Hook a retrospective thought

[subsbligh]

...and also the fact that on some level they are not resilient enough nor motivated enough or complacent about their positions to finish off winnable games; against weak opposition - Titans, Eels, Sharks games lost this year - and great teams - Roosters, Souths.

The Broncos are good but not great.

I think this is where Bennett may help, but Hook hasn't in 3 years been able to consistently get that high performance out of this squad.

 

[CaptainHook]

I am a big Griffin supporter and wish him all the best. I think he can still offer a lot to the organisation - I hope he isn't lost to the club completely but I can't see him sticking around.

I though Griffin had the makings of an excellent coach but I think two crucial things let him down: Not making tough decisions or putting them off until it's too late and not knowing who our best 17 are. It was a shame all of this went down when it did as he made some badly needed changes and got a pretty good win on the weekend. Admittedly, it was for disciplinary reasons but giving players a spell in reserve grade to get their confidence back, work on some technical aspects of their game can work wonders. They can come back to first grade as better players and with a new found appreciation for their position. Look at Maranta for a classic example. Having a much better season than someone like Reed who gets umpteen chances.

Comments after the Warriors game though indicated that Reed would have strolled right back into the side and everything would be back to business as usual which, to me, is unacceptable and it points more towards a flukey win than a genuine intent to change. Players like Reed and Stagg, if they are in our best 17, then I'll eat my hat.

That brings me to point number 2. I never got the impression he knew what our best side was. This was evidenced on a few occasions when we only used 16 men and the fact he constantly names an extended bench. Granted, some of those selections are injury-based but more often than not I think it was due to not knowing what the best make up of the side was.

This may sound like a criticism but as I said, I'm a Griffin supporter and believe he should've seen out his deal. He just seemed to be his own worst enemy though which led to a lot of frustration amongst the fans. Maybe he did need a bit more time - WB's early years at the Broncos weren't much to write home about and he had a much better side than Griffin, we'll never know unfortunately.

 

[subsbligh]

When?

2011 aside, when we may well have won it apart from Locky going down, I don't think we have had a squad that could challenge. I am very optimistic about next year. Due to the development of our players, and the arrival of Milford, Hook very well could have taken the side to the next level. But now we will never know.

I am still optimistic because Bennett is undoubtedly a coach who can get the job done. I just think a premiership won with Hook at the helm, would have been entirely more satisfying than Bennett.

And who knows man, the players might actually rally around Hook and finish off on a high note.

Hook leaving, to this squad, is just as important as Lockyer's last season.

It starts with a quality game against the Storm this Friday.

 

[broncsgoat]

And who knows man, the players might actually rally around Hook and finish off on a high note.

Hook leaving, to this squad, is just as important as Lockyer's last season.

It starts with a quality game against the Storm this Friday.

Let's hope hey!

Looking forward too it.

 

[Porthoz]

There's rumours about him going to help out at the Raiders. The poor bastard.

I hope not. Being punted the way he was is punishment enough! :shocked:

 

[Mr Fourex]

I don't think the expectations were that unfair. We had a side capable of winning a premiership but Hook just lacked the ability to take the side to another level.

Broncos should not have been struggling to even make the finals. This shows that while Griffin had the players respect, he was unable to get the best out of them. He was unable to make the hard choices until it was too late.

Geez I think you're over rating some of the squad and forgetting that not all have been available to play all the time.

TBH, most out there consider that we have overachieved this year .....

 

[Huge]

Personally I've always thought Hook was a quality person. The thing is though, just like in my job if you can only partially perform the task ,you are not retained. He could do a lot of the job right but as so many have written, he simply didn't tick every box. He chose to enter 2014 without a recognised 5/8 thinking he could train one on the job. Even a novice coach would not think first grade was the appropriate place to train someone. Better to have selected one from ISC and brought his fitness up to standard.

Having made that decision pre-season he persisted with something that simply was never going to work. That's when I began to think his unwillingness to change would be a hindrance to success. Great leaders have great flexibility and adaptability and from each failure learn a lesson. There is no doubt Griffin has some of the essentials and may one day gain them all and I certainly hope he kicks on.

Combined with a poor use of his bench for this 17 man game ,persistence with some down on form players and entering the season without a couple of great bookends and with a learner for a 5/8 he pretty well set himself up for failure. Where we sit on the table is in part due to the evenness of the teams and fact we have some real quality in our team but just not in every position.

Good luck Griff

 

[Foordy]

Personally I've always thought Hook was a quality person. The thing is though, just like in my job if you can only partially perform the task ,you are not retained. He could do a lot of the job right but as so many have written, he simply didn't tick every box. He chose to enter 2014 without a recognised 5/8 thinking he could train one on the job. Even a novice coach would not think first grade was the appropriate place to train someone. Better to have selected one from ISC and brought his fitness up to standard.

Having made that decision pre-season he persisted with something that simply was never going to work. That's when I began to think his unwillingness to change would be a hindrance to success. Great leaders have great flexibility and adaptability and from each failure learn a lesson. There is no doubt Griffin has some of the essentials and may one day gain them all and I certainly hope he kicks on.

Combined with a poor use of his bench for this 17 man game ,persistence with some down on form players and entering the season without a couple of great bookends and with a learner for a 5/8 he pretty well set himself up for failure. Where we sit on the table is in part due to the evenness of the teams and fact we have some real quality in our team but just not in every position.

Good luck Griff

To be fair i think he was certain he would have Milford this year, possibly due to Ayoub's assurances. but it was a mistake on his part that it wasn't signed, sealed and delivered before releasing Wallace.

having said that, i firmly believe that if Wallace was still in Broncos colours (as starting half) Hunt wouldn't have reached the heights he has this year. so maybe that was a good thing

 

[Huge]

To be fair i think he was certain he would have Milford this year, possibly due to Ayoub's assurances. but it was a mistake on his part that it wasn't signed, sealed and delivered before releasing Wallace.

having said that, i firmly believe that if Wallace was still in Broncos colours (as starting half) Hunt wouldn't have reached the heights he has this year. so maybe that was a good thing

Fair enough, I don't wish to derail ( hate that word seeing I'm a train driver lol ) the thread or dilute its intent but if Griff thought Milf was playing in 2014 and he was basing that idea on a player agent who has no say in how Canberra conduct their affairs then it's really just another failure. As for Hunt, someone his size should have been playing half back and never any other position. What he did ( griffin ) may have helped Hunts defence generally but really Hunt should have been halfback a long time ago.

 

[Unbreakable]

I'm going go out on a limb and say that if Griffin ended the Hoffman at Five-Eighth experiment after it clearly wasn't working (Well before origin started is the point we realised it was just an awful idea) that he'd still be our coach for next season, he's made some reasonably poor decisions in his short time as a head coach, but keeping Hoffman at Five-Eighth for 18 rounds is the pinnacle of bad choices.

He made a step in the right direction towards the end of last season, letting Norman sign elsewhere and then dropping him to Queensland Cup when he was under-performing was very brave, and I think it was the correct choice, telling Prince & Wallace that they weren't in the clubs future plans was also very brave, somewhat debatable whether we're better off without Wallace, I was happy with the decision though.

Then the signings of Barba, Kennedy, Vidot, Lowrie, Milford.. on paper that's a great recruitment drive, a mix of youth, talent, experience, strength.. Just didn't really turn out that way, the under-performance from Barba & Kennedy has been yet another nail in the coffin of Anthony Griffin.

All in all, I think he's definitely improved as a coach in his time at the club, the players obviously all respect him, and I wish him all the best in his future endeavours, I have no doubt he'll be a head coach at another Rugby League team before too long.

 

[heartly87]

I totally agree with you untouchable, if hook did indeed make the call to remove hoffy from 5/8 sooner he may not be in the predicament he found himself in. One could think that the weekends game really showed what our team is capable of when the right players are on the field in the right positions. Copley over Reed is a big example.

 

[Unbreakable]

Untouchable hey.. I like it.

 

[pennywisealfie]

How come a lot of people are upset about Griffin leaving now? The guy is a terrible coach.

 

[Broncoman]

I really liked Anthony Griffin as a person I meet him a couple of times at fan days and he was open and willing to talk to me about the Broncos and other Rugby League related stuff and seemed like a good honest down to earth bloke and seemingly family man. As a coach to me he was 50/50 as he did some good and bad but he has conducted some of the young blokes very well and has made the transition from NYC to NRL as smooth as possible.

Best of luck for the rest of the year Hook!!

 

[Unbreakable]

I for one am not upset at all about Griffin getting hooked, I just respect the way he handled his dismissal, among some other things, he's not the villain a lot of us have made him out to be, he just wasn't the right fit for us.

 

[Kaz]

How come a lot of people are upset about Griffin leaving now? The guy is a terrible coach.

I think the people upset, are upset at the way it allegedly happened.

It was remnant of the ARL/SL way. Meetings in back alleys etc. (I used the back alley as an example, I don't know if it happened that way)

 

[Alec]

Geez I think you're over rating some of the squad and forgetting that not all have been available to play all the time.

TBH, most out there consider that we have overachieved this year .....

Good backs, good forwards, it's just our spine that's not premiership standard. That + coaching.

 

[theshed]

I'm not upset he's leaving. He stunk on ice at NRL level coaching. My feelings about it, and I think a lot of other members, are similar to Wallace's tap on the shoulder.

It's the right thing to do as far as success is concerned but we feel a bit dirty for begging that such good, hard working, blokes be sacked.