Hook a retrospective thought

[heartly87]

I would like to start by saying that for a long time I have been baffled and at time outraged at decisions that Hook made in the top job at Red Hill but this thread is not about knocking this man that after Monday I just could not help but respect and in a way look up to. For once I got to see the real man, obviously one of integrity, honour and selflessness. I saw for that moment a man that was a leader of youth who had been maybe unfairly thrust into the biggest stage of perhaps the biggest club in the NRL, a club that has 20 + thousand supporters attending every live game, 22 odd thousand members and not to mention a publicly listed business. In short results mean everything. I feel now that this man should have been looked at as we do a rookie footballer, hunt, Copley, Moose and the like are all just now finding their feet in this the biggest stage. Hook seems like a fair manager of young men, encouraging father figure in a "Big Bad world" as he so put it. One can understand that some of these young men maybe jaded by this lesson in life and football that they have witnessed. I would like to thank Hook for in part for a job well done in regards to the type of footballers he has helped to propagate at the Broncos, a club without the spectacle of a Carney, Ferguson or Dugan to the credit I am sure of this man. My question to this forum is do you think Hook may have been given a unfair task in such a high expectation club.

 

[Foordy]

I would really love for him to take control of the NYC team again. He did a great job getting so many of our current team to first grade standard.

He could be invaluable to us as a youth coach, the experience he gained as an NRL coach would be a great asset. ... sadly I don't see it happening.

 

[broncsgoat]

My question to this forum is do you think Hook may have been given a unfair task in such a high expectation club.

He was given a squad full of 20/21 year olds 4 years ago and everyone is shocked we havent won a premiership.

Bellamy had 5 season before his first 'Premiership' with the Storm with a 24/25 year olds Smith, Slater and Cronk.

We are now shaping into a potential premiership force under Hooks guidance, with several of these young players now entering the same phase of their careers as the three aformentioned .

I am not saying McCullough, Hunt et al will be in the same class as these blokes, but if they are, WB will get all the credit and I dont think thats fair.

A lot of people consider Bellamy in the upper echelon of NRL coaches. But he was given time to grow his squad (albeit illegally) and wasn't punted after 4 years.

Admittedly the 4 years prior were more successful than Hooks tenure but I think this is a fair enough comparison.


Flame away guys.

 

[ivanhungryjak]

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

 

[heartly87]

Yeah if he didn't want to be a head coach the Broncos should have given him a youth mentor job for those transitioning into top grade, something all clubs need especially with the depression and recent suicides in League

 

[Ari Gold]

Whilst never a fan of him as a coach I definitely respect the way he conducts himself and represents both the club and the game. It's a shame he didn't have the nous required to have the success he needed to. And to be honest, I was often so enraged at his selections and tactics I never really stopped to appreciate the positive way he represented the game.

 

[I bleed Maroon]

Great bloke, terrible coach.

 

[theshed]

The terrible coach has us sitting at 6th with a rookie hb, no 5/8 and 2 flopped big name recruits.

I'm still happy for him to be moving on but I do feel like we were building towards something and next year was going to be big for him. Having a better more experienced squad and having a better grasp on what it takes to be a first grade coach.

If our season dies in the ass it will be seen as affirmation he wasn't ready as a nrl coach, when it will be more to do with the players being uneasy.

If we are successful this season it will be seen as too little too late instead of a well thought out and times season.

My point being, we'll never really know how Hook would've done given tan uninterrupted season or next year.

 

[broncos4life]

The terrible coach has us sitting at 6th with a rookie hb, no 5/8 and 2 flopped big name recruits.

I'm still happy for him to be moving on but I do feel like we were building towards something and next year was going to be big for him. Having a better more experienced squad and having a better grasp on what it takes to be a first grade coach.

If our season dies in the ass it will be seen as affirmation he wasn't ready as a nrl coach, when it will be more to do with the players being uneasy.

If we are successful this season it will be seen as too little too late instead of a well thought out and times season.

My point being, we'll never really know how Hook would've done given tan uninterrupted season or next year.

I get what you are saying but at the end of the day he took 19 rounds to change hoffman and barba, something 90% of this forum knew had to be done after round 3. Also after 4 years he still can't use a bench even close to effectively.

Huge respect for Griffin the man, but as a coach those 2 points alone spell out his deficiencies and really make it hard for me to believe that he would ever have been able to lead us to a premiership

 

[Old Mate]

I wouldn't say 90% of the forum wanted the Hoffman/Barba switch, we just wanted a different 5/8.

 

[Ari Gold]

The terrible coach has us sitting at 6th with a rookie hb, no 5/8 and 2 flopped big name recruits.

I'm still happy for him to be moving on but I do feel like we were building towards something and next year was going to be big for him. Having a better more experienced squad and having a better grasp on what it takes to be a first grade coach.

If our season dies in the ass it will be seen as affirmation he wasn't ready as a nrl coach, when it will be more to do with the players being uneasy.

If we are successful this season it will be seen as too little too late instead of a well thought out and times season.

My point being, we'll never really know how Hook would've done given tan uninterrupted season or next year.

These are true facts, but it's also a fact that he brought on some of these problems himself. Whilst we might not have a recognised five-eight, Hoffman was never the right choice to be the placeholder. And Hook only has himself to blame for this being Hunt's rookie year as a halfback. He had plenty of opportunity and poor performing first team halves over the last 2-3 years that Hunt could have started his halves career earlier.

 

[badyon]

Seems a good bloke. Good luck with his next role. Not a top flight first grade NRL coach, at least not yet. But you could say that about every coach in the nrl, with the possible exception of Hasler.

When you look at the methods and results that guys like Pete Carroll get, it puts in perspective what is really needed to succeed.

 

[Morkel]

I get what you are saying but at the end of the day he took 19 rounds to change hoffman and barba, something 90% of this forum knew had to be done after round 3. Also after 4 years he still can't use a bench even close to effectively.

Huge respect for Griffin the man, but as a coach those 2 points alone spell out his deficiencies and really make it hard for me to believe that he would ever have been able to lead us to a premiership

Agree with that. And also, the "no five-eighth, and underperforming Barba" doesn't hold water with me. Because we're not losing via lack of points, we're losing defensively late in games. While the Barba & Copley Dropsy Show has something to do with it, it's not the complete picture. The problem is mental, and one courageous win against a form side doesn't cancel out the 5 or so that we've lost in the last 5 or 10 minutes.

And to balance out Hoff & Barba's negative impact, imagine how bad we'd be going if Hunt wasn't the game's form halfback?

 

[vertigo]

Decent man manager, terrible tactician.

You get fired from your job if you don't meet expectations.

 

[Super Freak]

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.

 

[Morkel]

^^^^ Apologies, that sounds like I was trying to make this a "bag hook" thread. I agree that, regardless of his coaching, he has handled himself impressively the last couple of days. Broncos fans should cheer him on for the remainder of the season, give him his due credit, and hope that he finds success elsewhere that is befitting his character.

 

[Big Pete]

The last time the Broncos were in this situation, I didn't think anybody should replace Henjak unless their names were Craig Bellamy, Des Hasler, Wayne Bennett or Anthony Griffin.

He sticks out like a sore thumb now but his stint in the NYC and as Assistant Coach really impressed me and if there was anyone who could bring this next generation through it was Griffin.

In 2011 he made me look like a fool. Despite boasting one of the best win percentages in the NRL, I wasn't convinced about the Broncos at all and while there were some good signs like resilient defence in the second half (there was a string of five games where teams were unable to post points in the second half) I thought we were pretenders. However, the Broncos really stepped it up another gear in the finals only to lose Locky at the worst possible time. If he stays, I don't think we'd be having this conversation at this point, but so be it.

2012 was always going to be an interesting time for the club.

Minus Lockyer and no heir apparent, Brisbane were always going to be long odds to build on 2011. Things started well and the Broncos looked like one of the better teams in the competition until representative season struck, players suffered injuries and the team just looked out of puff at the wrong time of the season. In the end, they did well just to make the finals but it was a bitter pill to swallow especially when things looked a hell of a lot worse on the horizon.

Thinking back on it, the whole Yow Yeh injury was a real double whammy for the Broncos. Not only did it cost them an International back, somebody the Broncos obviously had a lot of stock in but the decision to replace him with Copley basically cost them Gagai.

2013 was the worst season in Broncos history. There weren't too many games where the Broncos were blown off the park but they went into so many games clearly out-classed that it was difficult to get excited about their prospects. At the end of the day, the Broncos just didn't have the troops. Not only were the Broncos minus Yow Yeh, Beale & Gagai but they lost Copley for the entire season, Kahu was a week to week proposition and so was Hodges. I think Hook tried his best to find the right balance for the team, shifting Hoffman to the wing and bringing in an extra-playmaker into the fullback role in Norman but once Norman signed onto Parra, his head was elsewhere and the Broncos relied far too heavily on the second man play for it to be succesful.

However, once Hook had his full troop back, he made the changes the side needed and after a couple of signings, things looked pretty bright for 2014. As bad as 2013 was, there was cause for optimism.

That was until Milford announced that he'd be sticking with Canberra for 2014, and wouldn't be joining the Broncos until 2015.

****.

Who did that leave to play five eighth? Hunt couldn't carry the team by himself, especially not on the performances he showed.

Names like Strasser, Kahu, Taylor, Nikorima & Barba was tossed around but in the third and final trial, Griffin revealed the manifestation of missing out on Milford.

Hoffman at 6.

Thunder clapped, goats bleated, children cried and BHQ went into full meltdown mode.

If Hoffman couldn't be depended on to be a playmaker from fullback, how could he possibly be one from five eighth?

In the end, it was a crucial move that played into Hook's sacking. As much as the team performed in spite of the selection, it became clear that apart of the reason for the Broncos haphazard play is that they're so reliant on a guy who's basically a rookie halfback.

In the end, Hook paid a price for making a tough decision that wasn't going to pay off right away and not having the capacity to work around it.

I said earlier, history will remember Hook as a failure but now I'm not so sure. A lot of supporters have come out of the wood-work as of late to defend him. Perhaps there will be a more balanced view, that he was a coach that didn't have the ability to give the players what they needed but god damn if he didn't give it his best shot.

To Hook's credit, he leaves the club in good shape and Bennett won't have to do all that much to steer them to success.

 

[broncsgoat]

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.

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.