Re: Sorry Jimmy but...... : Thu Oct 15, 2015 10:02 am  

Tbh that was my initial thought when Harrison was appointed. Too similar to jimmy. Think he needs someone who looks at game from a different perspective to bounce ideas off.

Re: Sorry Jimmy but...... : Thu Oct 15, 2015 10:58 am  

Some stuff from the Harrison article

had just enjoyed five fruitful years in charge of Batley and Halifax following a previous stint in Super League as Salford's head coach.

His pedigree and track record in coaching were not even up for debate.

Sorry?

"I can understand people's frustrations because we did have a big squad and a lot of players weren't utilised.

"But that was down to the selection policy we had at the club at the time. A lot of players were recruited and we had to play with what we had."

Sorry? Surely, the starting point is why we DIDN'T "play with what we had". Half the squad may as well never have been signed! Also, it begs the question as to what was the recruitment policy. Clearly from this, it was nothing to do with Harriso. Is it right that it was little or nothing to do with Lowes either, and that Ferres made the signings? I suppose that would fit with Jimmy's personality - "I didn't ask for him, I don't want him, I'm not playing him"?

Harrison feels the squad that was assembled last winter was not of sufficient quality and contained too many unproven players. Ultimately, the recruitment policy backfired, according to the 51-year-old.... I think the club did it for the right reasons in trying to build a squad for the future – but a lot of these players were unproven. They were brought in as a bit of a punt and it has backfired.

Very strange. If a player is unproven -but you never play him - how will you get to know whether he is capable of being proven? We seem from all this to have been stuck in some sort of irreconcileable dispute between the coach and the club. Unless Lowes really did want all those players, as individuals - but if he did, then why would he never use them.

Re: Sorry Jimmy but...... : Thu Oct 15, 2015 11:16 am  

Agreed. It's a clear statement that Ferres has signed players Lowe's didn't want.

[Pumpetypump]

Re: Sorry Jimmy but...... : Thu Oct 15, 2015 11:56 am  

M@islebugs wrote:

Agreed. It's a clear statement that Ferres has signed players Lowe's didn't want.

Well there does appear to be a clear disconnect between players Ferres deemed appropriate and how Lowes feels about the same players.

I can't recall how long a time period Ferres was recruiting before Lowes came on-board, but clearly Ferres had to begin recruiting in earnest as he couldn't have known how long it would take to get the first team coach on-board. You would think that Ferres has been around the block enough to in theory be trusted to commence that recruitment process.

Re: Sorry Jimmy but...... : Thu Oct 15, 2015 3:30 pm  

Lowes and Harrison are cut from the same cloth - blunt, arrogant and full of attitude. Neither know the difference between being a boss and being a leader of men. I can imagine them both ranting and raving in the dressing room, struggling to put a coherent sentence together.

Re: Sorry Jimmy but...... : Thu Oct 15, 2015 4:09 pm  

bullsonfire wrote:

... blunt, arrogant and full of attitude. ... ranting and raving ... struggling to put a coherent sentence together.

If those are the criteria for the coach, then we've got a busload of top candidates on these boards

[Bulliac]

Re: Sorry Jimmy but...... : Thu Oct 15, 2015 4:18 pm  

Pumpetypump wrote:

Well there does appear to be a clear disconnect between players Ferres deemed appropriate and how Lowes feels about the same players.

I can't recall how long a time period Ferres was recruiting before Lowes came on-board, but clearly Ferres had to begin recruiting in earnest as he couldn't have known how long it would take to get the first team coach on-board. You would think that Ferres has been around the block enough to in theory be trusted to commence that recruitment process.

Jimmy took over before relegation was confirmed, so I'd say he came in sort of late June -ish. Don't really have a clue as to exactly when recruitment started, but I'd guess it certainly didn't get into full swing until our position for 2015 was pretty certain, ie around the time Jimmy rocked up or very shortly afterwards.

I've always felt that a number of players were signed from Youtube videos and, probably someone known to the club in Aus, saying they might be OK. Clearly, two or three weren't good enough for to Jimmy to risk in the side, so given the standard of a couple of others who were played, that is some indictment.

Re: Sorry Jimmy but...... : Fri Oct 16, 2015 6:44 am  

Considering the Bulls had been playing with "Skinny" squads for the past few seasons, I suspect part of the brief was to make sure there was large playing squad to increase competition and cover the usual injuries accrued from pre season right through to season end. Hindsight by some says quality over quantity, which considering the Bulls precarious finances meant good players were not going to be easy to find.

[Bulliac]

Re: Sorry Jimmy but...... : Fri Oct 16, 2015 9:11 am  

Blotto wrote:

Considering the Bulls had been playing with "Skinny" squads for the past few seasons, I suspect part of the brief was to make sure there was large playing squad to increase competition and cover the usual injuries accrued from pre season right through to season end. Hindsight by some says quality over quantity, which considering the Bulls precarious finances meant good players were not going to be easy to find.

Absolutely Blotto. It was always going to be difficult to recruit 'quality' players after being relegated - in fact, we did well to retain as many of the previous year's staff as we did, no doubt helped by the fact there was no promoted club that season, if there had been we may well have lost far more than we did.

Re: Sorry Jimmy but...... : Fri Oct 16, 2015 12:07 pm  

The Harrison article does seem to suggest that Lowes is very much a my way or the highway sort of manager. I just wonder if that, combined with his little tantrum after the MPG explains our less than stella performances across the year?

I have to say, I'm still not conviced by Lowes as a head coach and I'd be surprised if he's still in charge this time next year should we fail to gain promotion again.