So what do we do?

[Nuffy]

Ok so its fair to say that 2009 is dead and buried. Smith's reign has not brought the results anyone would have liked and a post mortem is required.

If you are in charge, what do we do?

For me theres a number of things that need work;

Football committee - This current one has presided over some truly rubbish seasons and hasn't exactly showered itself in glory.

I'd like to see a committee of prominent ex Knights proving oversight on football related matters. We've got the Chief and two other board members currently and its not enough.

Recruitment - We need to understand why the last big name recruited was BK, its got to be a massive concern. Its scary when a ex Newcastle player like Tahu isn't even a viable proposition. We need to understand exactly what is held against us and what we can do to fix it.

Coach - I don't know Rick Stone but I think we need a clean break after the last month or so. Unfortunately Rick has been a key component in the Hagan and Smith eras and that should count against him. Is he the guy to get the best out of the guys he is already working with?

Club culture - This part really worries me. The character of a club is evident in adversity, can you see a team coached by Mal Reilly performing like they have over the last 3 weeks.

We need a group of club legends whose only job is to build culture and indoctrinate the new guys, they need to be around the players regularly so that current players understand the legacy they carry forward.

The perfect job for Bedsy.

Look at the way that Bronco old boys rallied around the club after the Canberra game............... should we expect the same thing?

Junior teams and coaching - We used to have junior teams that were ultra competitive, this has to be a priority.

What else would you do?

 

[Johns Magic]

Pride in the jersey first and foremost. That's all I expect as a fan. Results usually follow.

 

[Nuffy]

JM, agreed, thats my point about the club culture, its a massive worry and something that seems to plague us.

Bronc's get pumped by 50 and there's apologies flying thick and fast, plus a squad of Bronco's luminaries who volunteer to work with the team to build them back up.

Newcastle..................................... silence.

 

[Apey]

well right now, Im about to have a 30 minute shower and then cry myself to sleep. :crazy:

 

[Jobdog]

Honestly, and I don't know if this is the thread to say this, but meh.

I'm sure 95% of Knights fans don't expect the team to win every week (sure, it'd be nice, but it just doesn't happen). All we expect is to see the 17 guys who run out there week after week having a dig, having a red-hot go. That quite clearly hasn't happened in the last three weeks and hasn't happened since the rumours turned to a roar RE: Brian coaching the Roosters.

I think first and foremost, Brian's got to go, but the Knights management, as always, will be good to form and stick their heads in the sand and pretend it's all just a bad dream ...

 

[roopy]

We get ready for next year.

We give any promising young guys a run - we send injured players that need surgery off to get it now - we appoint a new coach and get him working on a plan for the off season.

I think the juniors are back on track already - but i'd love to see us try to get some local kids back.

We also need to see if the real NRL experiment worked, and if it can be improved for next season.

 

[PrideKnight]

I've never seen a real NRL game so I don't know what they are like. But I don't think they can possibly be at the same level as nrl, next best thing is premier league, bring back our premier league side so the fringe first graders have a chance to play at a higher level and are ready to step up when we have our usual horror run with injuries

 

[ramble_on]

Me.. I will never ever end my support of the Knights.... but the Roosters are most definitely my most hated team for the next 4... or possibly 3 years....

 

[Hanscholo]

- We ask Brian to take the rest of the season off.
- We install Stone as caretaker coach.
- We interview all of the candidates.
- We make a decision based on:
a) Has stone been able to stop the rot? And do we want to continue down the path Smith has set out?
b) Which if any of the candidates has the ability now to realise the clubs ambitions.


If the current executive dont have the balls to make these decisions then i suggest new leadership is required. They have made a mockery of a fine season to begin with, to now compound that with inaction and threaten our coming seasons with their lack of a direction - then pack your bags as well.

 

[shane1970]

I'd love to find out just who out of the top 25 players are we getting value for money from. Because if the players that have been turning out for us of late take up our WHOLE salary cap - then quite a few of them must be being highly overpaid.

 

[Joker's Wild]

We get ready for next year.

We give any promising young guys a run - we send injured players that need surgery off to get it now - we appoint a new coach and get him working on a plan for the off season.

I think the juniors are back on track already - but i'd love to see us try to get some local kids back.

We also need to see if the real NRL experiment worked, and if it can be improved for next season.

Im sorry roops but I thought we were sitting in 9th spot not 16th. Im not naive enough to believe that the issues that have caused this major slump can be fixed over night but chucking in the towel right now would be a massive mistake.

I think Smith needs to go. This sh*t started when his move to the Roosters came to light and despite all the public announcements that his defection wouldnt effect this season it is clear as day that it has. Its amazing what a change in coach can do to a team, anyone remember the Eels in '06? Amazing that Smith has found himself in the same position again.

 

[Newie is God's Country]

Pride in the jersey first and foremost. That's all I expect as a fan. Results usually follow.

It worked for the first half of the season. Now they look like immature school brats who just had a part time teacher walk out on them. It is time to reclaim the castle, so to speak. Get the legends in and start getting in the ear of these kids who think we are a transit lounge. Butts, MG, Chief, Hurtsy etc., should just insist that Smith allow it, as should the board. Speaking to men who bled for the jumper is a very uplifting thing.

 

[Karmawave]

There's a 1992 book called Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby. A fans auto biography about their passion for the Arsenal football team. They americanised it into a 2005 movie by the same name replacing Arsenal with the Boston Red Sox for the movie.

There's a part in both that says...

" Ask yourself this, out of all the highs and lows, everything you've been through with your team, the love you have for them, the money you've spent on season tickets, the changes you've made to your life and commitments to attend their games... but have they ever really loved you back? "

I guess its difficult to care sometimes, when the players themselves don't seem to care much in recent times. Let alone the coach...

 

[Alex28]

What I think needs to happen:

Coaching – Brian Smith needs to leave and for it to be effective immediately. The damage has been done – the players are not playing with any respect for his authority and if we are going to in any way resurrect the season he can’t be running the show. Rick Stone to be placed in charge for the remainder of the season with a few old boys (such as Andrew and Matthew Johns) to come in and assist and remind the players of who they play for, the privilege they have in wearing the jersey and how they cannot take it for granted.

In saying that the remainder of the season should not be seen as a trial for Rick Stone to see whether he should be installed as coach for 2010. He is inheriting a team at its lowest ebb 4 weeks out from the finals. The position should be decided on the merits of the individual. I do believe that Stone’s position is damaged by being involved with both the Hagan and Smith reign’s and that there are better candidates about. Maguire’s resume is pretty hard to fault.

Juniors – happy to go with what’s being said. It seems that the focus is back on developing home grown juniors and that can’t be a bad thing. We need to remember that local juniors are not the be all and end all of everything. If there are better prospects outside of the region and we can get them, then go get them. Goes for every grade from the juniors right up to the top grade.

First Grade – the focus needs to be getting the right players in the right positions. We are sadly lacking a halfback and the days where we can rely on putting a trained monkey in the halves because we have a player like Andrew Johns dominating opposition are gone. Jarrod Mullen is a good player and has promise, however he is not good enough to cover both positions. The focus for 2010 must be to find ourselves a quality halfback – if the player is not in the juniors then we need to go out and buy one. We need a quality centre as well to provide some leadership in the backs. Assuming Ben Cross finally plays a full (or close to) season for us next year we have enough leaders in the forwards (Ben Cross, Chris Houston).

Finding the Balance – we need to find the balance between the “our team, our town” mentality in where we find our players. We had a dream run of finding players who ended up being Origin and Kangaroo representatives however for the meantime we need to forget about the past and have the backbone to get players from outside the region if need be. If the work is put in to the juniors and we get that flow back again then great. However we have a strong record in the past of buying some quality players who have ended up being key to the fabric of who we are – Ben Kennedy was undoubtedly our best ever purchase. Buying players in isn’t a bad thing and everybody – the board, the members and the fans – need to remember that. We need to find the fine line between the past reliance on the juniors, and Smith’s reign of buying everything in.

Old Boys – the final home game is a great event for the club every year. We need more influence from the old boys over the clubs players to instil some pride in the jersey. The old boys are a great thing for the club but it isn’t something that we should wheel out once a year and then forget about. Use them to our benefit.

The Board – there needs to be more thinking with our heads and less with our hearts. There is no doubt that the board has a passion for the club and wants it to succeed, however Barry Toohey’s article highlighted that some board members (such as Paul Harragon) has a tendency to derail some of the decisions the club makes with the passion that he has for the club (such as the Elliott debacle). If board members cannot separate their head from their heart in making decisions for the future of the club, then they are a liability and no matter how highly regarded they are within the club they should not be on the board.

2009 is not dead. Some ruthless decisions need to be made. We have little time to get things right, however it can be done. It isn’t time yet to throw juniors to the fire just because all hope is gone – remember 2007 when we lost game after game after game and we had a bunch of juniors who didn’t really know what it felt like to get a win in the top grade. Let’s not do that to another generation. Let’s get things right in the background and get stuck in on the ground.

 

[Karmawave]

Well made post Alex 28.


Just on the juniors, because we cannot compete with other teams financially, we NEED to put the focus on developing our own. We cannot win a bidding war for the best juniors from outside the region against the likes of the big spending Sydney teams.

Having said that, shrewd smart recruitment ( and not letting the likes of Hunter High school talent like Greg Inglis get away ) and savvy recognition of talent outside the region that remains untapped and who are flying under the radar is a must to coincide with the development of players in our own massive nursery.

 

[Serc]

Not bad at all Alex, can't say I have the motivation to write something like that at the moment...too depressed lol

 

[Jobdog]

Alex, that's the best post I've seen in this forum for a long time. Plenty of people (yes, myself included) seem happy to throw in the towel for season 2009 and it does seem like the easy thing to do. But I suppose we all need to rewind the clock back to 2007 and 2005, as disappointing and gut-wrenching as those seasons were, at least the players were having a dig. The only thing we ask of the players for the remaining four weeks is just to have a go, it doesn't really matter whether they win or not, although it'd be nice to win a few and get into the semis, but show some pride in the jersey, the results will look after themselves.

In saying that, 2009 hasn't quite gotten to that stage yet and while I think it'll be tough, we can resurrect the season, but sadly, if Brian stays here for the remaining four rounds, our last win for 2009 would have been against the Raiders ....

 

[Joker's Wild]

.

2009 is not dead. Some ruthless decisions need to be made. We have little time to get things right, however it can be done. It isn’t time yet to throw juniors to the fire just because all hope is gone – remember 2007 when we lost game after game after game and we had a bunch of juniors who didn’t really know what it felt like to get a win in the top grade. Let’s not do that to another generation. Let’s get things right in the background and get stuck in on the ground.

Well said mate.

All this talk of "this seasons over" and "lets just chuck in the young blokes to give them experience for next year" smacks of defeatism and I for one dont give up that easily. The right changes need to be made and even though this is a bloody low point for the club, we cant afford to throw in the towel just yet.

It amazes me that so many on here are just giving up on the team cause the going has gotten tough. Harden up princesses and get behind your team, show them what Knights supporters are all about and what they are playing for.

 

[Jobdog]

Well said mate.

All this talk of "this seasons over" and "lets just chuck in the young blokes to give them experience for next year" smacks of defeatism and I for one dont give up that easily. The right changes need to be made and even though this is a bloody low point for the club, we cant afford to throw in the towel just yet.

It amazes me that so many on here are just giving up on the team cause the going has gotten tough. Harden up princesses and get behind your team, show them what Knights supporters are all about and what they are playing for.

I agree JW, but at the end of the day, all these changes we're discussing on this forum quite simply won't be done until next year purely and simply because the board have no backbone and have their heads firmly placed in the sand.

 

[Johns Magic]

One thing I have realised in the last few weeks:

It's a lot easier to support a bunch of struggling locals than a bunch of struggling imports.