I have stated on here before that he has been slated for trying to be positive, like I said in the Huddersfield game when he said we started well, whether that was tongue in cheek who knows, and he's been slated for being 'negative' now not to be confused with defeatist. I'd use another word, realistic. The reason we are in this position is not down to Webster's perceived negative attitude. It's a joint effort, which ironically is a bad word to use. Webster should have never been given the job in the first place, but we all know why he was. I stand to be corrected, but in all the interviews since he has gone, I've not heard one player say they are pleased he has gone, now people will say, well they won't say that publicly will they. Well we can only assume that they are telling the truth, therefore why didn't they 'perform' under him then?
Again i'll stand corrected, if someone wants be to ultra nerdy and give me the exact figures, but I reckon most matchdays, the 17 selected have played around 1,800 to 2,000 NRL & SL games between them. Some have played in Grand finals, Challenge Cup finals, and represented their country. In my very humble opinion, most games they are falling down on the basic, fundamentals of RL. Kick chase, not good enough, pressurising the opposition kicker, non existent, failing to control the ruck speed, failing to get over the advantage line, one on one defending, just not up to scratch, last ditch cover tackles nowhere to be seen, failing to wrap the man up and stop offloads. If, and I say if, most of Websters time on the training field was spent trying to sort that out with all those players with all that experience I have just mentioned, then that time was wasted in my opinion, from that standard of player, that should be a given week in week out.
The majority of those players are going through the motions on matchday, if you think Morrison or anyone else can sort it out by having a positive personality, then fair enough, you are entitled to your opinion, I just think it's gonna take a bit more than that.
An alternative to someone coming in with a positive attitude? Very good question, almost unanswerable. Maybe the players should be asked what they think is now the solution to the problem that is partly their doing. Without repeating myself, they had no problems with Webster given their interviews, maybe MC should say coach yourselves, go out there, and play off pure instinct and see where it gets you, then we can save money on appointing another coach to say the same things to them that apparently goes in one ear and out of the other. If I told a kid not to go near a fire a hundred times because it will burn them, then the kid goes and gets burnt, who's fault is that? According to Andy Raleigh, Danny Kirmond has said this is the best squad we have had for 5 years, and the problem is 'application' So it's players not applying themselves.......what the hell does that mean?!
Players not taking responsibility for their own performances or as a group. Reverting to type when put under pressure. Sounds like us last season. Once you get a negative culture it’s like a cancer.
Getting a new coach helped us begin to improve. Cummins had lost the dressing room and Lowes freshened things up. It was too late to save us but I don’t think we were ever going to stay up last year with everything that happened.
You’re not in as bad a situation as we were but you need a strong personality who can draw a line under events and move forward. I’d be reluctant to give the job to anyone “in house” as you need a new broom to get people out of their comfort zone.
You have some decent players and some mentally weak ones. You need to weed out the wasters, this will take time but with the right coach in post it’s not a lost cause. You badly need a win though, not sure where it’s coming from but often they come out of the blue.
Players not taking responsibility for their own performances or as a group. Reverting to type when put under pressure. Sounds like us last season. Once you get a negative culture it’s like a cancer.
Getting a new coach helped us begin to improve. Cummins had lost the dressing room and Lowes freshened things up. It was too late to save us but I don’t think we were ever going to stay up last year with everything that happened.
You’re not in as bad a situation as we were but you need a strong personality who can draw a line under events and move forward. I’d be reluctant to give the job to anyone “in house” as you need a new broom to get people out of their comfort zone.
You have some decent players and some mentally weak ones. You need to weed out the wasters, this will take time but with the right coach in post it’s not a lost cause. You badly need a win though, not sure where it’s coming from but often they come out of the blue.
An alternative to someone coming in with a positive attitude? Very good question, almost unanswerable. Maybe the players should be asked what they think is now the solution to the problem that is partly their doing. Without repeating myself, they had no problems with Webster given their interviews, maybe MC should say coach yourselves, go out there, and play off pure instinct and see where it gets you, then we can save money on appointing another coach to say the same things to them that apparently goes in one ear and out of the other.
The difficulty for any new coach of course, is that they won't be able to do the things that a good leader would normally do in those circumstances; which would be to offload those people who can't or won't perform, and replace them with people who will give of their best. Because money is always too tight to mention at WTW, any new coach is restricted in what they can do to improve performances, so they end up saying the same things to the same people over and over again - which is pointless to those who need to hear it but won't listen, and irritating to those people who don't need to hear it but do listen. To both groups, it just becomes noise.
On limited resources and with a constant revolving door of mediocre players, it's an almost impossible task; couple that with the fact that we still don't have a defined pathway from Academy to first team and local clubs can smash and grab our junior players seemingly at will, and the job gets even harder. The reason Leeds and Wigan can drop Academy graduates in to their SL 17 and have them run the same plays with the same level of effort and application as the established players, is that they have an Academy system that is integrated with the 1st team - they learn what's expected of a player at their club and they understand how to tackle, defend, protect a kicker, cheat etc etc like a Wigan or Leeds player. We just don't have that, and without a few millions of investment and a some years of stability, we never will.
I wouldn't take the job - and god help whoever does; the expectations are vastly out of kilter with the resources that are available.
Any new coach will be know what he's getting in to. Regarding resource s our squad ain't that bad any new guy should be able to get them performing much better than they have. Money will have to be made available and with plenty of players coming off contract I would see that as a major concern.
Any new coach will be know what he's getting in to. Regarding resource s our squad ain't that bad any new guy should be able to get them performing much better than they have. Money will have to be made available and with plenty of players coming off contract I would see that as a major concern.
The difficulty for any new coach of course, is that they won't be able to do the things that a good leader would normally do in those circumstances; which would be to offload those people who can't or won't perform, and replace them with people who will give of their best. Because money is always too tight to mention at WTW, any new coach is restricted in what they can do to improve performances, so they end up saying the same things to the same people over and over again - which is pointless to those who need to hear it but won't listen, and irritating to those people who don't need to hear it but do listen. To both groups, it just becomes noise.
On limited resources and with a constant revolving door of mediocre players, it's an almost impossible task; couple that with the fact that we still don't have a defined pathway from Academy to first team and local clubs can smash and grab our junior players seemingly at will, and the job gets even harder. The reason Leeds and Wigan can drop Academy graduates in to their SL 17 and have them run the same plays with the same level of effort and application as the established players, is that they have an Academy system that is integrated with the 1st team - they learn what's expected of a player at their club and they understand how to tackle, defend, protect a kicker, cheat etc etc like a Wigan or Leeds player. We just don't have that, and without a few millions of investment and a some years of stability, we never will.
I wouldn't take the job - and god help whoever does; the expectations are vastly out of kilter with the resources that are available.
I would have thought the club must know that they can not continue on the same path, and that season ticket and walk ins will get even lower than they are now. Like I said the squad aint that bad and a coach of any measure will knock them in to shape. The coach will be the deciding factor for a lot of fans , and I honestly would expect a much better set of results. If M C thinks he can take an easy or cheap option he must be mad.