THE COACH Kevin Walters

[Wolfie]

@Wolfie what's your take on Pat so far.
Me, I'm a little concerned. He is trying but looks very average this year.

I think he's down on what he was last year. I'm not overly concerned tbh. He's still a young player, his form is bound to fluctuate like all younger blokes do and its the first time he has really let his form slip. I still put a lot of it down to how we use them, plus we have no other options to take them out the firing line when they need it. Even last night, i said 5 or 6 mins before he missed that tackle he was ready to come off, it looked obvious to me yet he was left on. Haas was the same, he started off on fire, then he started looking tired and he started arm grabbing and had less and less impact.

I'm actually quite concerned we are just burning out some of these players. Mentally they are just worn down from getting beaten so often. ITs an issue.

 

[rnabokov]

I was realistic at the beginning of this season. I was not expecting to make the finals or win more than we lost.

I just wanted to see us not give up and stay in games, increase our defence line speed, not be the last ones off the ground in every tackle/ruck and show some intent in attack.

That is not asking much. It does not require talent, skills or coaching, it is all attitude. Although our team are saying the "right things" they are not walking the talk.

I constantly harp on about line speed but it is no fluke that the teams with the best line speed: melb, souths, penrith, roosters top the comp and those without: broncos, bulldogs, manly are on the bottom

I agree with most of what you say except for me, line speed (and my particular interest - support play and set plays) are absolutely a coaching issue, which is why I am disappointed that we haven't shown much if any improvement in our line speed in particular.

I still can't get my head around why Kevvie isn't, or doesn't seem to be, working on basic combinations built around Haas, TPJ and Riki. Every time they get the ball, there should be a nominated player running in support, much like the Storm have with NAS and Hughes/Paps. Last night, Haas made some great runs but where was the support play?

 

[Wolfie]

What? He lost every game last time he coached them, including to png. PNG.

He lost every game for England? Thats a massive pile of bullshit if thats what you mean. He only coached them for 15 games and won 10 He got them to a world cup final. I'll grant you he didnt do very well with the Lions, they picked a very unbalanced squad that didnt cope well with their injuries, but he did fine with England.

 

[tommy]

He lost every game for England? Thats a massive pile of bullshit if thats what you mean. He only coached them for 15 games and won 10 He got them to a world cup final. I'll grant you he didnt do very well with the Lions, they picked a very unbalanced squad that didnt cope well with their injuries, but he did fine with England.

He was shit last time he coached international then, this time with 3 countries at his disposal.

 

[Wolfie]

He was shit last time he coached international then, this time with 3 countries at his disposal.

4 actually, although I don't think Ireland, Wales and Scotland are rugby league powerhouses!

 

[tommy]

4 actually, although I don't think Ireland, Wales and Scotland are rugby league powerhouses!

I don’t think png is either.

 

[Foordy]

I know people don't want to hear this ...

but after 4 games this season we literally fell only 20 minutes short of being 3-1 this season.

against Para we had a 15 minute period where they scored 3 tries to take the lead while we had only 1 man on the bench. although we need to keep that hush hush, as the media only care of that injury toll happens to the Roosters.

against the Titans, we went to sleep for 5 minutes just before half time, letting in 3 tries. for the other 75 minutes of that match we outscored the new "giants" of QLD rugby league.

 

[Wolfie]

I don’t think png is either.

Decent side tbf. Still should have beaten them.

 

[Big Pete]

Problem is at the time when million dollar contracts were being handed out, Milford was close to that level, it wasnt an outlandish contract like we gave to people like Flegler, Joffa and Lodge . Bird as well was probably worth good money as well. Bird has only become a bad signing with the benefit of hindsight due to his injuries. He was a state of origin player and a premiership winner when we got him. Even Boyds contract amount wasnt really out of this world, it was just 2 years too long. Bennett really wasnt that much of an issue, we got screwed on contracts because the people crunching the numbers were push overs.

It was always going to take big money to lure Bird away but it was a massive gamble. You were basically paying five-eighth money to somebody who had barely played there and was extremely limited in what he could do in that position. Yes, he won a premiership but he was about as instrumental in it as Ricky Leutele - just a handy cog in the machine as opposed to a core element. If you wanted the key player you'd go after an Andrew Fifita or James Maloney. Keep in mind too, his injuries were well known when the Broncos made that deal, it was a luxury buy and it blew up in their face.

 

[tommy]

I know people don't want to hear this ...

but after 4 games this season we literally fell only 20 minutes short of being 3-1 this season.

against Para we had a 15 minute period where they scored 3 tries to take the lead while we had only 1 man on the bench. although we need to keep that hush hush, as the media only care of that injury toll happens to the Roosters.

against the Titans, we went to sleep for 5 minutes just before half time, letting in 3 tries. for the other 75 minutes of that match we outscored the new "giants" of QLD rugby league.

Oh man you must be a masochist.

 

[Wolfie]

It was always going to take big money to lure Bird away but it was a massive gamble. You were basically paying five-eighth money to somebody who had barely played there and was extremely limited in what he could do in that position. Yes, he won a premiership but he was about as instrumental in it as Ricky Leutele - just a handy cog in the machine as opposed to a core element. If you wanted the key player you'd go after an Andrew Fifita or James Maloney. Keep in mind too, his injuries were well known when the Broncos made that deal, it was a luxury buy and it blew up in their face.

Wayne signed Bird though to play Lock, not center or 5/8.

I thought he was a lot better than you are making out he was for the Sharkies. Where we slipped up was probably with our medical checks on his. As a club, you have to rely on what your medical checks tell you so if they were wrong, it's not really the fault of Bennett or White, they just follow what the medical professionals tell them.Not quite sure what Injury issues you are talking about either apart from his sternum problem. I know he has his arthritis problem but none of that has any relation to the two freak knee injuries he had.

 

[Sproj]

We need to see improvement and that's the question, has there been improvement?

the squad is worse than last year and that's out of Kevvie's hands this year. However, has the defense improved? Maybe but the guys are still doing lazy 'efforts' repeatedly. Is there a better structure in attack? I think definitely yes but the players just keep dropping the ball too much to see and keep getting in each other's way.

Kevvie gets a grace period on these things for sure because there does seem to be semblances of improvement but the big issue is bench management and the Seiboldesque chopping and changing of halves. Kevvie seems to have flinched and not stuck to his guns, this is REALLY concerning.

 

[Alec]

It feels like ages ago now, but the Broncos were actually 2/4 at this stage last year lol.

 

[Sproj]

It feels like ages ago now, but the Broncos were actually 2/4 at this stage last year lol.

After 4 rounds?

 

[Alec]

After 4 rounds?

Yeah, after 4 rounds.
So it was really 2/2 at this point in the year.

 

[holdzy]

After 4 rounds?

Yes. 4th round was 59-0 though.

 

[Big Pete]

Wayne signed Bird though to play Lock, not center or 5/8.

I thought he was a lot better than you are making out he was for the Sharkies. Where we slipped up was probably with our medical checks on his. As a club, you have to rely on what your medical checks tell you so if they were wrong, it's not really the fault of Bennett or White, they just follow what the medical professionals tell them.Not quite sure what Injury issues you are talking about either apart from his sternum problem. I know he has his arthritis problem but none of that has any relation to the two freak knee injuries he had.

He was paid like a half. Bennett never had a set position in mind, the plan was just to get him more ball whether it was at five-eighth, right centre or lock it didn't matter. In the end, there was a vacancy at left and Bennett threw him there. Bird was so bad, he got hooked, had a whinge in the media about it so Bennett played him at five eighth. He had one good game there against the Warriors then went back to his down right Shibasaki levels of giving away tries because he was so awful. In the end it was that bad that Bennett just threw in the towel and let him get his surgery. Players had played through much worse, but Bird was clearly using it as an excuse with the way he performed.

Bird was one of the best prospects in the 20s in 2014, right up there with T. Trbojevic and A. Fonua-Blake. He was a handy player at the Sharks and had some great performances but he wasn't a million dollar player. He was being paid on that potential, just like he was selected for NSW because they saw him as the next Fittler/Daley like. Bennett obviously saw the same thing, it was something the Broncos were missing and he thought it could be the missing ingredient, he was wrong and the club has been made to suffer.

Otherwise I agree 100% with you. Right now this isn't good enough for Kev, he's been making bad moves the moment he stepped in and it's just blowing up in his face. I do think he's the right man for what the club needs right now because no coach worth their salt would risk their reputation on these individuals on and off the field.

 

[ivanhungryjak]

Was just listening to Brad Thorn speak after the Reds big win over Rebels. We need to get him involved somehow. He spoke briefly about his philosophy including mateship, accountability, etc. Very impressive.