Re: Price Out : Mon Nov 16, 2020 11:50 am  

ninearches wrote:

Well ,Old Father Time marches on & too much reliance on Cooper & Hill will mean one day we will have to start a game with props with little or no SL experience. Our youngsters need to be blooded asap .

This is spot on, how many times even in this season have we seen players being picked we already know are going to be leaving the club, this should of been the time we gave the youngsters a run out. We are not Wigan who always seem to give them a go.

Re: Price Out : Mon Nov 16, 2020 12:05 pm  

I am not a big fan of Price but I do have a tiny bit of sympathy.
I am convinced he didn't recruit Burrell and I would even stick my neck out and say he didn't recruit Latu either.
The Greg inglis signing is another one for different reasons.
I Guess most coaches in RL would struggle to turn down the opportunity to sign GI I am not convinced that it is the best move for us.
Yes it creates headlines and under normal circumstances puts bums on seats and sponsorship but do we actually need a left centre/ full back. Maybe price agrred to GI straight away but I am it feels like the signing of GI was not thought through the same way that Saints, Leeds or Wigan would have considered that move.
As it happens if Widdop leaves he might slot in at HB on that left edge but that would be more by luck than judgement.

Price has made mistakes and I amazed that he was given a contract extension after year 1 and being beat by Catalan in the CC final but I do think he is working with his hands tied behind his back. I also think that there are some senior players at the club that go running to tell tales to the teacher if they don't like what is going on and they are the same that saw Smith leave the club.
The problem is the teacher should be saying "don't tell tales" and backing the coach.
Some of the players were here at the back end of the Tony Smith era so I think they also need to take a look at themselves because we all know they are capable of much more than the performance against Salford and Hull FC

Re: Price Out : Mon Nov 16, 2020 1:00 pm  

morrisseyisawire wrote:

The issue is, we seem to have no concept of forward planning or contingency planning and this filters through every aspect of the club.

When TS left the appearance was of a hastily convened trip to Oz to interview a motley bunch of randoms and ended up with Price.

Agreed, but remember the popular view on this forum at the time was that TS had reached the end of the road and anybody would be better than TS. I think Price has basically been as close to continuation of the later TS years as we could get. We didn't go backwards (which is an underestimated risk when changing coach) but we didn't go forwards. The pattern has been 2 steps forward, 2 steps back. So the idea that anybody would be better than TS was proven wrong, and just ditching Price now and playing coach roulette risks the same - or worse, hiring someone who takes us backwards.

I feel the same about Price now as I did about Cullen at the end of 2006. We know what we have got. We're likely to be around the same level as long as this goes on. We had a similar situation if I remember with Cullen going into a contract year in 2007 and I remember always having the feeling that the board liked Cullen and wanted to find an excuse to extend him - which they did when we had a bit of a good run - but that was a mistake, and even Cullen himself said on the Woody and Higham show that with hindsight he shouldn't have signed that extension. I don't think the board is as wedded to Price as it was to Cullen but there is a risk that if we jump to extend him after a few wins, we will just be where we were at the end of Cullen, going into a wilderness period where we can't move forward until we have the right appointment.

Although Lowes didn't work out as Cullen's replacement, the board was at least thinking ahead when it saw TS was going to be available after the 2008 world cup, and had him in mind as the long term replacement. I think the same approach is called for now. Find a guy who is really good - Wane, McDermott, one of the top Aussies - see when they are available. Rather than extend Price, give Anderson or Henderson a shot in the interim.

Paul Anderson did well in his previous head coaching job - he won the minor Premiership with Huddersfield - and was sacked prematurely as Huddersfield's fortunes afterwards showed. Imagine how we would feel if say Anderson went to Cas to replace Powell and had them back on top of the league like he did Hudds. We would be asking hard questions of the board saying how did we miss this guy on our doorstep.

So I would say take a long view - start lining up which of the real elite coaches is coming available in 2022, 2023, 2024 etc. Give Anderson a crack at Wire in the meantime. If Anderson takes us to GF winning level then we have our answer, if not, then pivot to the big gun down the line.

Re: Price Out : Mon Nov 16, 2020 1:02 pm  

ratticusfinch wrote:

Maybe we're waiting until we're no longer on standby before we announce anything. Well that's the straw I'm clutching at.

I've thought the same thing.

Re: Price Out : Mon Nov 16, 2020 1:06 pm  

Imagine being on standby and being required to play.. then winning the big prize... would that feel right?

Re: Price Out : Mon Nov 16, 2020 1:24 pm  

Briers'Boot wrote:

Imagine being on standby and being required to play.. then winning the big prize... would that feel right?

No

Re: Price Out : Mon Nov 16, 2020 1:26 pm  

Need to separate running a financially stable business from running a successful club - only need to look at Bradford Bulls to see where the latter without the former might lead.

Then consider the business decision about the cost of sacking and paying off coach and hiring a new one, when balancing out if you can then afford to bring in player xyz.

So maybe these considerations have to be accounted for, it's not just as easy as chop & change.

Re: Price Out : Mon Nov 16, 2020 1:34 pm  

sally cinnamon wrote:

Agreed, but remember the popular view on this forum at the time was that TS had reached the end of the road and anybody would be better than TS. I think Price has basically been as close to continuation of the later TS years as we could get. We didn't go backwards (which is an underestimated risk when changing coach) but we didn't go forwards. The pattern has been 2 steps forward, 2 steps back. So the idea that anybody would be better than TS was proven wrong, and just ditching Price now and playing coach roulette risks the same - or worse, hiring someone who takes us backwards.

I feel the same about Price now as I did about Cullen at the end of 2006. We know what we have got. We're likely to be around the same level as long as this goes on. We had a similar situation if I remember with Cullen going into a contract year in 2007 and I remember always having the feeling that the board liked Cullen and wanted to find an excuse to extend him - which they did when we had a bit of a good run - but that was a mistake, and even Cullen himself said on the Woody and Higham show that with hindsight he shouldn't have signed that extension. I don't think the board is as wedded to Price as it was to Cullen but there is a risk that if we jump to extend him after a few wins, we will just be where we were at the end of Cullen, going into a wilderness period where we can't move forward until we have the right appointment.

Although Lowes didn't work out as Cullen's replacement, the board was at least thinking ahead when it saw TS was going to be available after the 2008 world cup, and had him in mind as the long term replacement. I think the same approach is called for now. Find a guy who is really good - Wane, McDermott, one of the top Aussies - see when they are available. Rather than extend Price, give Anderson or Henderson a shot in the interim.

Paul Anderson did well in his previous head coaching job - he won the minor Premiership with Huddersfield - and was sacked prematurely as Huddersfield's fortunes afterwards showed. Imagine how we would feel if say Anderson went to Cas to replace Powell and had them back on top of the league like he did Hudds. We would be asking hard questions of the board saying how did we miss this guy on our doorstep.

So I would say take a long view - start lining up which of the real elite coaches is coming available in 2022, 2023, 2024 etc. Give Anderson a crack at Wire in the meantime. If Anderson takes us to GF winning level then we have our answer, if not, then pivot to the big gun down the line.

Totally agree with your idea of head coach planning.

Re: Price Out : Mon Nov 16, 2020 1:37 pm  

Briers'Boot wrote:

Imagine being on standby and being required to play.. then winning the big prize... would that feel right?

No, but would give no end of amusing posts from the folk of WA9 ad infinitum.

Re: Price Out : Mon Nov 16, 2020 1:40 pm  

Anderson worth a go for a season, then get Wane.