Sorry, but when I meant break, I didn't mean making a temporary refusal to watch their games. I will still watch their games and attend the home matches at kogarah (even though they're nothing to look forward to anymore). I rather meant taking a break from reading about the problems of the club and etc. You're acting like I'm just going to stop supporting the club altogether, but I understand how you misinterpreted me. I don't think I will be taking this break anymore. Despite the whips and scorns of it, it's starting to get interesting. Additionally, I'm not necessarily talking about losing the bandwagon fans. I'm talking about the new generation fans who are now just starting to watch footy and pick their favourite teams.
Apology for the misunderstanding.Just on those generation fans,it has mystified me how many young people support Souffs considering how crap they have been for a long time and haven't won anything for over 40 yrs.
But keep the faith nick,we are all in this together and hopefully become the force we were not long ago.
Well Benny V I have rolled over and am now firmly in the we love Coach Price camp. I thought long and hard about the substantial arguments you put forward on the merits of retaining Coach Price and I can see the logic of your position.
You have not changed your view I hope????
Wot? Shame on you Benny V. I reinvented myself just for you, LOL. Oh we'll back to the I told you so negative Old_Timer
Great commentary BOBs. I am a huge fan of Bennett, he is a brilliant leader. My favourite story is when Shane Webke's father passed away, he was a young reserve grader. He tells the story of placing the coffin down as a pall bearer and turning round at the front of the church to go to his seat. He was surprised to see Wayne Bennett stood at the back of the church. Webke said that previously Bennett had barely spoke two words to him because he was just a junior, in fact he didn't think Wayne new he even existed and yet he drove five hours to to be there for his father's funeral. Suffice to say, with leadership like that as inspiration, its no surprise Webke played a grand final with a broken arm.
I agree 100% choosing Price was the right decision given the situation at the time. But one thing you didn't expand on much is the impact of recruitment. I am coming to the view that the recruitment/salary cap manager is the second most important man in the club after the coach and equal to the CEO. Not many people are aware that when Gus Gould joined the Panthers, five players - Lewis, Jennings, McKendry, Grant and Coote took up 2/3rds of the Panthers salary cap (this was confirmed by the chairman in an interview). It made it almost impossible for the coach to build a winning team. I mean, who pays their two props and a centre top dollar? The results the Panther's have achieved with that inept recruitment speaks for itself. Only now, after radical measures, are things improving.
Sadly, Price has suffered greatly at the hands of your recruitment team. Champions like Gasnier have been lost and not replaced, not even by a gun junior who will be a star in the future. The lack of depth in the backs is a major issue. You got Dugan by accident. What if he had gone to the Broncos, that was just one twitter remark away from happening? You at least now have a few good players coming, but it is all too late for Price, he has been left high and dry. I'm not saying he is a great coach, but given what he had to work with, he wasn't given much of a chance. If that poor recruitment continues, even with the addition of Farrell and Widdop, it will be difficult to build a winning team again.
I was never opposed to Price taking charge of the Dragons. After all he had success with Junior teams and had learned from the best, or so it seemed....
...The coach can have the best strategy but unless its driven its potential means nothing.?
- John Schuh
Great stuff BFD. Leadership is everything in business and in sport, which lets face it is the business of entertainment. There was a brilliant excerpt on Monday night football where Matty Johns put up a statistic that the Storm's win rate drops from 73% to 42% when Cameron Smith isn't playing. That is almost half!I agree that Wayne Bennett was an inspiring leader. I heard him interviewed once on ABC. He got into the heads of each Player and told them 3 things:-
- what their Job was
- how simple their Job was
- how important their Job was to the team.
A good student of leadership knows you cannot copy success, you learn how to acquire it.
And then have lots of luck too.
Great stuff BFD. Leadership is everything in business and in sport, which lets face it is the business of entertainment. There was a brilliant excerpt on Monday night football where Matty Johns put up a statistic that the Storm's win rate drops from 73% to 42% when Cameron Smith isn't playing. That is almost half!
It made me recall three anecdotes about Cameron Smith. I think it was Tim Gilbert who was relating how he attended a function full of senior league players including Gallen and Slater and he said that the one man who stood out above all others was Smith, who had charisma and gravitas such that everyone in the room was drawn to him. Gordon Tallis related on Monday how when it was Smith's debut for Qld he went over to give him a pep talk to build his confidence. He said "I went to give him confidence and by the end of the chat, he was the one building up my confidence!". Finally, Smith gets suspended for the grand final against Manly. The Storm is flogged to nil.
He might have the body of an accountant, but he is the most valuable player in the game IMO. Not the fastest (Mead?), not the strongest (George Burgess? - he is a gorilla), not the most skilful (Thurston, Slater, take your pick). Add him to any team though and he will improve the team more than any other player.
The Dragons are missing a leader right now. On the field and in the back office, which is just as important.
Couldn't agree more Pomoz.
?The strength of the group is the strength of the leaders.?
- Vince Lombardi
I love these yesteryear quotes. However, they more then often no longer apply in modern day sports. Gone is the era of playing for pride and the passion of the team and your teammates. Now the motivations are very different.
That quote could so easily read "The strength of the group, is in the sum of money used to build that group" and it would be equally a true today, but shunned in yesteryear.
Maybe Puff. Call me old school. I know one team that plays for pride passion and for their team mates and we haven't been able to beat them for 7 years. Fingers crossed its not 8 next Wednesday....
That quote could so easily read "The strength of the group, is in the sum of money used to build that group" and it would be equally a true today, but shunned in yesteryear.
I would never agree with that. The sporting world is littered with failures when teams had huge dollars at their disposal. Queens Park rangers in the English Premier League are the most notable recent example. Bankrolled by a billionaire, led by an idiot and relegated to the championship. You can have all the money in the world, but without good leadership it will be wasted.
Here's another one, Chelsea again in the EPL. Bankrolled by a Russian billionaire, led by an idiot, won next to nothing. It was only when they got a decent leader in were they able to change things round and start winning. There is literally a procession of examples where money is thrown at a team led by second rate managers and they win nothing.
I will agree that money and commercial success play a much larger role in the success of a team than it did in Lombardi's day. Mind you, in the absence of a wealthy benefactor, commercial success still needs good leadership to make it happen.
It also helps when you have one of the greatest playing rosters ever assembled.
pffft..NSW has the passion....just not the players