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Thread: Justin Holbrook

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    Default Justin Holbrook

    For me their is now doubt Justin Holbrook did a great job as coach of Saints with the way he got the team to perform in his 2 1/2 years at the club. He finally got the reward both him and players deserved.
    However I would like to say his planning for the next team was very poor with os many players out of contract at the end of this season, also the age of a number of players will result in a major overhaul of the squad. This would be a difficult job for the next coach now matter who Saints appointed as Saints fans, the club and the players expect to be a team in the mix for trophies.
    I am also sure Holbrook would have had a good idea what Luke Thompson’s plans for next season were.
    The current season along with the planning for next season would have been the time to judge Justin.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Over The Hill Saint View Post
    For me their is now doubt Justin Holbrook did a great job as coach of Saints with the way he got the team to perform in his 2 1/2 years at the club. He finally got the reward both him and players deserved.
    However I would like to say his planning for the next team was very poor with os many players out of contract at the end of this season, also the age of a number of players will result in a major overhaul of the squad. This would be a difficult job for the next coach now matter who Saints appointed as Saints fans, the club and the players expect to be a team in the mix for trophies.
    I am also sure Holbrook would have had a good idea what Luke Thompson’s plans for next season were.
    The current season along with the planning for next season would have been the time to judge Justin.
    I would suggest that contracts etc fall into the realm of Mike Rush, and There will be discussion between the CEO and the head coach as to squad balance, player ability wage cost etc.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Over The Hill Saint View Post
    For me their is now doubt Justin Holbrook did a great job as coach of Saints with the way he got the team to perform in his 2 1/2 years at the club. He finally got the reward both him and players deserved.
    However I would like to say his planning for the next team was very poor with os many players out of contract at the end of this season, also the age of a number of players will result in a major overhaul of the squad. This would be a difficult job for the next coach now matter who Saints appointed as Saints fans, the club and the players expect to be a team in the mix for trophies.
    I am also sure Holbrook would have had a good idea what Luke Thompson’s plans for next season were.
    The current season along with the planning for next season would have been the time to judge Justin.
    Absolute rubbish.
    Holbrook isn’t responsible for renewing contracts and succession planning beyond his years, obviously he would have an input into this but he isn’t responsible for it.
    Rugby league is a constant cycle of short term contracts, do you really think no one at the club knows who is out of contract?
    Everyone knew Thompson would be tempted by the NRL, just because he’s left doesn’t mean we didn’t plan for it.

    The club has managed contracts excellently in recent years. Look at Taia for Greenwood, Barba, Naiqama, retaining Fages, giving Peyroux chance, offloading Morgan and Smith, LMS and Amor performing on rolling contracts. The only naff deal I can think of is Paulo on a 3 year deal, hopefully he can prove us wrong this year. Then you look at how they’ve combined the aging players with the young guns in Knowles, Thompson, Lees, Ashworth, Grace, Bentley, Smith, Welsby.

    There will not be a major overhaul of the squad at the end of the season, it’s a constant cycle. I can see a prop for Thompson and maybe second row for Taia and hooker for Roby if they hang up their boots. The club have not rushed into replacing these with the likes of Bentley, Smith, Ashworth, Lees still developing and needing game time.

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    Not his job or his concern. That’s what Rush gets paid to do.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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    Yes it is outside of the domain of the coach. I do feel though we need to as a club look at the age profile of the incumbent stars such as Robes and Zeb and really in the case of some of the squad players Ashworth just as an example if at 25 he is as good as he is going to get? The Wire game with him, Costello and to a point Matty worried me, I was shocked at how bullied and shaken they seemed. I know Alex is a key enforcer but him pulling out with his injury seemed to totally throw us into panic mode which we are prone to on occasion. I know we need a mongrel again and we don't seem to produce these "in-house"

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    Quote Originally Posted by Over The Hill Saint View Post
    For me their is now doubt Justin Holbrook did a great job as coach of Saints with the way he got the team to perform in his 2 1/2 years at the club. He finally got the reward both him and players deserved.
    However I would like to say his planning for the next team was very poor with os many players out of contract at the end of this season, also the age of a number of players will result in a major overhaul of the squad. This would be a difficult job for the next coach now matter who Saints appointed as Saints fans, the club and the players expect to be a team in the mix for trophies.
    I am also sure Holbrook would have had a good idea what Luke Thompson’s plans for next season were.
    The current season along with the planning for next season would have been the time to judge Justin.
    JH may not have had the final say on contracts etc. Who's to say he didn't want people brought in this year had he stayed. Woolfe said he was told he could bring players in if he wanted. but he chose not too. Whether or not that was the right decision isn't known at this time. Jh spent 2 1/2 years with us and that is the period I will judge him on. The only two other periods I remember enjoying my rugby as much as under JH was 1966 and under Millward.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Over The Hill Saint View Post
    For me their is now doubt Justin Holbrook did a great job as coach of Saints with the way he got the team to perform in his 2 1/2 years at the club. He finally got the reward both him and players deserved.
    However I would like to say his planning for the next team was very poor with os many players out of contract at the end of this season, also the age of a number of players will result in a major overhaul of the squad. This would be a difficult job for the next coach now matter who Saints appointed as Saints fans, the club and the players expect to be a team in the mix for trophies.
    I am also sure Holbrook would have had a good idea what Luke Thompson’s plans for next season were.
    The current season along with the planning for next season would have been the time to judge Justin.
    I would say his positives outweigh his negatives something he deserved with the hard work he put into the club. He went to America and looked at the way clubs related to the fanbase he put this into practice at Saints and that was his biggest positive, he got Sean Long to look at and implement our attacking shapes that contributed to the 2 LLS trophies and the Superleague title. He had some success at bringing our younger players through in Richardson, Costello, Lees, Ashworth, Bentley and Welsby with mixed progress.

    But he did have negatives which probably went down to his inexperience as a head coach, his first year was very indecisive in that he couldn't decide which was his best half back combination and for me that cost us a grand final appearance. In his second year he was fortunate to have a fully fit squad but gave too much game time to Richardson when he lost form and got injured, I also thought he didn't handle Ben Barba very well and kept selecting him when Barba lost interest and failed to link up to our half backs. Holbrook learnt a lot from failure that year and seemed to put things in process.

    In his final year it was very much the players determination to give him some success and Holbrook started his rotation of players but overcooked it mid season which didn't help us in the CC final. The last 6 weeks of his time with us was the best for everyone connected to the club and he deserved his reward at the end with his determination to avoid any further failures.

    Despite Coote and Naiqama his recruitment and development for me was a bit mixed, Tai and Lees were good but Ashworth and Paulo are still not performing at a reasonably consistent level. I think we are left with a couple of players who can't nail down a permanent role in Smith, Eaves, Costello, Paulo, Bentley and Welsby and for me we need a bit more strength in the pivotable roles.

    Woolf has got a hard job to do this season especially if we go into this patch of injuries, he doesn't know that the resilience of this team are sat in the stands, Holbrook was given the tools to do the job but I.m not sure if has left a longer term legacy at the club.

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    Looking from the outside in, I think they have been preparing for the end of this season, where we pretty much will have to rebuild our pack, be it from outside signings, or bumping up contracts of potential NRL targets in Knowles and Lees, as well as offering Bentley a better deal.

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