VOTE Kev’s end of season mark

[I bleed Maroon]

Did someone say pie?
View attachment 15002

This dingbat is English Unions problem now. Good luck to them.

 

[Sproj]

This dingbat is English Unions problem now. Good luck to them.

I just don’t understand why you’d want to give your opposition an advantage.

 

[LittleDavey]

If When we get another bodgie draw, I’m jumping on carriage one of the conspiracy train.

Fixed it for you, and welcome!

 

[cento]

The first half of the comp I wanted Kev to just go away but second half comp I was impressed big time

 

[Accept]

I promised Kevie a pass mark if he secured 7 victories so he definitely deserves a 5. But with 16 home games (a massive advantage), he probably should have nabbed a couple more.

But he did walk into a shit stain of a club and was on a hiding to nothing from the get go. He has made some controversial omissions and some astute signings and things are slowly on the improve. He has managed to get rid of the painfully passive defense. No soft tries let in as of late and you can tell they are really committed in that regard. Still very weak defensively but getting better. Sort that part out and the rest of your game falls into place.

Kevie promised a playoff spot next year so I still think there will be an altering of the roster. There will have to be because it hardly looks imposing as is. But Kevie has a plan in place and a vision of what a competitive team looks like. Hopefully next year we see that plan become a little closer to fruition.

 

[Jason Simmons]

I gave him 6.

He won more than double the games Pies managed to last year, so that is a definite improvement.

He did so while the club was in absolute turmoil, ridiculous draw, no CEO, no head of football and players going out the door left, right and centre.

DD and Ikin finally came on board, much deadwood was finally cleared out, the draw evened out and some signings came. Then some wins did too, while in other games we narrowly lost we were extremely competitive (specifically against the Panthers and game 2 against the Roosters).

All in all, far more positive than things looked in 2020, with much to look forward to in 2022, including at this point no known major injuries…

 

[Huge]

I gave him 6.

He won more than double the games Pies managed to last year, so that is a definite improvement.

He did so while the club was in absolute turmoil, ridiculous draw, no CEO, no head of football and players going out the door left, right and centre.

DD and Ikin finally came on board, much deadwood was finally cleared out, the draw evened out and some signings came. Then some wins did too, while in other games we narrowly lost we were extremely competitive (specifically against the Panthers and game 2 against the Roosters).

All in all, far more positive than things looked in 2020, with much to look forward to in 2022, including at this point no known major injuries…

Good call 100% agree. I see it that way too and I'd add as others have that his early bench use seemed erratic but that too improved. I think I gave KW a very solid pass mark. Are we a better team since he arrived, yes. That's a pass.

 

[Jason Simmons]

Good call 100% agree. I see it that way too and I'd add as others have that his early bench use seemed erratic but that too improved. I think I gave KW a very solid pass mark. Are we a better team since he arrived, yes. That's a pass.

Yeah it’s an interesting thing I was thinking about earlier today.

He couldn’t decide between Milford, Croft and Dearden in the early part of the year and was lambasted for continually chopping and changing his halves. Come years end and none of them were being picked in the halves, except when injury / suspension hit and all 3 of them are out of the club now…

Perhaps he knew all along none of them was really up to it and he was just trying to do the least amount of damage? I dunno.

Anyway we ended much better than we started and coming from such a low base, not much more could realistically be expected. With the squad and draw we had and where we started, there would be few coaches who would have achieved much more I would suggest…

 

[Huge]

Yeah it’s an interesting thing I was thinking about earlier today.

He couldn’t decide between Milford, Croft and Dearden in the early part of the year and was lambasted for continually chopping and changing his halves. Come years end and none of them were being picked in the halves, except when injury / suspension hit and all 3 of them are out of the club now…

Perhaps he knew all along none of them was really up to it and he was just trying to do the least amount of damage? I dunno.

Anyway we ended much better than we started and coming from such a low base, not much more could realistically be expected. With the squad and draw we had and where we started, there would be few coaches who would have achieved much more I would suggest…

I thought that to some extent he was forced to make some ugly selections but my bench criticism came from our first game against the Titans. I attended that match hoping to see RK do his thing. That, amongst several other good reasons to attend of course.

KW didn't use RK until the 64th minute and by then the match was already over. That was plainly stupid because rotating props just has to be the simplest of all decisions! That made me watch the bench use more closely. It continued to be pretty bloody ordinary but by seasons end he was getting it right more often than not.

 

[theshed]

I thought that to some extent he was forced to make some ugly selections but my bench criticism came from our first game against the Titans. I attended that match hoping to see RK do his thing. That, amongst several other good reasons to attend of course.

KW didn't use RK until the 64th minute and by then the match was already over. That was plainly stupid because rotating props just has to be the simplest of all decisions! That made me watch the bench use more closely. It continued to be pretty bloody ordinary but by seasons end he was getting it right more often than not.

Yeah the bench use was amateur hour until about 4 weeks ago. He seems to have figured it out though, which is nice.

Though playing Mead in the middle was pretty cooked.

 

[WASSHHH]

Yeah the bench use was amateur hour until about 4 weeks ago. He seems to have figured it out though, which is nice.

Though playing Mead in the middle was pretty cooked.

Not sure losing two forwards in Haas and Turpin by half time was part of the plan after also losing Flegler, Piakura and Willison in the weeks leading up to that. Sometimes you just got to roll with the punches.

—————————————————————

I think the last 6-8 weeks or so should fill everyone with confidence. We started to look much better from that period onwards. I don’t recall a game during that time where, leading up to it, I didn’t think we could legitimately win. Our performances pretty much reflected that too. That is day and night in comparison to 2020.

If the season started at around round 17-20 and went from there, we make the 8. I have no doubt about that.

 

[theshed]

Not sure losing two forwards in Haas and Turpin by half time was part of the plan after also losing Flegler, Piakura and Willison in the weeks leading up to that. Sometimes you just got to roll with the punches.

—————————————————————

I think the last 6-8 weeks or so should fill everyone with confidence. We started to look much better from that period onwards. I don’t recall a game during that time where, leading up to it, I didn’t think we could legitimately win. Our performances pretty much reflected that too. That is day and night in comparison to 2020.

If the season started at around round 17-20 and went from there, we make the 8. I have no doubt about that.

Yeah I don’t really hold it against him regarding Mead but the logical move would be Oates in the middle Mead on a wing.

 

[WASSHHH]

Yeah I don’t really hold it against him regarding Mead but the logical move would be Oates in the middle Mead on a wing.

I can get behind that.

But I also didn’t have a problem with the way Walters did handle it.

Seemed the instructions for Mead were clear. Tackle anything that comes your way and follow the ball when we have it.

Nothing to do with this game in particular, but Oates really does worry me either side of the ball. When he’s on he’s great, but all it takes is one mistake and then he’s odds on favourite to spiral out of control in a spectacular fashion.

 

[Mightybroncs2k17]

To be fair to Kev, while he might have been the coach all year, it would appear he was simply the man running training drills and taking heat for the first half of the year.

Looking back i think prior to the arrival of DD he was very limited in the decisions he was allowed to make and as far as NRL head coaches go probably had very limited pull in how the team dynamics operated.

Much like a toxic relationship, early on he could sense it wasn't going to end well but still persisted and tried to make it work. Finally he realised his partner (in this case lodge and TPJ) had to go but he had zero support to help remove them so while from the outside looking in everything looked fine, it truly wasn't. To make things worse he knew exactly who would fix this toxic relationship but he couldn't do it until removing the bad eggs.

A couple of months on and suddenly he has some support (DD & ikin) and he's now got access to his checkbook, removed the toxic ex's and suddenly we show some promise.

I'm tempted to include the start of the year pissweak performances in my judgement of him because we really still had an OK team and should have performed better. But maybe Lodge and TPJ really did have such a negative pull over the team?

I said it after the tigers game, Kev should have been issued his first formal warning for not performing in his role. If I'm DD i probably still have him sitting on strike one however he's earned a little more breathing room before his second and final formal warning is issued.

A poor start to the year probably sees him on deathrow. I'm happy to give him a 5.

 

[Bull Shark]

Full marks to KW for what he’s said publicly since the season finished last weekend. The obvious & easy (some might even say smart) thing for a coach in his position to say would’ve been something along the lines of ‘we’re aiming for 10 wins next season’ or thereabouts. But he’s declared that the Broncos are about making the top four and pushing for premierships.
That’s a brave thing for a coach like Walters to say because it’s basically removing his own safety net. To me it shows that he cares far more about the success of the club he’s coaching than just staying employed by the club he’s coaching.

 

[WASSHHH]

Full marks to KW for what he’s said publicly since the season finished last weekend. The obvious & easy (some might even say smart) thing for a coach in his position to say would’ve been something along the lines of ‘we’re aiming for 10 wins next season’ or thereabouts. But he’s declared that the Broncos are about making the top four and pushing for premierships.
That’s a brave thing for a coach like Walters to say because it’s basically removing his own safety net. To me it shows that he cares far more about the success of the club he’s coaching than just staying employed by the club he’s coaching.

Yeh, great points.

There are no doubts Walters has both his own faults as a coach to work on and the collective teams performances as well, but he’s proven he is not going to hide behind anyone else.

He’s being publicly brave (perhaps not the right word, maybe steadfast) and bold. I hope he gets some luck on the injury front in ‘22 and delivers. Not only do I really want him and the club to succeed, but I do genuinely feel they can.

 

[Muros]

Full marks to KW for what he’s said publicly since the season finished last weekend. The obvious & easy (some might even say smart) thing for a coach in his position to say would’ve been something along the lines of ‘we’re aiming for 10 wins next season’ or thereabouts. But he’s declared that the Broncos are about making the top four and pushing for premierships.
That’s a brave thing for a coach like Walters to say because it’s basically removing his own safety net. To me it shows that he cares far more about the success of the club he’s coaching than just staying employed by the club he’s coaching.

So what happens if we don't make the finals ?
He said the same thing before this year and then said he was joking. Is he serious this time ?
Will it be another "Well, it's better than before" line or "We should be top 4, we're not, new coach needed" ?
I doubt he's really removed any safety net; unless you will hold him to that standard next year (which wont happen).

 

[Bull Shark]

So what happens if we don't make the finals ?
He said the same thing before this year and then said he was joking. Is he serious this time ?
Will it be another "Well, it's better than before" line or "We should be top 4, we're not, new coach needed" ?
I doubt he's really removed any safety net; unless you will hold him to that standard next year (which wont happen).

He’ll be judged far more harshly because he’s had a chance to shape the roster and coach a stronger one through a season.