OFFICIAL James Roberts granted immediate release

[CaptainHook]

The 1.7 Million figure comes from their fine.


A former staffer tipped the NRL off and they did a thorough investigation.

Unbelievable. I remember there was chatter when gambling companies suspended betting on the Melbourne Storm winning the wooden spoon.

Something big was about to drop.

I tend to agree with you about this, but how about Tim Sheens, his record is 5 grand finals for four wins and over two clubs, from 1985 to 1996 his teams made the finals every year other than for three of those years. His stint at NQ was abysmal, but you could raise an argument that he should sit second behind Bennett.

It's a great observation, lynx.

Why did Tim Sheens struggle at the Cowboys? Why do clubs like the Titans perpetually seem to struggle?

One of the reasons I think is they are relatively new clubs with not much history - and most of that is of defeat. No identity. No success or victories to hang your hat on. Overshadowed by a bigger, more successful club from Brisbane.

When Wayne Bennett returned in 2015 let's imagine him talking like Thanos.

"You could not live with your own failure. Where did that bring you? Back to me."

Let's amp it up a bit. Put it up to eleven. Have fun with it!

Does Wayne Bennett get credit for having a hand in building a club from the ground up? Establishing a culture, values, a foundation built for sustained success?

Consider this little gem of a story:

Wally Lewis didn't think much of the original jersey. The King said it was a few months before he felt any pride it pulling it on.

I think that original jersey is a thing of beauty but Wally's thoughts emphasise how hard it is to build something from scratch and have it be successful.

Look at the Titans. John Cartwright. A rookie coach with a rookie club and a rookie team. Setting yourself up for failure really.

Bellamy down at the Storm built them up to be bulletproof. He did a long apprenticeship at the Broncos and probably had his own ideas on how to refine and perfect things.

Fun to think about.

 

[tommy]

Unbelievable. I remember there was chatter when gambling companies suspended betting on the Melbourne Storm winning the wooden spoon.

Something big was about to drop.

A few ppl lay large wagers on that. Gambling companies had to pay out too.

 

[Porthoz]

As far as I recall, the Broncos approached Bennett to return, basically Hook was getting the arse no matter what but they weren't saying so publicly before the end of the season.

Siebold has some responsibility for that too. He took a job which was filled for this year already while under contract for this year himself. If you can't handle the waves then don't go offshore when there's weather brewing.

I reckon this quote is more telling of you to be honest. If you think a bloke is the devil incarnate then anyone saying he's not that bad seems like worship. It's like the far right seppos who've gone so far off the deep end that they think the mainstream media over there is the far left.

Just because I dislike what I perceive to be unfair or unbalanced criticism of a person doesn't make him my messiah. It's nothing to do with Wayne himself aside from the fact he gets brought up regularly by a number of posters here who feel compelled to sledge the bloke for any number of reasons. Like when we started off the season in poor form it had to be the previous coaches fault, or when Siebold moved Kodi on it had to be viewed as the masterstroke Wayne couldn't make.

I loved a lot of things about Hook, and he handled his sacking exceptionally well. I wouldn't characterise it as a backstabbing though.

That seems more like the attitude I'd expect from a bitter ex than anything else. Doesn't seem healthy to have so much contempt for someone you relish any perceived black mark against their name. But again it shows something of why you'd describe Wayne as my messiah merely for trying to be even-handed.

I'm not a bitter ex, because I didn't want the bloke back to start with. I absolutely strongly dislike him as a person, and don't believe he is anywhere near as good a coach as he is a manager. I've never pretended otherwise.

Perhaps calling him your messiah is unfair, because you've always been a pretty balanced poster who I do respect on BHQ.
However, I think you're kidding yourself if you think you're not displaying bias towards Wayne.

I repeat, Wayne approached the club, and did so after stating he would never unseat a coach under contract, so he definitely backstabbed Hook. I knew this before Wayne's return became news, and there are people here who know this too.
To me, that makes all the difference between him and Seibold.

The coach dancing chairs is the least of my concerns. The Broncos approached Seibs for 2020, souffs did the same for Bennett, at which point negotiations ensued for an earlier coach swap. Nothing wrong about that imo.

Seibs certainly didn't handle the whole affair with aplomb, but I'm not about to bag him about being upset for his kids at the consequences of WB's machinations.

FTR, based on everything I've heard from reliable sources about this and past situations, I absolutely trust Seibold and White's version of the whole affair over Wayne's.

Finally, why isn't it logical to believe Seibold was suffering the consequences of what he inherited at the start of the season, or be happy he did with Kodi what Wayne should've done in 2017, or at the very least in 2018?
I also applaud his stance on Roberts, which I think will be highly beneficial for the team, and something I don't believe WB would have done either.

 

[Finbar]

Seibs certainly didn't handle the whole affair with aplomb, but I'm not about to bag him about being upset for his kids at the consequences of WB's machinations.

It might not have looked very graceful from Seibold, but it got the job done. The Broncos sacked Wayne almost immediately after that email was leaked of Seibold having a whinge.

Leaking the information he wanted the media to run was an old trick of Wayne's and I thought it fitting that he was done in by another man doing the same.

 

[Pub Steak]

It's all well and good to coach the glamour clubs with their fancy facilities, huge memberships, big crowds and rosters with superstars in key positions then become part of the discussion on who is the best coach of all time (Bento, Bellend, Robbingsons). But it's easy to forget these coaches generally work with huge teams of very well paid coaching staff, PTs, etc and their successes are a team effort. The on thing that the 3 top coaches have had on their side during their purple patches is money. Clubs who can buy the best of everything and attract the superstars. If we truly want to speculate on greatest NRL coaches of all time, we need to try and level the playing field and maybe not just consider premierships. Look at blokes like Hasler who've been tasked with the shit job of picking up the pieces at a broken club. Or Kearney tasked with keeping a club flying 5 hrs for every away game successful after already struggling to attract any non-NZ talent. Why has noone mentioned Maguire? He built the Rabbitohs team and has now gone and started turning around the tigers after pretty much bringing the NZ int. Team into contention. Maybe Nathan Brown has finished his mammoth rebuilding phase and will start to put together some top 4 results. Who are some coaches of clubs with poor facilities that continually make the 8?

 

[Morkel]

It's all well and good to coach the glamour clubs with their fancy facilities, huge memberships, big crowds and rosters with superstars in key positions then become part of the discussion on who is the best coach of all time (Bento, Bellend, Robbingsons). But it's easy to forget these coaches generally work with huge teams of very well paid coaching staff, PTs, etc and their successes are a team effort. The on thing that the 3 top coaches have had on their side during their purple patches is money. Clubs who can buy the best of everything and attract the superstars. If we truly want to speculate on greatest NRL coaches of all time, we need to try and level the playing field and maybe not just consider premierships. Look at blokes like Hasler who've been tasked with the shit job of picking up the pieces at a broken club. Or Kearney tasked with keeping a club flying 5 hrs for every away game successful after already struggling to attract any non-NZ talent. Why has noone mentioned Maguire? He built the Rabbitohs team and has now gone and started turning around the tigers after pretty much bringing the NZ int. Team into contention. Maybe Nathan Brown has finished his mammoth rebuilding phase and will start to put together some top 4 results. Who are some coaches of clubs with poor facilities that continually make the 8?

Fair point, but you can't put Hasler in that list. He's the common factor behind two clubs attempting to stack talent by back-ending deals, destroying them for years to come in the process. He's the one breaking them, not picking up the pieces.

 

[1910]

Fair point, but you can't put Hasler in that list. He's the common factor behind two clubs attempting to stack talent by back-ending deals, destroying them for years to come in the process. He's the one breaking them, not picking up the pieces.

He took a club broke, and hadn't made finals since 1997 to a winning percent of 60% and two premierships. He only missed finals once at Manly his first year in 2004.

That winning percent dipped to 50% while he was away. He picked up plenty of pieces.

 

[Huge]

Unbelievable. I remember there was chatter when gambling companies suspended betting on the Melbourne Storm winning the wooden spoon.

Something big was about to drop.



It's a great observation, lynx.

Why did Tim Sheens struggle at the Cowboys? Why do clubs like the Titans perpetually seem to struggle?

One of the reasons I think is they are relatively new clubs with not much history - and most of that is of defeat. No identity. No success or victories to hang your hat on. Overshadowed by a bigger, more successful club from Brisbane.

When Wayne Bennett returned in 2015 let's imagine him talking like Thanos.

"You could not live with your own failure. Where did that bring you? Back to me."

Let's amp it up a bit. Put it up to eleven. Have fun with it!

Does Wayne Bennett get credit for having a hand in building a club from the ground up? Establishing a culture, values, a foundation built for sustained success?

Consider this little gem of a story:

Wally Lewis didn't think much of the original jersey. The King said it was a few months before he felt any pride it pulling it on.

I think that original jersey is a thing of beauty but Wally's thoughts emphasise how hard it is to build something from scratch and have it be successful.

Look at the Titans. John Cartwright. A rookie coach with a rookie club and a rookie team. Setting yourself up for failure really.

Bellamy down at the Storm built them up to be bulletproof. He did a long apprenticeship at the Broncos and probably had his own ideas on how to refine and perfect things.

Fun to think about.

Bellamy didn't build them, they were built by Ribot and Anderson. They were successful from the very beginning. I mean from season one. Bellamy didn't join till 4 years after their debut.

 

[Splinter]

Yes, WB certainly had imput but no, rubber stamp no, don't agree with that as a portrayal of events . I just hate this ridiculous assertion that WB had carte blanche to dictate money and duration of contract. That just isn't the case. If it was the board would appear impotent and there's no way in hell that situation ( like in his first stint) was ever going to happen again.

Bennett as coach would have a say in the players coming here. Also as far back as the 90’s he had a say in how much the players were worth and refused to pay higher than certain rates. The board certainly would have rubber stamped the contracts based on advice from the football department recruitment and coaching so to absolve WB of any part in it is extremely naive.

 

[Splinter]

I wasn’t surprised, I’ve never thought he was as good as people seem to think. One try on average every other game from those stats and yet he’d have let in probably double the amount he scored. Bennett can have him, they deserve each other.

Correct. He is a little like the fastest kid in U7s who try’s to skirt around everyone. One dimensional

 

[Gaz]

Not sure where to put this, but those who want to throw darts or otherwise, Seibold is being interviewed on Fox after the footy at 6.00pm tonight.

 

[jarro65]

Not sure where to put this, but those who want to throw darts or otherwise, Seibold is being interviewed on Fox after the footy at 6.00pm tonight.

Not much of an interview...Seibs didnt give much away.

 

[tommy]

Not much of an interview...Seibs didnt give much away.

Took zero shots at Wayne and Jimmy, even when baited. Showed he is by far the bigger man. Took little shot at our asshole ex-players. Proud of him tonight. Plus set the record straight on the Kodi and Cody thing.

 

[Foordy]

you can see the interview on the fox sports website (not sure if it is the full interview or not).

one thing he did say, that shows what Roberts character is like was that Roberts waited until Seibs was away before going to Paul White and asking for the release ... didn't even have the guts to talk to Seibs himself

 

[jarro65]

Took zero shots at Wayne and Jimmy, even when baited. Showed he is by far the bigger man. Took little shot at our asshole ex-players. Proud of him tonight. Plus set the record straight on the Kodi and Cody thing.

Yep, class act i thought.

 

[Jedhead]

you can see the interview on the fox sports website (not sure if it is the full interview or not).

one thing he did say, that shows what Roberts character is like was that Roberts waited until Seibs was away before going to Paul White and asking for the release ... didn't even have the guts to talk to Seibs himself

Yeh I picked up on that too. I thought it was pretty weak of Jimmy. It also confirmed that there was no love lost between the two if he was not even comfortable talking to his coach.

If Jimmy makes it through two years at Souffs he will be lost when Benny retires.

 

[Splinter]

Unbelievable. I remember there was chatter when gambling companies suspended betting on the Melbourne Storm winning the wooden spoon.

Something big was about to drop.



It's a great observation, lynx.

Why did Tim Sheens struggle at the Cowboys? Why do clubs like the Titans perpetually seem to struggle?

One of the reasons I think is they are relatively new clubs with not much history - and most of that is of defeat. No identity. No success or victories to hang your hat on. Overshadowed by a bigger, more successful club from Brisbane.

When Wayne Bennett returned in 2015 let's imagine him talking like Thanos.

"You could not live with your own failure. Where did that bring you? Back to me."

Let's amp it up a bit. Put it up to eleven. Have fun with it!

Does Wayne Bennett get credit for having a hand in building a club from the ground up? Establishing a culture, values, a foundation built for sustained success?

Consider this little gem of a story:

Wally Lewis didn't think much of the original jersey. The King said it was a few months before he felt any pride it pulling it on.

I think that original jersey is a thing of beauty but Wally's thoughts emphasise how hard it is to build something from scratch and have it be successful.

Look at the Titans. John Cartwright. A rookie coach with a rookie club and a rookie team. Setting yourself up for failure really.

Bellamy down at the Storm built them up to be bulletproof. He did a long apprenticeship at the Broncos and probably had his own ideas on how to refine and perfect things.

Fun to think about.

I was at a bar, part owned by a Bronco, the previous year when the bar man told me he had a $100 on the storm to come last the following year so it was well known in footy circles well before the bookies got a hold of it.

 

[Foordy]

Anthony Seibold lifts lid on James Roberts' exit
WRITTEN BY
SPORTING NEWS

Broncos mentor Anthony Seibold has admitted he and James Roberts did not see eye-to-eye on his coaching ideologies and expectations as their conflict eventually led to a release to South Sydney for the former NSW centre.

A drunken photo of Roberts being carried out of a party reportedly created the biggest crack in their relationship, with Seibold furious in the speedster's commitment to his rehabilitation, captured drinking recklessly a night after aggravating his Achilles injury.

Roberts played just three more games for Brisbane after that incident, given two weeks off to nurse his injury before being dropped for the entirety of the club's current three-game winning streak.

''I hadn't played him in first grade for the last three or four games and while I was away he came to talk to Paul White and asked for a release on compassionate grounds,'' Seibold told Sunday Night With Matty Johns.

''We thought it was the right thing to do. I've got Gehamat Shibasaki and Kotoni Staggs doing a really good job in the centres and I want to back those young guys.''

Minutes after the 26-year-old's release was confirmed, South Sydney unveiled him as their newest signing as a replacement for the retired Greg Inglis, completing weeks of negotiations behind closed doors that were constantly denied.

Roberts reunites with Wayne Bennett, who he played career-best football under, with the master coach declaring he will ''fix'' him and steer him back into his electrifying ways.
Seibold was unable to bring out the best in Roberts as he revealed there were clashes in their logic.

''I think Wayne by the sounds of it is a good fit for Jimmy. He's an immensely talented player there's no doubt about that,'' he said.

''He probably struggled with the way I wanted to do things and what I expected in some ways.''
Asked to elaborate on their issues, Seibold remained tight-lipped but loosely suggested Roberts wasn't taking responsibility for his on-field performances.

''I'm big on making players accountable for what they do and so on,'' Seibold said.

''Without going into details Jimmy wanted to move back to Sydney. It's great for his partner and I'm happy for them that they've had the opportunity to go back.

''For us, we believe in the two young centres we have there and I want to back them going forward.''

Roberts' release comes weeks after Brisbane were happy to part ways with now New Zealand halfback Kodi Nikorima, creating a war chest to spend on a big-name recruit.

South Sydney playmaker Cody Walker has been floated as a possible recruitment target, rumours which Seibold has vehemently denied.

Instead, the Broncos coach says the club plans to invest the money in retention with a plan for the future.

''By releasing players at the moment it allows us to keep some of our players that we want to retain,'' he said.

''We've got a number of players off contract. We've got a number of really good young players coming through who if I haven't blooded them yet they are ready to play NRL.

''The last few weeks we have had seven guys who are 20 or younger playing for us and we really believe in them being our future.

''We want to retain the guys that we think are going to help us going forward and it is certainly freeing up some salary cap space that does that.''

Source: Sporting News