Not sure how I feel about Stuart. On the face of I can't stand him but it might turn out to be a masterstroke for our club.... He is surly, difficult and argumentative but everything I have ever heard or read from the players says that they love him. Sound familiar? The ghost of WB?
As far as his coaching credentials are concerned.... Is he any good or not? It is hard to say. He failed with NSW, but so has everyone else lately. He did well with Australia until he opened his bad-tempered mouth and got sacked. He failed with Cronulla, but he never had the cattle.
Most importantly he failed miserably at the Roosters and left the place a disaster. But with the roosters you never know who is really running the joint in the background with the spectre of Gus always looming which was what lead to the demise of Stuart there after initially being the "anointed" one and Gus's favourite pet, but ultimately ending up at war with Gus.
And for all those instant experts that called him a "SuperCoach" when he won a premiership at the Roosters in his first year just look what followed once he had a chance to exert his influence and selections over the subsequent years.... It always makes me laugh when that is thrown up that he won in his first year when the favourite, and generally accurate, explanation when a new coach fails in his first year is that it was not his team and he needs time to get the cattle he wants and to get them playing how he wants.
Stuart won with the team Murray had painstakingly built over the previous years and then proceeded to dismantle the team, and even with the awesome lineup they boasted they eventually devoured themselves until he fell on his sword when it was so badly messed up it was beyond repair and the relationships had become poisonous at the club.
I don't want my club to end up like that and, while I don't know that it would under Stuart, his track record is a cause for concern.
However it is beginning to look like it may already be starting to get that way with Henjak if what is being said behind the scenes is accurate. I am not one to kill coaches off at the drop of a hat and I think Ivan has done okay given the inexperience of the team, but if the players won't play for you, you are gone
I do feel for the guy though, whoever took over from his highness was accepting the poisoned chalice and was never going to succeed. Look at what happened at Essendon after Sheedy.. It is like being the leader of the opposition when the Prime Minister is Mr Popular.
However, as much as it pains me to say it, Stuart may turn out to be just what we need, and remember, at this stage it is all still just a rumour.
Time has an amazing way of revealing all....
