: Tue Sep 16, 2008 2:45 pm  

What exactly has he learned then?

Because, whatever it is, there has not been much evidence of it.

[Bullseye]

: Tue Sep 16, 2008 2:51 pm  

Trimalchio wrote:

I've not seen any evidence that McNamara has developed into a better coach this year.

I thought he did an amazing job to finish 3rd last year, especially with the points deduction and the squad at his disposal (St. Hilaire, McAvoy etc), only to run out of steam at the end of the season. If anything, 2008 saw this decline carry on, despite many believing the Bulls to have made some astute signings and improved the squad.

Agreed. We did very well last year apart from the awful c0ck up in the play offs. IMO I didn't think our signings represented any great increase in quality and said so at the time. The loss of Hape and injuries this season meant we had it tougher than in 2007 so this explains the lower finish.

Trimalchio wrote:

The main problems for me that were unaddressed from 2007 are:

2. Fitness. Your pack looks noticeably off the pace at the end of each half - big contrast to Saints, Leeds and the Catalans. You have to wonder why players like Solomona and Nero have looked like shadows of their former selves this year

Have to say this has been a worry for me too. In contrast to Saints and Leeds we look light years behind in fitness and speed and are unable to maintain a high tempo. Too often we seem to slip down a few gears and allow the opposition to get a roll on. We've done this against lesser sides and paid the price. We seriously need to look at tackling technique around the ruck where we've been exploited far too often.

A problem that's also been apparent this year is the lack of impact players on the bench, when we don;t have any we're always going to struggle. The Wigan play off this year is a case in point. We did well for 20mins then had nobody to bring on to maintain it, Wigan then brought Hock and Paleassina on!

Trimalchio wrote:

4. Handling of young players. Burgess predictably burned out after being over exposed in the pack, yet others with promise don't seem to get much game time. Balance is needed.

It seemed at times this year as if players were looking to Burgess to create play and get us over the advantage line. In the end we were expecting far too much of him and as such he was getting marked out by the opposition who knew he was one of our few attacking threats.

Unless we sign a) some strike players in the backs and b) another prop to provide impact from the bench we will see the same reliance on Burgess again next year. Luckliy at least we have Scruton who will get through a lot of work and Menzies is quite creative but we still need a wrecking ball Joe Vagana type player and a back with some class.

: Tue Sep 16, 2008 3:19 pm  

Bullseye wrote:

...

IMO 2009 is McNamara's make or break year, he's got acres of cap space to recruit from and has had two full seasons to get used to the job. At the very least I'd like to see some positive signs next year. At the moment I can't see us doing much better than this year so he's got a bit to do.

A fair call, except that I am optimistic we will do better next year. For one thing, we can't have such a horrendous run of luck with injuries again - can we?

: Tue Sep 16, 2008 3:24 pm  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

A fair call, except that I am optimistic we will do better next year. For one thing, we can't have such a horrendous run of luck with injuries again - can we?

Some decent signings and tactics would also be advantageous.

[Bullseye]

: Tue Sep 16, 2008 3:25 pm  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

A fair call, except that I am optimistic we will do better next year. For one thing, we can't have such a horrendous run of luck with injuries again - can we?

Hopefully not. We lost our pack leader and skipper for long periods which cost us in games where some leadership and direction was needed. I just hope that as Deacon and Morrison advance in years that their proneness to injury doesn't increase too much. It really showed how much we depend on them last year.

In order to finish higher up I think we need a couple more quality recruits. The clubs around us aren't standing still so we need to replace outgoing quality with decent players if at all possible.

: Tue Sep 16, 2008 3:33 pm  

rugbyreddog wrote:

It does seem strange that whilst we have the same cap as Saints and Leeds, we had to dismantle our team while they improved their already good squad. .

But when offloading say Fielden we not only saved his wage but got a big cash sum straight into the bank, and that, presumably (cash flow) is why we suddenly became a selling club?

: Tue Sep 16, 2008 4:58 pm  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

But when offloading say Fielden we not only saved his wage but got a big cash sum straight into the bank, and that, presumably (cash flow) is why we suddenly became a selling club?

except we havent been selling weve been releasing players for no fee (les) or undisclosed fees(hape). Although we have got the harris case out of the way which might go some way to explaining why we seem to have reduced wage bill by more than incoming players are perceived to be on.

: Tue Sep 16, 2008 7:42 pm  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

A fair call, except that I am optimistic we will do better next year. For one thing, we can't have such a horrendous run of luck with injuries again - can we?

Dont know ask Hull

: Wed Sep 17, 2008 5:10 am  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

A fair call, except that I am optimistic we will do better next year. For one thing, we can't have such a horrendous run of luck with injuries again - can we?

Agreed. All those injuries we got and Michael Platt managed to stay relatively injury free and available for selection.

It never rains but

: Wed Sep 17, 2008 10:41 am  

Bullseye wrote:

In contrast to Saints and Leeds we look light years behind in fitness and speed and are unable to maintain a high tempo.

Agree. McBanana needs to enforce more discipline in players eating habits when not at the club - Nero and Slomona have both gained too much weight for my liking - too many orgies

Big is not baeutiful - we need our players to be lean and hungry. McBanana might enjoy seeing Solomona's curves in the dressing room but this could be having an impact on morale