The board have themselves to blame for this mess purely due to the coaching appointments made post Bennett. St George Illawarra's best ever period was when they had a premiership winning coach and when he left replaced him with 2 x rookies and an extremely poor one to turn this club from a benchmark team where betting was stopped mid season because they thought Saints were a shoe in for minor premiers to a club that has been tipped for wooden spoons the last few years.
Flanno has come in way to late. As soon as Madge was let go from the Rabbits he should have been top of the list. They came close to getting Bennett but last minute he signed on with his beloved Broncos.
Some people saying Ryles should have been the next in line after Hook, really? 2 rookies was not enough to turn them off hiring another one? Can people really see Ciraldo, Benji, Fitzy, or Payten winning a comp? If they are not our of a job in 3-5 years I will be surprised. Where as if Des Hasler, Wayne Bennett or Flanno win a comp in 3-5 years I won't be surprised because they know what it takes, they just need the right cattle which takes time. In Saints case will take longer because of the mess it was left in post Bennett.
Fitzy has made 2 finals series and won no games. The last one he lost was against a depleted Chooks with both Suillii and Manu off injured half the game, Tedesco sin binned which is when the scored 1 of the 2 tries and a young Sandon Smith coming on and running the show. If he makes it again due to a soft draw and huge amount of luck playing the top teams when injured (Storm with Hughes and Pap out top example) and they lose their finals games based on the sacking of John Morris, Fitzy will be nervous especially 3 years of failing to win a finals game. As for Payten and Webster they are proving to be 1 season wonders. Ciraldo? Dogs have won 4 games and everyone has them as finals bound. We will see what happens when they start losing a few and the whips get cracking and morale goes to poo again like last season.
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