Good luck to Justin for next season at Gold Coast. Thanks for all he's done for Saints, lets just give him a good send off with the Challenge Cup and Grand Final win
Good luck to Justin for next season at Gold Coast. Thanks for all he's done for Saints, lets just give him a good send off with the Challenge Cup and Grand Final win
Last edited by billingeboy; 31st July 2019 at 10:18. Reason: bad spelling
A true gentleman, good luck for the the future & leaving us in a much better state than you found us, go win the lot.
I wish all the best for Justin Holbrook’s future and hope the team can give him the perfect send off with a deserved treble. Should they not manage to achieve that, however, I would still regard his tenure as a success. I am not one who judges the club solely on trophies in the cabinet but am more concerned about the entertainment and enjoyment provided throughout the season. Finals victories for me are the icing on the cake and if I thought otherwise there would be little point in attending the preceding 29 rounds and play-off games or any Challenge Cup games prior to Wembley. Since the move from Knowsley Road, I found a diminishing amount of enjoyment in Saints’ games culminating in the mind-numbing style of play under Cunningham which caused me to consider seriously dispensing with my season ticket. Thankfully, Justin Holbrook has been a major part in resurrecting my interest both through the style of play, his promotion of youth and engagement with the town community. Hopefully trophies will be won but even without anything beyond another LLS I am grateful for his input.
Very true. No need for anyone to feel any bitterness or anger about his decision to leave. He came here to do a job of work like everyone else does in life. He honoured his contract in full and has served the club, fans and town with distinction. I only hope the moronic boo boys don't crawl from under their stones and give JH a rough time. I'd hate to see him leave on a sour note and we should give him a send off he will remember for the right reasons.
all done as it should be done he as been straight with the Club, Fans and everyone involved as the club has I wish him and his family all good in the future . It would be nice to finish the job with the trophies though.
It is very disappointing. I had hoped that he would have stayed for another two years. One thing that saddens me is the equivocal way in which Holbrook has handled this. I know that contract negotiations do have an element of cloak-and-dagger, but has he been straight about the situation?
At first, he said that he was happy at Saints and that the new contract was a formality. It became obvious that, as time passed and the plot thickened, that it was anything but a formality. Later, he informed us that the matter was entirely in the hands of his management. Really?
In his statement today, he tells us “it is very difficult as the only time I would get an opportunity like that is when we are winning and doing well as a club.” Although this is not necessarily inconsistent with his previous position, it could be read as smacking of desperation to get away. It is as if he feels that the bubble is about to burst, and he will be stuck here if he doesn’t go now. This seems to be contradicted by his later comment: “The main thing for me is that I know the club is in a great position moving forward,” which seems to imply that the bubble is not about to burst and therefore this is was not his one only chance.
Obviously, he can do whatever job he likes and good luck to him. People rightly move on in their jobs: I’m sure most people have moved jobs through their own self-interest, that is fine, but at least be straight about it. The fans of a sports club like Saints deserve better.
Perhaps I have underestimated a very difficult situation for him. Personally, I think he is making a mistake. The Titans’ job looks like a poison chalice to me, and I would also have expected his contract to be longer that two years given that he is integral to their five-year plan.
I think you have. Let's be honest about this: the NRL is the pinnacle of the game at the moment, and an NRL head coaching gig is as good as it gets for a RL coach (particularly an Australian one). There are plenty of good coaches competing for a handful of positions, so it's entirely understandable that he feels he has to take the opportunity when it arises (especially if his family want to return to Aus, which may be the case for all we know). I don't think there's an inherent contradiction in what he says, either: it's entirely plausible that he could have a hugely successful couple of seasons with us if he signed an extension and then there be no NRL vacancies at the end of that contract. Regarding the idea that he hasn't been straight, at the time he said the new contract was a formality I suspect he had every intention of signing, but no doubt an offer from the Titans changed the landscape somewhat after he said that.
Having said all that, while I don't necessarily agree with you that he's making a mistake, he's certainly taking a gamble with this move.
Justin has been great for Saints and great for the English game. As he moves to GC he’ll expect to build on what he’s learned here and, with the right support, could well turn round a club that’s in a bad place at the minute. I’d also expect him to be a solid supporter of the English game, and the importance of international development, as he builds his reputation in Aus. I think think this move has a lot of potential beyond its immediate impact.
Remember the dark days under Cunningham? Well let's send this guy off with a huge thank you for turning this club right round in the relatively short time he's been here - hopefully with a couple of final victories too.
"The great fallacy is that the game is first and last about winning. It is nothing of the kind. The game is about glory, it is about doing things in style and with a flourish, about going out and beating the other lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom." Danny Blanchflower.
Might have been written by a footballer about football - but never a truer word............
This will be a severe test of his coaching credentials as Gold Coast are currently rubbish and have always been at the lower end of the ladder since their existence, fair play if he can turn them around though
Best of luck to him and hope he does well there. Very disappointed to lose him of course but we were in a no win situation. He does well and leaves or does poorly and we want him to leave.
I don't wish him any ill will as he's clearly improved things but I'm still not very happy he's turned his back on us at the first opportunity, not that I blame him but I think the club could've done more to keep him.
I'll also be quite annoyed if he comes after our best players.
To be fair, I’m glad it’s been sorted now and everyone knows where they stand. If he wants to go, fair play to him he’s entitled to. The main thing now is that they focus on getting some silverware this season.
Steve Prescott MBE (1973-2013)
V
Thanks Justin for all you have done for the club, team, town and most of all the fans. It's bitter sweet for me that we are in the final but your moving on at the end of the season. I wish you all the very best of luck and tell Meninga I don't hold it against him for getting you in at the Titans!
All the very best, let's just bag the lot of trophies before you go.
COYS