Rob Dragon
Juniors
- Messages
- 312
I like Steve Price. He appears to be a good and decent young man. I do not however believe that he is yet mature enough or has sufficient experience to be a first grade coach. Lets remember also that Steve Price did not appoint himself.
Our club has been down this route before; appointing a young and inexperienced coach in Nathan Brown with limited success. To venture down this route again so soon after the first failure is ludicrous and those responsible should be removed from office. Indeed if these office bearers were part of a public company they would have been gone at the end of last season.
The problem with having this young man as coach goes well beyond our immediate failure on the football field this year. The long downward spiral can eventuate very quickly and can have long term and devastating effects in terms of recruitment and the management of the salary cap. It starts like this:
1. Steve Price is not a coach either aspiring or talented young players want to play for. Will he really accelerate a young talented players career? It becomes difficult therefore to attract good young talent and more critical it becomes harder to keep your own home grown talent who are susceptible to approaches from clubs led by the likes of Bennett, Hasler, Bellamy etc.
2. Established superstars (Cronk or Thurston) would be dismissive of playing under such an inexperienced coach and simply will not sign.
3. We then acquire the Parramatta syndrome as a result. This means you have to pay well over the odds to attract mediocre to acceptable first graders like Justin Poore, Shane Shackleton and Chris Sandow. This seriously dilutes your salary cap.
4. And hence the downward spiral begins; and it can last for years. At our club this spiral could last for another 5-7 years.
The single most important position our cub is that of head coach. Yes we tried hard to attract Craig Bellamy. We need to do whatever it takes to attract the next best coach available; from anywhere in the world.
As a supporter I can accept the rebuilding phase if Steve Price comes out and declares that he is using 2013 as a base to a premiership by 2016 by committing to the following steps this year:
1. Playing Josh Drinkwater as half-back from Round 1. Manly backed a young Cherry-Evans in 2011 and Souths backed a young Adam Reynolds last year; so the precedent is strong.
2. Relieving Jamie Soward of all kicking responsibilities and telling him that his sole and only function is to run the football in broken field at large tiring forwards. If he continues to want to play 30 metres behind the advantage line to avoid contact then he needs to find another club.
3. Making a very tough decision on who will be our clubs next 10 year hooker. Is it Rein or is it King? Sorry but there is no use tying up salary cap on both of these talented kids. Make a choice.
4. Go to the market and sing a marquee centre. It is essential.
5. Determine what position Daniel Vidot is going to play. Is it in the back row (like the Tony Williams conversion) or is it in the centres?
6. Commit to ensuring that Fritzell, De Bellin and Stockwell play 12 games or more as starters this year to get them ready for seasons beyond this one.
7. Ensure Evander Cummins acquires some necessary game time in the first grade squad this year.
8. Injuries aside, ensure that Chase Stanley plays every game at right centre.
If Steve Price is brave and implements this type of strategy maybe, just maybe he night survive.
Rest assured however that playing Nathan Fien as half back, Matt Prior in the centres etc is a continued recipe for disaster!
Our club has been down this route before; appointing a young and inexperienced coach in Nathan Brown with limited success. To venture down this route again so soon after the first failure is ludicrous and those responsible should be removed from office. Indeed if these office bearers were part of a public company they would have been gone at the end of last season.
The problem with having this young man as coach goes well beyond our immediate failure on the football field this year. The long downward spiral can eventuate very quickly and can have long term and devastating effects in terms of recruitment and the management of the salary cap. It starts like this:
1. Steve Price is not a coach either aspiring or talented young players want to play for. Will he really accelerate a young talented players career? It becomes difficult therefore to attract good young talent and more critical it becomes harder to keep your own home grown talent who are susceptible to approaches from clubs led by the likes of Bennett, Hasler, Bellamy etc.
2. Established superstars (Cronk or Thurston) would be dismissive of playing under such an inexperienced coach and simply will not sign.
3. We then acquire the Parramatta syndrome as a result. This means you have to pay well over the odds to attract mediocre to acceptable first graders like Justin Poore, Shane Shackleton and Chris Sandow. This seriously dilutes your salary cap.
4. And hence the downward spiral begins; and it can last for years. At our club this spiral could last for another 5-7 years.
The single most important position our cub is that of head coach. Yes we tried hard to attract Craig Bellamy. We need to do whatever it takes to attract the next best coach available; from anywhere in the world.
As a supporter I can accept the rebuilding phase if Steve Price comes out and declares that he is using 2013 as a base to a premiership by 2016 by committing to the following steps this year:
1. Playing Josh Drinkwater as half-back from Round 1. Manly backed a young Cherry-Evans in 2011 and Souths backed a young Adam Reynolds last year; so the precedent is strong.
2. Relieving Jamie Soward of all kicking responsibilities and telling him that his sole and only function is to run the football in broken field at large tiring forwards. If he continues to want to play 30 metres behind the advantage line to avoid contact then he needs to find another club.
3. Making a very tough decision on who will be our clubs next 10 year hooker. Is it Rein or is it King? Sorry but there is no use tying up salary cap on both of these talented kids. Make a choice.
4. Go to the market and sing a marquee centre. It is essential.
5. Determine what position Daniel Vidot is going to play. Is it in the back row (like the Tony Williams conversion) or is it in the centres?
6. Commit to ensuring that Fritzell, De Bellin and Stockwell play 12 games or more as starters this year to get them ready for seasons beyond this one.
7. Ensure Evander Cummins acquires some necessary game time in the first grade squad this year.
8. Injuries aside, ensure that Chase Stanley plays every game at right centre.
If Steve Price is brave and implements this type of strategy maybe, just maybe he night survive.
Rest assured however that playing Nathan Fien as half back, Matt Prior in the centres etc is a continued recipe for disaster!
