Re: GB & I Lions tour discussion. : Sat Nov 16, 2019 1:52 pm  

British Rugby League is in serious need of an injection of flair. It's so bloody tedious

Re: GB & I Lions tour discussion. : Sat Nov 16, 2019 9:18 pm  

So the pendulum will swing again: "we need a British coach to inspire them with British passion", just like the end of David Waite's era when we brought in Noble and when McNamara followed TS.

So who is going to be in line for the job?

Ian Watson is the assistant coach and so should be the logical choice and he could be a Gareth Southgate style appointment who does well despite being not a big name.

I have a feeling that Brian McDermott is going to want to focus on Toronto, we don't know about Shaun Wane's availability. Personally I would go for Daryl Powell.

I think the other guy who will be in the frame will be Richard Agar who ticks the boxes, coach of a big club, been around the game a while, lots of references from others inside the game to say he's a great coach etc.

Whoever it is, I expect the verdict on their 3 or 4 years as coach to be:
- had too many 'favourites' from the 'big clubs'
- played players out of their normal positions
- had one or two points where we looked like we were closing the gap but at the point they left we looked as far away as ever

for reference: see Noble, McNamara, Goodway before that...

Re: GB & I Lions tour discussion. : Sat Nov 16, 2019 10:14 pm  

fez1 wrote:

Lions ?
More like kittens.

This tour has been awful, simply awful.

Bennett must take his share of the blame for an inept squad and team selection.
For all the talk of a great team spirit and his man management, I don't believe it.

Players too have not been up to it, especially the halves.
We've been out muscled and made far too many mistakes.

Desperately poor.
An end to a truly abysmal time.

it's been THAT bad, that the people at the top might might wholesale changes here... Toronto coming in, signing SBW on massive money at the same time we have this catastrophe... RL could go big on cap space... Let teams spend alot more on wages.

if a rich man wants to come into RL.... throw a load of money at players... Thats absolutely fine by me.

Our game has been dwindling for years really... The last 5 years has seen a real downturn in quality... All across the leagues.

Time for big changes. They are going to have to lift the shackles off the salary cap if the game is to recover i think....

Better wages for everyone, better standard of import's, clubs/owners allowed to go big if they want... lets just throw all our cards on the table and see what happens.

Re: GB & I Lions tour discussion. : Sat Nov 16, 2019 10:17 pm  

and bring back the shoulder charge.

Re: GB & I Lions tour discussion. : Sun Nov 17, 2019 8:30 am  

100% Wire wrote:

British Rugby League is in serious need of an injection of flair. It's so bloody tedious

Tedious is exactly the right word to describe it.

Re: GB & I Lions tour discussion. : Sun Nov 17, 2019 8:53 am  

This tour has been a national disgrace!

Bennett cannot be given a new contract, he has to go immediately.

The job surely has to be Shaun Wane’s? He’s by the far best man for the job. Say what you want about him but players who play for him would run through a brick wall for him.

I’m not even sure Bennett would inspire me to run through tissue. And his tactics are boring and out of date. There were three consecutive sets on the Kiwi line last week and the two half backs didn’t get their hands on the ball until the final play of each set. That’s a sackable offence in itself.

And hopefully Wane would have more about him than to pick the most boring #9 I think I’ve ever seen in Hodgson. He’s the most one dimensional player around at the moment. He does nothing but pass from dummy half. He’s got nothing else about him.

Re: GB & I Lions tour discussion. : Sun Nov 17, 2019 8:56 am  

Oh by the way; very well done to Joe Philbin who pretty much comes home as one of the only players who can hold his head highs from this squad and say he played well.

(Elliot Whitehead too)

Re: GB & I Lions tour discussion. : Sun Nov 17, 2019 11:04 am  

I remember one of the interviews Bennet did when he first took over the job. He was asked whether England could win the world cup. This was not an unreasonable question considering how well England had performed against New Zealand in recent matches and the fact that they did go on to get to the World Cup final under Bennet’s tenure.

But his response to the question was to laugh and say something along the lines of ‘Well, I don’t know about that.’ I never liked him after that, surely we need a coach who has a passion for the team and believes in them. Not somebody who thinks we’re laughable behind Australia.

Re: GB & I Lions tour discussion. : Sun Nov 17, 2019 6:47 pm  

Psychedelic Casual wrote:

And hopefully Wane would have more about him than to pick the most boring #9 I think I’ve ever seen in Hodgson. He’s the most one dimensional player around at the moment. He does nothing but pass from dummy half. He’s got nothing else about him.

This. Clark is so much better it's not even funny

Re: GB & I Lions tour discussion. : Mon Nov 18, 2019 10:17 pm  

I was thinking about squad selection, and I have to admit that I'd have picked all the forwards that were in the squad. (Cooper was unlucky to miss out).

There were too many halves, not enough centres and wings.

And then there was the game plan..... That's the only reason I can see there was such inept performances - particularly by the halves.
And clearly the wheels came off when Austin plays on the wing for the last game when they flew out a specialist wing. That suggests all was not well in the camp - maybe friction between Sinfield and Bennett??

Can't really see Bennett getting a new contract.