PLAYER Billy Walters

[heartly87]

Billy did nothing wrong. He is serviceable in a couple of rolls and will be good to have around for injury cover. The only thing is if others are performing he shouldn't stand in their way. I don't think he did this year, he earned his spot in the 17. Turpin and co didn't. Walters senior needs to go into next season with a mind to reward form, not promises.

 

[Harry Sack]

Billy did nothing wrong. He is serviceable in a couple of rolls and will be good to have around for injury cover. The only thing is if others are performing he shouldn't stand in their way. I don't think he did this year, he earned his spot in the 17. Turpin and co didn't. Walters senior needs to go into next season with a mind to reward form, not promises.

I think this sums up a lot of posters thoughts tbh. From both sides of the argument

 

[Sproj]

I think this sums up a lot of posters thoughts tbh. From both sides of the argument

Nailed it. This is everyone’s concern.

Some posters assume Kevvie is playing favourites and that he will be in the 17 and so take the negative approach. Others hope that he won’t be and give Kevvie the benefit of the doubt and take the positive approach. We all basically agree he shouldn’t be best 17.

My concern is that it is more simple than playing favourites, my concern is Kevvie just doesn’t know what he’s doing when picking a team. Hopefully he learns from this season with his selections and bench usage.

 

[theshed]

Nailed it. This is everyone’s concern.

Some posters assume Kevvie is playing favourites and that he will be in the 17 and so take the negative approach. Others hope that he won’t be and give Kevvie the benefit of the doubt and take the positive approach. We all basically agree he shouldn’t be best 17.

My concern is that it is more simple than playing favourites, my concern is Kevvie just doesn’t know what he’s doing when picking a team. Hopefully he learns from this season with his selections and bench usage.

Somebody finally gets it!

 

[Sproj]

Somebody finally gets it!

Everyone gets it mate, it is just that you and @McHunt prefer to go the negative route (strange given how beneath @McHunt being negative is) and most others try to hold out hope and want to give Kevvie the benefit of the doubt.

 

[theshed]

Everyone gets it mate, it is just that you and @McHunt prefer to go the negative route (strange given how beneath @McHunt being negative is) and most others try to hold out hope and want to give Kevvie the benefit of the doubt.

I don’t think I have been negative about Billy to be honest, outside a few silly jokes. I don’t have strong feelings about Billy, I am just trying to be realistic about it. I feel people are being polarised about Billy, likely because of a general dislike of McHunt. I have just been trying to put it back into a realistic perspective, especially when people are bagging Paix like it’s a given that he wasn’t as good as Billy.

I’ve been negative about Kev but I think if people go through my posts (excluding the dumb jokes), I have been pretty fair to him and given credit where it’s due.

People are just finding it hard to take comments such as yours that I bolded. There are legitimate concerns about Walters coaching and our spine. There are also obvious internal issues that need addressing that some pretend don’t exist. That’s not to say that it won’t come good or work out, but they exist.

 

[Morkel]

Everyone gets it mate, it is just that you and @McHunt prefer to go the negative route (strange given how beneath @McHunt being negative is) and most others try to hold out hope and want to give Kevvie the benefit of the doubt.

Actually, @McHunt stands alone in that he believes Kev has deliberately blocked attempts to bring in better players purely so that Billy can retain a relevance to our squad, and therefore justify a contract.

 

[Sproj]

Actually, @McHunt stands alone in that he believes Kev has deliberately blocked attempts to bring in better players purely so that Billy can retain a relevance to our squad, and therefore justify a contract.

In fairness to me, that guy has so many stupid takes it is hard to keep up.

 

[Super Freak]

Did laugh at that. I like Billy and if he's been signed at or around base wage, I'm happy...but a Gun? Lol

Problem is a lot of people are thinking we wrote the headline because of our agreement with ZT.

 

[heartly87]

Nailed it. This is everyone’s concern.

Some posters assume Kevvie is playing favourites and that he will be in the 17 and so take the negative approach. Others hope that he won’t be and give Kevvie the benefit of the doubt and take the positive approach. We all basically agree he shouldn’t be best 17.

My concern is that it is more simple than playing favourites, my concern is Kevvie just doesn’t know what he’s doing when picking a team. Hopefully he learns from this season with his selections and bench usage.

I agree it's not as simple as playing favourites. I believe that Kev has a misguided loyalty. He seemed to return to players he said had positions locked down at the start of the year. The inclusion of James as cover was fine but when other/better options were available he retained him in the side despite the lack of performance. Same with Turpin and Nui, it honestly infuriated me watching our side spiral with the same players out there that started the year poorly.

Yes, bring them into cover for injuries but man Kev move them on once the players who were performing well before injury return. An injury shouldn't make you have to prove yourself again. There were so many head scratches like Hetherington having absolute belter games only to see him the next week only get 15 minutes. Palasia also had a very strong origin period in the middle only to be moved to the edge and feature in only 10 minutes of games. Kev totally chose certain players based on loyalty. You can tell by things he said about Turpin and James that had nothing to do with on field performance and about things they have done for the club ect.

I personally don't think that's how you coach. Everyone should be told that positions are open not that they have first crack. It is the one thing that Kev did that I think caused a disruption in team unity that contributed to the downfall. Also it appears that Ikin and him didn't see eye to eye on these issues either.

 

[Swordfish]

my concern is Kevvie just doesn’t know what he’s doing when picking a team. Hopefully he learns from this season with his selections and bench usage.

That is the biggest concern for mine too. If he doesn’t learn a thing or seek some guidance, he’s screwed & we can write off next season even before it starts. The old boys can go f*** themselves.

 

[007]

I just don't understand the argument of favouritism and nepotism. Billy earnt a spot in the squad through hard work, not raw talent. He was never paraded or touted to be THE hooker we need and in reality i don't think he held back progression of anyone in those roles that he played.

The way he was used and minutes wasnt the best, but our only other options were Turpin and Paix. He played better than Turps and Paix got heavyily inured twice. He played with heart and effort. Mistakes yes but i dont think anyone expected him to be Cam Smith or Adam Reynolds.

 

[theshed]

I just don't understand the argument of favouritism and nepotism. Billy earnt a spot in the squad through hard work, not raw talent. He was never paraded or touted to be THE hooker we need and in reality i don't think he held back progression of anyone in those roles that he played.

The way he was used and minutes wasnt the best, but our only other options were Turpin and Paix. He played better than Turps and Paix got heavyily inured twice. He played with heart and effort. Mistakes yes but i dont think anyone expected him to be Cam Smith or Adam Reynolds.

I agree to an extent. Let’s see how this coming season pans out. For me personally, Kev is hanging on by a thread. Rome wasn’t built in a day but there really are no excuses left.

There are the following possibilities:

1. Kev improves as a coach and the team improves - we finish top 6. Everyone is happy.

2. Kev keeps making the same seemingly poor coaching moves but the team still improves - we finish top 6 and critics like myself will have to admit that maybe he actually does know what he’s doing and we were the ones who were wrong. Good result for Kev.

3. Kev improves in all the areas he has been criticised for but the team still doesn’t improve - another failed season and we have to admit that we were wrong about what needed to be improved. This is still a bad result for Kev.

4. Kev doesn’t improve and the team doesn’t improve and those who criticised Kev are vindicated. Bad for everyone but at least the debate will be over.

If 3 and to a lesser extent 2 occurs than I’ll man up and admit I’ve been wrong. If 1 happens I’ll be stoked but owe nobody an apology. If 4 happens we wasted another season.

 

[Sproj]

I just don't understand the argument of favouritism and nepotism. Billy earnt a spot in the squad through hard work, not raw talent. He was never paraded or touted to be THE hooker we need and in reality i don't think he held back progression of anyone in those roles that he played.

The way he was used and minutes wasnt the best, but our only other options were Turpin and Paix. He played better than Turps and Paix got heavyily inured twice. He played with heart and effort. Mistakes yes but i dont think anyone expected him to be Cam Smith or Adam Reynolds.

No one is arguing this I don’t think except one or two posters. The issue was summed up really nicely above about misguided loyalty.

No one can legitimately or fairly argue that Walters didn’t deserve a spot above Turpin. He certainly didn’t deserve a spot above Gamble in the halves but when players like Haas spent the last month or so phoning it in, Walters was still giving his all.

He earned an extension and what he lacks in talent, he more than makes up for in effort areas, our side needs so much more of this.

Let’s just see what happens next season before we start going down the nepotism path. If Walters is keeping out a Mam, a Paix or perhaps even a Smoothy, then let’s come back at it.

 

[Swordfish]

I agree to an extent. Let’s see how this coming season pans out. For me personally, Kev is hanging on by a thread. Rome wasn’t built in a day but there really are no excuses left.

There are the following possibilities:

1. Kev improves as a coach and the team improves - we finish top 6. Everyone is happy.

2. Kev keeps making the same seemingly poor coaching moves but the team still improves - we finish top 6 and critics like myself will have to admit that maybe he actually does know what he’s doing and we were the ones who were wrong. Good result for Kev.

3. Kev improves in all the areas he has been criticised for but the team still doesn’t improve - another failed season and we have to admit that we were wrong about what needed to be improved. This is still a bad result for Kev.

4. Kev doesn’t improve and the team doesn’t improve and those who criticised Kev are vindicated. Bad for everyone but at least the debate will be over.

If 3 and to a lesser extent 2 occurs than I’ll man up and admit I’ve been wrong. If 1 happens I’ll be stoked but owe nobody an apology. If 4 happens we wasted another season.

If 4 happens, we’re f***** for the foreseeable future. We would become feeding club for the vultures, especially, Phins & media would crucify us every single hour with some absurd stuff.

I for one, have erased memories of 2020 & don’t to visit them even in my wildest dreams.

 

[Mr Fourex]

I just don't understand the argument of favouritism and nepotism.

I can certainly understand why the argument exists.......but its so juvenile to think that it would actually happen.

Its a professional business FFS....... KW isn't coaching the Ipswich under 10's....and surprise surprise, KW has people he has to answer to.
No-one is going to allow someone to play, based solely on the fact that they are the coaches kid. Despite what some will try and have you believe.......BW was justifiably the better option between Turpin and Paix in 2022.

In 2023.......It's BW's to lose. Paix is the front runner, he has to take it from him.
In my mind if Paix is really as good as some think he is.....it won't be long before he is getting more game time than BW.

Which is what it boils down to.
The entire discussion is on what?......who wears the no.9 and who wears the no.14

There's no other front runners for those positions is there?

Should we still be unsatisfied with our No.9 choice.....most def.

Should we start to aggressively hunt for a quality no.9....yes.....FFS!

 

[Super Freak]

I don't see how there can be an argument for nepotism when Walters wasn't keeping anyone better out of the side and we didn't have a hooker that could play 80.

Even next year, it's going to be the same because we still don't have any better options.

 

[theshed]

I can certainly understand why the argument exists.......but its so juvenile to think that it would actually happen.

Its a professional business FFS....... KW isn't coaching the Ipswich under 10's....and surprise surprise, KW has people he has to answer to.
No-one is going to allow someone to play, based solely on the fact that they are the coaches kid. Despite what some will try and have you believe.......BW was justifiably the better option between Turpin and Paix in 2022.

In 2023.......It's BW's to lose. Paix is the front runner, he has to take it from him.
In my mind if Paix is really as good as some think he is.....it won't be long before he is getting more game time than BW.

Which is what it boils down to.
The entire discussion is on what?......who wears the no.9 and who wears the no.14

There's no other front runners for those positions is there?

Should we still be unsatisfied with our No.9 choice.....most def.

Should we start to aggressively hunt for a quality no.9....yes.....FFS!

This is what bugs me though. It’s hard for me to debate this because everyone thinks I’m talking about Billy and Kev, but to act like rugby league isn’t rife with nepotism and jobs for the boys is being deliberately naive.

Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t.