Betfred have suspended betting.
WON'T SOMEONE PLEASE THINK OF POOR BEN FLOWER?!
Rumoured to be coming immediately - Jason Taylor has been given his job at the Roosters
He looks the business for Saints, and with the news that Jason Taylor, a good mate of Trent Robinson, going to the Roosters it could be done and dusted.
Holbrook currently with the Junior Kangaroos as their coach.
Guardian suggesting its a done deal
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/20...k-rugby-league
As I have no knowledge of NRL and coaches etc. Could someone enlighten me if they think Holbrook would have been a number one choice? Does anyone know if his work as an assistant in NRL shows he has potentential to be a success, or is it more of a punt?
Plus if anyone knows, what will be his strengths/possible playing style etc.
Humans are more concerned with having than being.
More importantly who will he get rid of and will he sign some good aussies?
He isn't really known. He's mainly coached under 20s teams. Moved to lots of different clubs. I think Roosters wanted to punt him to make room for Jason Taylor who was head coach at the west tigers before getting the sack about a month ago. Taylor used to coach at the roosters.
Holbrook could be good or bad. I got no idea
I expect he will improve the squad immediately as the new coach arriving usually produces a kick up the backside for those under performing.
He will assess what can be salvaged from the season and will start ti introduce more junior players.I wouldn't expect any major changes any time soon in personnel.
Learned comment from The Don
Thanks. Regarding recruiting I guess his first job at least for next season will be looking at those he wants to keep and who he wants to bring in? Like all coaches it will be a balancing act using the salary cap wisely, bringing through the 'kids' (which he seems to have worked with over there so should be able to spot talent) and offloading deadwood.
As said above any new coach brings a kick up the backside which hopefully will result in a few wins. Players upping their game to catch the coaches eye. But a possible downside and I say possible is players fitting into a new coaching style/methods which may upset some players and backroom staff.
If he starts ASAP I assume he will retain the current coaches until at least seasons end.
Humans are more concerned with having than being.
Given he's not an established head coach, it's unlikely he already has a retinue of assistants he likes to work with. Additionally, he's new to the British game. For those two reasons alone, I'd be surprised if he jettisoned the current coaches, who he'd be wise to retain at least for the rest of the season (then assess how well he works with them)
I've got to say that I've been quietly impressed with some of the work done by the three co-caretaker-coaches. Little things that various fans had spotted were really not working under Cunningham, they've changed round (eg, moving Wilkin wider, bringing LMS into the middle)
Like pretty much everyone else, I'm completely in the dark as to how this will go with Holbrook, but I'm quite excited by the prospect of a new dawn for the club. My four main hopes are:
1) His intention is to get us playing open yet intelligent & winning rugby
2) He improves the games of our younger players (well, any aged players really)
3) He's got the cojones to make the big decisions about established players who aren't delivering value for money
4) He's able to bring in a couple of quality young prospects from Aus who want to prove themselves over here in order to win a major NRL contract
The club wanted someone who is good individually with the players and I think that's important. If you look at how we've played since Good Friday, there's a lot of forcing plays and trying to find miracle plays. There has clearly been a discussion on playing more expansively and they're probably over thinking it and trying to do too much, hence the errors etc. He needs to make sure that we're playing at the right times and I've always found halves and half coaches are good at that. That's his biggest challenge for me, he doesn't have a team of world class players like the one Kieron and Longy had. He's got two Internationals, one of those has only just made the squad, but changing the mentality and making sure the players are smart and know is the right time to play is really, really important IMO and I hope he's able to do that. If he doesn't, it's going to difficult right away.
He needs to develop the leaders in the team because frankly, we don't have many. Wilkin won't be around for much longer and bar him and Smith... well that's about it. Percival and Walmsley are growing in that sense but the latter doesn't really play long enough. We panic too often because we're lacking in leaders, he needs to encourage more players to step up into those roles - figure out who's capable.
He'll need to sort through the squad but that will come gradually. He'll need to the right decisions though. We're far too reliant on Roby even now and it's not just about the 9 in that sense, it's about finding other ways to break teams down but also having the understanding to know when to use different options and improving the decision making throughout the team.
Decision making is key really, both in terms of coach and players. It's the key to improvement with this team. I also feel it's important that he develops Wellens and Long as coaches.
Steve Prescott MBE (1973-2013)
V
That's not something I take issue with. It was more the insinuation that we should judge two prospective coaches on which was the better halfback. Wayne Bennett and Craig Bellamy were winger and centre respectively but I'd rather have them us coaching than Gary Schofield. You can't judge a head coach on his playing credentials.