Green Machine proving you, and all the critics wrong - again - because that is what we do.

 

[reptar]

Sent this to Phil Gould's email address at the SunH (shsport@mail.fairfax.com.au) this morning. Like all of you I'm disgusted with the agenda at play here...

Dear Phil,
it is time you come clean with your agenda against the Canberra Raiders. I and many like-minded Raiders fans are sick of hearing uninformed and poorly researched opinion pieces saying that Canberra is a 'club in trouble.' If you want to tip us to run last in season 2007, then fine - that is your opinion and you are not alone, and someone has to collect the spoon. But to question our existence in the NRL - what right do you have to do such a thing, if you're not going to back it up with some evidence? Are you leading an agenda to have the Raiders' licence relocated to the Central Coast?

Fact is, the Raiders are supported by a string of league clubs throughout the ACT. We have a full array of sponsors - jersey, sleeve, short and signage - lined up for the next three years at a good price so there is no financial issue at stake. Canberra and surrounds produce some of the finest juniors year after year and some of the league's hottest young prospects are on our books right now - some until 2010. The Raiders club may have only been around for 25 years but we have produced more legends and won more titles in that time than many of the 'glamour' sides in Sydney who hog more than their fare share of media space - including your beloved Chooks.

So rather than writing 'easy' articles about "ooh look at all the players who have left Canberra" - why don't you do some research and write something positive about young guys like William Zillman, Todd Carney, Michael Weyman, or even rookie coach Neil Henry? These guys are going to be superstars and Neil has all the makings of a great NRL coach - yet all the Sydney-centric media can do is savage the Raiders to pieces, because, simply, it is the easy option. Last week when the Raiders lost to the Broncos 'reserves' it was like the beginning of the apocalypse in the eyes of the Sydney tabloids - you're only as good as your last match though and last time I checked the Raiders knocked off the 2005 premiers 26-4... and they were at full strength. However I'm sure the write-up will be that "it's only a trial" and "the Raiders are still crap." Funny how things like that stay true.

So Phil, either come clean with evidence or shut up about the Raiders' future. Your position and influence means that the unfounded diatribe you come up with about Canberra means that a lot of people will start to believe it and that is just not fair, right or just.

Looking forward to the Green Machine proving you, and all the critics wrong - again - because that is what we do.

I'd love to read Phil's reply to that. Some of the words might be a bit too complicated for him to understand, though.

 

[thickos]

Hahah you think i'll get a reply??? :lol:

 

[Loz]

Hahah you think i'll get a reply??? :lol:

Let us know if you do, and what he says...

 

[reptar]

No, I don't. Ms Gould doesn't like criticism.

 

[Steel Dragon]

Thickos borders on crazed fan, but backs up his rant with supporting facts.
Gould is a wanker - no doubt about that.
As soon as there is proper talk (rather than speculation) about the Raiders relocation - there will be a big green uproar at the NRL.

Long live the Raiders!

 

[TiTTieS_[CNTDN]]

Awesome work there, thickos. I, too, would love to see how he responds to it - if at all he does respond.