Justin Holbrook

[Buddy]

His time on the Gold Coast is up. Sacked this morning and replaced by Des Hasler.



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[Loose Forward Bloke]

His time on the Gold Coast is up. Sacked this morning and replaced by Des Hasler.



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It's sad to see but he was under pressure in that job for a while. He had great players at his disposal and an exciting bunch coming through, however, as was the problem when he was at Saints, his team couldn't defend. They were scoring 26 points a game and still losing. If it happens once, it's a fluke. When it happens 3 times in 5 games, then it's a problem.

I'm sure he'll end up in another coaching gig shortly as an assistant or another backroom position.

[Loose Forward Bloke]

Sounds like Mal Meninga is to leave the Titans after being kept in the dark about this decision and the one to hire Hasler.

[SaintJon]

Brace yourself for the "Holbrook in" threads as soon as Saints loose a match.

[Roger Moore]

Served them well. When he arrived they couldn't score or defend. Took them to a mid table team instead of a team fighting relegation. Suppose they think he can't take them any further now.

[SaintJon]

Duplicate*

[STIDDY]

It's sad to see but he was under pressure in that job for a while. He had great players at his disposal and an exciting bunch coming through, however, as was the problem when he was at Saints, his team couldn't defend. They were scoring 26 points a game and still losing. If it happens once, it's a fluke. When it happens 3 times in 5 games, then it's a problem.

I'm sure he'll end up in another coaching gig shortly as an assistant or another backroom position.

Yes he did an interview about 3 months ago when he had one leg out of the door at that time, didn't look and spoke like the Holbrook we knew at Saints. He got some results which delayed the "Stay of Execution", wonder if he will look at the UK in Warrington or Hull.

[Belgian Saint]

Brace yourself for the "Holbrook in" threads as soon as Saints loose a match.

I would welcome him back for a year or two as a mentor to Wellens, but not as a replacement. Would depend how Wellens felt about it.

[Dos Cervezas]

9th, two points off fourth. I don’t know the politics at the Titans but they’re right amongst it going into the business end of the season.

[magic superbeetle]

The worst thing about this is every fan of every underperforming team in the league will be busy linking themselves to Holbrook. The Leeds fans have already started

[Dux]

It's sad to see but he was under pressure in that job for a while. He had great players at his disposal and an exciting bunch coming through, however, as was the problem when he was at Saints, his team couldn't defend. They were scoring 26 points a game and still losing. If it happens once, it's a fluke. When it happens 3 times in 5 games, then it's a problem.

I'm sure he'll end up in another coaching gig shortly as an assistant or another backroom position.

I don’t think it’s fair to say that we couldn’t defend under Holbrook. It wasn’t at Woolf levels but our defence was fine under him. Our Achilles’ heel under Holbrook was losing our cool in big games, IMO.

[Albion]

In hindsight, moving to the Titans was not the best move in rugby terms for him. They are not good now and they will not be good in the future. Just something in the water there and seem to be destined to do nothing. Very much like Luke Thompson and the players that went to the Raiders from the UK picking the wrong teams to move to.

Every time you saw him in the coaches box, he looked miserable. A complete contrast to his time here.

The way it has been handled has been poor if you listen to Holbrook. Also not good that Meninga who was meant to be high up there did not have a clue about the sacking. I think he said that his own future is unlikely to be at the Titans.

Whoever sacks their coach first in SL out of the 'big 4/6' will go for him, so realistically that means either Warrington or Leeds. However, I do not think either will pull the plug on their coach in the short term

[Dos Cervezas]

In hindsight, moving to the Titans was not the best move in rugby terms for him. They are not good now and they will not be good in the future. Just something in the water there and seem to be destined to do nothing. Very much like Luke Thompson and the players that went to the Raiders from the UK picking the wrong teams to move to.

Every time you saw him in the coaches box, he looked miserable. A complete contrast to his time here.

The way it has been handled has been poor if you listen to Holbrook. Also not good that Meninga who was meant to be high up there did not have a clue about the sacking. I think he said that his own future is unlikely to be at the Titans.

Whoever sacks their coach first in SL out of the 'big 4/6' will go for him, so realistically that means either Warrington or Leeds. However, I do not think either will pull the plug on their coach in the short term

Disagree that it was a bad move. He’s led them to 9th, 8th and 13th in the three full seasons he had and they’d finished rock bottom the year before he arrived. This year they’re 9th, have played two games less than most and are two points off fourth, so by no means out of the picture leading into the final few months of the season. I think he’s done a reasonable job at a club that had finished 14th, 8th, 15th, 14th and 16th in the five seasons before he arrived.

[philthompson]

Des Hasler taking over

[BackrowSaint]

In hindsight, moving to the Titans was not the best move in rugby terms for him. They are not good now and they will not be good in the future. Just something in the water there and seem to be destined to do nothing. Very much like Luke Thompson and the players that went to the Raiders from the UK picking the wrong teams to move to.

Every time you saw him in the coaches box, he looked miserable. A complete contrast to his time here.

The way it has been handled has been poor if you listen to Holbrook. Also not good that Meninga who was meant to be high up there did not have a clue about the sacking. I think he said that his own future is unlikely to be at the Titans.

Whoever sacks their coach first in SL out of the 'big 4/6' will go for him, so realistically that means either Warrington or Leeds. However, I do not think either will pull the plug on their coach in the short term

I'd say at the moment Huddersfield would be the most likely to be in the market for a coach in the near future.

[Rommel]

Leeds should be interested and get rid of Smith.

[Brian Nazareth]

He left Saints simply because he wanted to return to Australia with his family. I'm not at all sure he'd want to now uproot himself and family back to England.

An assistant coach in the NRL will pay around the same or more as most SL head coaches. This article (https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/nrl...28-p4zob2.html) is from 2018 and talks about senior assistant coaches averaging AU$200k, with assistants on AU$150k-175k.

You'd imagine with more money in the game and higher salary cap now, those would have at least inched up a bit.

So even if Holbrook can't get a head coach role in the NRL (and he's done pretty well with GCT), he'd have the option of an assistant job allowing him to earn what he likely could in the UK without having to drag his family halfway around the world again.

[Reacher]

He left Saints simply because he wanted to return to Australia with his family. I'm not at all sure he'd want to now uproot himself and family back to England.

An assistant coach in the NRL will pay around the same or more as most SL head coaches. This article (https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/nrl...28-p4zob2.html) is from 2018 and talks about senior assistant coaches averaging AU$200k, with assistants on AU$150k-175k.

You'd imagine with more money in the game and higher salary cap now, those would have at least inched up a bit.

So even if Holbrook can't get a head coach role in the NRL (and he's done pretty well with GCT), he'd have the option of an assistant job allowing him to earn what he likely could in the UK without having to drag his family halfway around the world again.

Agreed. His wife also left a really lucrative job to come to England with him so she is a high flyer in her own right. Very much doubt she'd want to move

[BigTuna]

Des Hasler taking over

Yes, says in the original post....

[BigTuna]

Poor move from the Titans, given their current position and games in hand on the teams above them. As has been said, win those and they are well into the top 8 (would be 2 points off top if they did) and got momentum going into the back half of the season - seems to suggest there is something else at play aside from on field results.

[Albion]

Disagree that it was a bad move. He’s led them to 9th, 8th and 13th in the three full seasons he had and they’d finished rock bottom the year before he arrived. This year they’re 9th, have played two games less than most and are two points off fourth, so by no means out of the picture leading into the final few months of the season. I think he’s done a reasonable job at a club that had finished 14th, 8th, 15th, 14th and 16th in the five seasons before he arrived.

Sorry I probably was unclear in how I phrased it. I think Holbrook did a good job and I do not think it was a bad move for results (he got them to within a pass of the semi final the other year), but no matter how good the coach is, the Titans are doomed to failure so if he had his time again I am sure he would have waited for a more established team.

The Titans' salary cap spending is all over the place and is spent largely in the forwards to one bloke rather than in the backs, where it should be. If they sign Ben Hunt then that will help. However, the Titans are just always going to be nearly men. The Warrington and Tottenham of the NRL. It will take some real gutting to get them back. It is a huge job and one that will take maybe 5-10 years to get right.

John Bateman probably messed up going to the Tigers too. Apparently, he has come home this week...it is why Rush has warned Dodd about going to the right team. I just wish he picked a better team to go back to.

I'd say at the moment Huddersfield would be the most likely to be in the market for a coach in the near future.

I agree, but that is a club in a bigger mess than the Titans so I would not touch them with a barge pole.

[fishy3005]

I think Holbrook’s a decent coach but more importantly a really sound bloke and maybe not ruthless enough to be a coach. I think he lost the Titans dressing room a while back when he kept persevering with Ash Taylor and things have snowballed since then.

[Belgian Saint]

Sorry I probably was unclear in how I phrased it. I think Holbrook did a good job and I do not think it was a bad move for results (he got them to within a pass of the semi final the other year), but no matter how good the coach is, the Titans are doomed to failure so if he had his time again I am sure he would have waited for a more established team.

The Titans' salary cap spending is all over the place and is spent largely in the forwards to one bloke rather than in the backs, where it should be. If they sign Ben Hunt then that will help. However, the Titans are just always going to be nearly men. The Warrington and Tottenham of the NRL. It will take some real gutting to get them back. It is a huge job and one that will take maybe 5-10 years to get right.

John Bateman probably messed up going to the Tigers too. Apparently, he has come home this week...it is why Rush has warned Dodd about going to the right team. I just wish he picked a better team to go back to.



I agree, but that is a club in a bigger mess than the Titans so I would not touch them with a barge pole.

Actually I thought you were pretty clear. It was the response that was at a bit of a tangent, and I agree it wasn’t the best move for him. He actually didn’t want to go but his wife did .

[Saint from Bury]

think we should be giving him a call to come and replace Wellens.

[Rommel]

Justin give us a RING.................................