Dominant team of the decade

[Spirit of 66]

Apparently, it's the Storm followed by the Roosters. Or so says Fox News. This is because The Storm has spent more time at the top of the ladder during each season.

I guess it's a bit like how we rank the performance of race horses in the Melbourne Cup. You know, we count the number of times a horse wins the race, but just as important are where the horses are placed midway through the race.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl...bf202c2f38f4fd

[Johnny Tobin]

I know whose record I would prefer - ours

[Thirteen]

It’s just anti-Rooster sentiment. We are obviously the top team.

[rented tracksuit]

pppppffffffttttt!

[The Corner Post]

If we win the comp this year will will be the dominant team of the past quarter century / this century!

[rented tracksuit]

If we win the comp this year will will be the dominant team of the past quarter century / this century!

We already are.

[ism22]

I know whose record I would prefer - ours

Yeah IMO it's to our credit that despite the Drizzle being able to finish top-8 every year and top-4 most (every?) year, we've still won more premierships during the same period.

The only thing that's consistent about the Storm is that they've had a lot of 'good luck'. Dare I say it reflects the Broncos' current plight as all their upcoming stars get sent down to Mexico when they come of age.

It’s just anti-Rooster sentiment. We are obviously the top team.

I think they've been the most dominant as we were pretty cr@p in 2011, 2012 and 2016 (almost 1/3 of the decade). Whereas, they just make the top 4 every year, no questions asked.

That said, I think we're the most successful team and we've worked a lot harder than the Storm to get where we are. We also play the most exciting, lethal style of footy. Whereas, the Storm have made an art of spending waaaay too much time cooking up hacks to slow down the game rather than spending that time getting better. Most years people adapt to their tactics by finals time and quite comfortably dispose of them as if they were a 7th/8th ranked team that 'got lucky'. It's the whole live by the sword, die by your own blade kinda thing... if your tactic is to do 'legalised' 5-man strips all year then you get used to being given cheap possession rather than digging your heels in when the going gets tough. Sums up the Storm in a nutshell.

The only years that they've won the comp were years where somebody else beat their main competitor (and killed themselves in the process) or it was just a cr@ppy year with no standout performers. Whereas, our last 3 victories have all involved beating 4 or 5 true competitors (all finishing on the same points or thereabouts) to win the lollies.

[Cockadoodledoo]

Dare I say it reflects the Broncos' current plight as all their upcoming stars get sent down to Mexico when they come of age.

What? The Storm sign the Queenslander's that the Bronco's reject.

[Yak]

It just speaks to the differences between the way Robbo and Bellamy structure their season. You’ve got to admit their record of consistency is incredibly impressive. Getting an article written pointing it out isn’t quite the same as premiership success though is it.

[ROC181]

The Storm always start their seasons with wins. Its something they're proud of and look forward to make their mark on the rest of the teams. Unfortunately for us who have been waiting all Summer for footy, we seem to start with a loss here and there but we have become accustomed to that so MOST of us take it our stride that comps aren't won in March. Bellamys approach is like that little kids tale of the Hair and the tortoise, They're the hair and we are the toirtoise, well maybe the slow waking Chook. Robbos times our run into the finals while Bellamy wants to win it all. At the end of the regular season, it's not hard to see the storm with more wins, but what counts is the Grand Final.

Anyway here is an article about Robbo on the Tele:


Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson’s incredible NRL record revealed


Nick Walshaw, The Daily Telegraph
July 2, 2020 9:15am
Subscriber only

Shane Flanagan, after tonight, will likely be the last man standing.

Not that he knew as much this week.

Or even when told, could really put a finger on why.

The secret to beating Roosters coach Trent Robinson?

Flanno isn’t even sure one exists.

Which is some concern given this 2016 premiership coach – and father to Roosters No.7 Kyle Flanagan — may be the only fella left anywhere with genuine claims to having the wood on rugby league’s new Supercoach.

“Really? Sounds like a nice stat,” Flanagan laughed yesterday from St George Illawarra HQ, where he now works as an assistant.

“But honestly, I had no idea.”

In fairness, few would.

Yet of the 14 NRL coaches who have played Robinson on more than five occasions, only two now boast a winning percentage — Flanagan, and Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy.

According to Fox Sports Stats, the former Cronulla coach has won six of 10 games against the man going for a third consecutive NRL title in 2020, while Bellamy is much shorter — with eight wins in 15 appearances.

It means that if Melbourne do get rolled in their latest showdown with the reigning champs, well, it leaves only Flanno with a better than 50/50 success rate.

Which is some statistic, right?

Indeed, seven years after signing on with the Roosters for $250,000 — or in NRL terms, a pie and Coke — Robinson is quickly firming as the best NRL coach right now.

Undoubtedly, firming for the Mount Rushmore of greatest ever too.

Which isn’t a debate the man himself will give any oxygen.

Same as he’s unlikely to discuss, say, the possibility of donning a kangaroo fur jacket like that last man to earn a threepeat — the original Supercoach, Jack Gibson.

But we can.


Especially given that, already, Robinson has won three premierships quicker than any other man in history — including the likes of Gibson, Bennett, Phil Gould and Warren Ryan.

Same as tonight against Storm, the 43-year-old is looking to build on an outstanding head-to-head success rate that, with a win, sees him level with both Bennett and Bellamy — the greatest coaches of the NRL era — and well clear of others like Des Hasler (69 per cent), Ricky Stuart (70 per cent) and Brad Arthur (75 per cent).

But as for Robinson talking about it?

No chance.

In fact when asked about the greatest challenge presented by Bellamy teams, Robinson replied with a straighter bat than, say, Geoffrey Boycott playing for a draw on day five.

“I don’t find it challenging,” he said. “There is nothing there for me.

“At the Roosters, we get excited about playing every opponent.

“So I don’t rise and fall based on the opposing coach. If you change (your approach) for a coach, you’re heading in the wrong direction.”

But surely each coach puts their own signature on a side, right?

“Yeah, but that’s a different question,” he continued.

“What will the coach be saying to his team through the week? Through the year?

“How does that come out on the field?

“Then you go ‘OK this is the way they play, this is how we nullify it and this is how we attack it’.

“But that goes into your method of game planning for an opposition — it doesn’t change based on the experience of a coach.”

For us great unwashed however, Robinson versus Bellamy remains a genuine slobberknocker.

With the two coaches so similar according to Cooper Cronk – that halfback boasting titles with both — the greatest difference he can distinguish is “their dates of birth”.

At 60, Bellamy has 17 winters on his Roosters rival.

Yet good luck waiting much longer before Robinson takes that No.1 mantle Bellyache took himself from Bennett — whose record of seven NRL titles could, almost impossibly, one day prove a target.

So c’mon Flanno, what’s the secret to beating him?

“I agree with Robbo — you don’t change your approach for a specific coach,” he says. “You change depending on the style of a specific team.”

So how did you beat those Roosters teams coached by Robinson then?

“We made it a street fight,” Flanagan says simply. “Every time — stand ‘em up, drag ‘em out.

“In the first couple of years, we didn’t have the elite players like they did, so we wanted to drag them down to our level.

“Playing at Shark Park, it was often cold and wet too which suited us.

“Then as time went on – especially from 2015, when we got some really good players — we were able to change our style a bit.

“Go after points.

“But it was never about some personal battle I had with Robbo.

“Until you told me that statistic, I had no idea.”

Certainly though, Flanagan knows enough about the Roosters coach to describe delivering them the 21-year-old son, and rising NRL star, he once coached himself as “a no-brainer”.

“Fantastic opportunity,” says Flanagan, who sat in on all meetings Kyle had with both Robinson and Roosters chairman Nick Politis.

“The maturity Robbo is bringing out in Kyle already, I’m not sure that would’ve happened if I were still coaching him.

“At the Roosters, it was never a given Kyle would play halfback. So he’s having to earn everything he gets.

“At home too, when he talks about his day, it’s always about how professional the place is.

“How organised.

“While initially the Roosters were thought of as Silvertails, I think now everyone just sees them as this incredibly professional organisation from top to bottom.

“And that rubs off on the way the players perform, but also prepare, turn up to training, even act away from training.

“I know with Kyle, they’re driving him to get better every day.”

Which undoubtedly, is a Robbo signature.

“With any Trent Robinson side, you know they’ll be fantastically prepared. ” Flanagan continues.

“You know they have skill, will start fast and, as proved in recent years, will stand and fight.”

Anything else?

“Yeah,” he says. “In the back of your mind, you just know they’ve also worked overtime to find that one weakness in you.”

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...01fda75e3068eb

[ism22]

It just speaks to the differences between the way Robbo and Bellamy structure their season. You’ve got to admit their record of consistency is incredibly impressive. Getting an article written pointing it out isn’t quite the same as premiership success though is it.

I agreed. However, a lot of those 'wins' were gifts IMO (i.e. selective refing, 'lucky' calls at key moments...etc). I dunno! It's impressive that they always seem to make the top 4. Not so impressive how they win all season then always seem to choke late into the finals series. Dare I say it raises serious questions about Bellamy's ability to lift teams during key moments (Origin included BTW - he shoulda had Smith, Slater, Cronk and GI coached outta the game when he was in charge... instead we got belted!)

[Rooster1908]

Roosters won 3 GFs in this decade , Storm won 2 Gfs in this decade , they should be embarrassed of there results compared to us if they spent more time at the top of the table

[Johnny Brass]

Our back to back ended this debate last year , we've been the team of the teens.

[Rooster Fred]

IMO the Storm have been the most consistent team over the last 20 years. Roosters are the greatest.

[Headless Chook]

Who cares about some article, its not like the Storm get a trophy for it anything