Manly are a tougher club then we are, so is Geoff Toovey as a coach - no ifs, buts or maybes.
Your passioned argument BrissyRedV and Bottle typifies what makes the Dragons currently a soft culture. Like all other arguments for him, it is based on :-
A - excuses for Steve Price, in this case the halves situation
and;
B - he's not yet had a fair go, let's give him more time
As one of his critics of his coaching, I like many here, can be swayed by both these points IF they are part of a well constructed argument that INCLUDES...
C - Steve Price's strengths are....
and,
D - Over his 2 years as head coach, Steve Price has improved the team in the following areas...... in spite of missing halves, and adversity through injuries and bad luck.
...that's not behaving like a toddler now is it ?
Its really difficult to answer these questions when you aren't part of the machine, seeing what he does day in day out with the club and the players. All you can see is the press conferences (which actually may not reflect what he says to the players in the shed or the following week at coaching) and the results of the game (which may be as a result of a number things - many things that we are not privvy to).
I think it's also really difficult to answer the other side of these questions because of the same things: 1. What are his weakenesses and 2. What could he have done for the team. Every argument you put forward has a counter arguement - both baseless because we are filling in the gaps ourselves to suit our own point of views.
We are only making assumptions based on the limited information we have. It's easy to sit in an arm chair and accuse the coach of not performing or accuse the management of not performing when you are only armed with the teams results. It's like an iceberg - we only see a small percentage of what goes on and the results - we don't see what actually goes into coaching and the day to day actions of the team and management.
These aren't excuses - they are genuine points of view from one side of the fence. It is a fact that we had no established halves during the year - any team would struggle with the halves combinations we had. It is a fact that we have had no depth in that area and the centres for the entire year. These issues would make any coaching task difficult - especially given the halves are the key positions on the field.
It was interesting to read an article in our local paper yesterday regarding my local team the Mackay Cutters - they have made the finals for the first time in their history. Here's a section of it:
"Coach Kim Williams had a four-year stint at the Melbourne Storm as a high-performance manager and development team coach, and his expertise has rubbed off on the Cutters squad.
Although a coach is only as good as the squad he has to work with, Williams said he was proud of his achievements."
I have highlighted the section that is relevant here. It says to me that coaches with the magic touch (like Bennett) are rare. Coaches rely on their roster and the attitude of their roster to get them through. This is why some of us in here believe that next year Price has the opportunity to show what he has. He has the roster to work with and the depth across the positions. IF he can't improve our position next year with the team we have, then we start looking for another coach.
Edit: link to the article
http://www.dailymercury.com.au/news/know-the-enemy/2033825/
