where to from here....

[Guest]

first sorry in advance for consecutive essays, but ive got a few thoughts i think are a bit different to general sentement in this forum.

I see a huge number of threads about lineups for 2010 and how this combination or that combination will fix the team, and honestly some peoples attempts seem far better than those in managment. however i think a change in lineup is only covering over the more serious issues within our club.

In my opinion the biggest issue for this season, is a sheer refusal to acknowledge the way rugby league is headed. every single rule change is aimed at increasing the speed of the game, bringing prominence to spead in the halves centres front row and most importantly the hooking position. We as a club have gone backwards in our speed, and no change that i have seen in our club has even acknowledged this, so really a lineup overall is going to have to be a lot bigger than what we have now, the first player i would like to see is Luke Towers in the u20s, he is a bit weak in defence, he makes some mistakes, but hes so quick, and he can spark something from nothing, hes the opposite of what we have currently, put him in at fullback, failing that at hooker and tell him to run, i dont even care if we lose, at least we will score some damn points.

the second issue we need to address going forward is the basic ethos of our club. We are a quick fix club, as adressed in my last post, we look for quick solutions to major problems, we need to switch to a development focus. for the life of me I cant see why people deathride Osullivan, the signings he has made have all been aimed at speed at excitement and at depth, our clubs three biggest issues. Sure they have been hit and miss, but they have been attempts at change, ufortunately they have not fitted with the teams bash teams then outjump them ethos so they have not made it to first grade, but at least i believe he has the right idea.

so in summary, i believe going forward is all about speed, we find some speed we begin scoring points, we begin winning games, the fact is, defence is about attitude and attack is about ability, our lack of depth in one component has lead to a lack of commitment in the other.

[Guest]

first sorry in advance for consecutive essays, but ive got a few thoughts i think are a bit different to general sentement in this forum.

I see a huge number of threads about lineups for 2010 and how this combination or that combination will fix the team, and honestly some peoples attempts seem far better than those in managment. however i think a change in lineup is only covering over the more serious issues within our club.

In my opinion the biggest issue for this season, is a sheer refusal to acknowledge the way rugby league is headed. every single rule change is aimed at increasing the speed of the game, bringing prominence to spead in the halves centres front row and most importantly the hooking position. We as a club have gone backwards in our speed, and no change that i have seen in our club has even acknowledged this, so really a lineup overall is going to have to be a lot bigger than what we have now, the first player i would like to see is Luke Towers in the u20s, he is a bit weak in defence, he makes some mistakes, but hes so quick, and he can spark something from nothing, hes the opposite of what we have currently, put him in at fullback, failing that at hooker and tell him to run, i dont even care if we lose, at least we will score some damn points.

the second issue we need to address going forward is the basic ethos of our club. We are a quick fix club, as adressed in my last post, we look for quick solutions to major problems, we need to switch to a development focus. for the life of me I cant see why people deathride Osullivan, the signings he has made have all been aimed at speed at excitement and at depth, our clubs three biggest issues. Sure they have been hit and miss, but they have been attempts at change, ufortunately they have not fitted with the teams bash teams then outjump them ethos so they have not made it to first grade, but at least i believe he has the right idea.

so in summary, i believe going forward is all about speed, we find some speed we begin scoring points, we begin winning games, the fact is, defence is about attitude and attack is about ability, our lack of depth in one component has lead to a lack of commitment in the other.

I like your thinking in the first paragraph...we may as well take the punt on speed and youth..they couldn't possibly score less points than the 1st graders have
Whether an 18yo(?) is the answer can't be known until it's tried i suppose..

As for O'Sullivan..

My main gripe with him is actually not his fault..

What pisses me off is the way they treated Beetso,bringing in someone to "help him"..
What a slap in the face for the man who moulded the 2000-2004 machine we had,they seemed to blame him for pRicky's blunders..He certainly didn't want to sign "The Code" and was digusted in the treatment handed out to players like Soward who didn't fit into his idea of a team (Barrett & Corey Hughes do though)..

I may be a bit early with my critisism of O'Sullivan,i just feel he needs to find us someone like Inu (or a similar young pointscoring centre) for getting him in,& sending a club legend to West Tigers,to be condidered a success..

[stsae]

Dont be sorry keep em coming I say. Another good read.

[Guest]

first sorry in advance for consecutive essays, but ive got a few thoughts i think are a bit different to general sentement in this forum.

I see a huge number of threads about lineups for 2010 and how this combination or that combination will fix the team, and honestly some peoples attempts seem far better than those in managment. however i think a change in lineup is only covering over the more serious issues within our club.

In my opinion the biggest issue for this season, is a sheer refusal to acknowledge the way rugby league is headed. every single rule change is aimed at increasing the speed of the game, bringing prominence to spead in the halves centres front row and most importantly the hooking position. We as a club have gone backwards in our speed, and no change that i have seen in our club has even acknowledged this, so really a lineup overall is going to have to be a lot bigger than what we have now, the first player i would like to see is Luke Towers in the u20s, he is a bit weak in defence, he makes some mistakes, but hes so quick, and he can spark something from nothing, hes the opposite of what we have currently, put him in at fullback, failing that at hooker and tell him to run, i dont even care if we lose, at least we will score some damn points.

the second issue we need to address going forward is the basic ethos of our club. We are a quick fix club, as adressed in my last post, we look for quick solutions to major problems, we need to switch to a development focus. for the life of me I cant see why people deathride Osullivan, the signings he has made have all been aimed at speed at excitement and at depth, our clubs three biggest issues. Sure they have been hit and miss, but they have been attempts at change, ufortunately they have not fitted with the teams bash teams then outjump them ethos so they have not made it to first grade, but at least i believe he has the right idea.

so in summary, i believe going forward is all about speed, we find some speed we begin scoring points, we begin winning games, the fact is, defence is about attitude and attack is about ability, our lack of depth in one component has lead to a lack of commitment in the other.

good post mate.Im not gunna lie I read most of it but it was really long so I think I got the jist of it.

I agree with pretty much all you said also I would like to add (if you don't mind) and if said this before BUT..Don't get me wrong I hate Bulldogs as much as the next person but look what they have done in 12 months.

Recruited players to the positions they needed improvement - eg Lost Hughes bought Ennis, Needed direction in the halves bought Kimmorley
Flushed out the oldies and players not needed at the club - Reni, C.Phelps, Corey Hughes, Koupiritsas
Developed U20's Players- Barba, Idris and a couple more still coming through
New Coach- to start fresh and new look at the club in Kevin Moore

From 16th to 1st in 12 months. I think that's what we need to start fresh next year and hope to develop into a good team. If we recruited to what we needed (quality centre and young forwards), got rid of some old players (O Meley & Fitz), Began to develop players into first grade like symonds and williamson, and get a new coach and Im sure we will be sitting higher then 15th after half way through the season if not next year then the year after.





(sorry for long post, and sorry if you already said some of that)

[Guest]

I agree completely with your points about recruitment, its been conservative and naive to the direction rugby league has been going.

I think the other major issue with our recruitment has been our decision to recruit in clusters, we quite simply have lacked balance, our 2004 GF team was the most balanced side you will ever see put out on paper, we had workhorses in fitz, aggression in Moz and Crock, speed and brilliance in wingy mini and even hegarty, and of course we had our insporational leader in freddy.

from that point on we have recruited in clusters first front rowers, then halves, then finally backrowers, for a period there were 8 ex rooster props and 7 halves in the NRL that is quite simply ridiculous and leads to gaping holes in other positions most noticebly the centres. Now we have reached our backrower epedemic we have them in the front row, the halves, the centres, and on the bench, we have a hideous lack of front rowers, and centres and once again we lack the balance of depth that is needed to threaten.

On top of this we have completely misjudged the direction league is heading in and have got slower while everyone else has gotten quicker.

[Guest]

I wouldn't mind if we were losing because we were trying something truelly different but that is not the case.

This years comp with the 2 refs promotes a much faster game. Teams such as the bunnies and the tigers are benefiting because of this (although the tigers have been losing but only just).

Time for a massive shake up. WIll be interesting to see how the sharks go with a few big name players being dropped. We should do the same here.