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Kev's own boss when talking about him, came up with the "He's a really good person" instead of talking up how amazing his coaching ability is.
There was quote from DD early on where he mentioned putting good people in positions to succeed, and that they want to create good young men off the field, which help them become better players.

I think the good person thing is much more important than just ability. Nothing breaks down morale in a faster than a dickhead who thinks he's better than everybody else. The no dickhead policy rings true with DD I reckon.
 
Hopefully Boyd can teach him that cut out pass he did so well.

There wasn't a fullback in the game that could set up his outside men like Boyd when he was in his prime.
That and when Boyd was at the best of his game, was very good at organising. It was just a shame it went down hill. He can teach a lot to TMM.
 
You raise an excellent point with our roster. Doherty was instrumental in helping to clean that up, Ikin too.

As for caring about the club, you're probably right - but caring won't get you beating the storm. That takes a lot more.

Kev's unfortunately though never really had a track record of being a gun coach. We lurched out of utter dominance in origin after Mal moved on to coach Australia - scraping two narrow wins then a loss.

*takes a break to wipe some sand off the table*

Players like CSmith didn't want to play for him after 1 series with him at the helm even though he continued playing 3 additional seasons after quitting origin - he even refused to go pitch in at training while Kev was there. He referenced "odd" training methods and differences of opinion. Not the kind of guy you want saying that stuff about you given he's an easy shoe-in for an immortal slot when the time is right - love him or loathe him, he was the best #9 possibly ever, but definitely in living memory.

Kevin's bench utilisation I think you'd find not many disagreeing that it's been sub-par to poor - although this season has been less poor.

Kev's own boss when talking about him, came up with the "He's a really good person" instead of talking up how amazing his coaching ability is.

Anyway, we've totally derailed this thread. Sorry mods.
I can tell you right now that isn't the reason Smith didn't return to Origin and that it wasn't his choice whether he could return or not.

The head coach doesn't need to be the best strategist. He just needs to surround himself with good assistants and it seems Walters is lucky he has Reynolds acting as a coach because the other two are shit.
 
I can tell you right now that isn't the reason Smith didn't return to Origin and that it wasn't his choice whether he could return or not.

The head coach doesn't need to be the best strategist. He just needs to surround himself with good assistants and it seems Walters is lucky he has Reynolds acting as a coach because the other two are shit.
What’s the reason?
 
Kev's unfortunately though never really had a track record of being a gun coach. We lurched out of utter dominance in origin after Mal moved on to coach Australia - scraping two narrow wins then a loss.

Why do you think that is ... Mal was smart enough to get out at the right time.

Kevvie had to replace Slater, Smith, Cronk, Inglis all within a 12 month period. And who does he get left with to replace them ... the likes of Andrew bloody McCullough.

Whatever else you may say about Kevvie as a coach, the one thing you can't say is that players don't want to play for him. Because that is plain BS, makes you look stupid and means it is more likely for people to ignore any VALID arguments you make on the subject
 
Why do you think that is ... Mal was smart enough to get out at the right time.

Kevvie had to replace Slater, Smith, Cronk, Inglis all within a month period. And who does he get left with to replace them ... the likes of Andrew bloody McCullough.

Whatever else you may say about Kevvie as a coach, the one thing you can't say is that players don't want to play for him. Because that is plain BS, makes you look stupid and means it is more likely for people to ignore any VALID arguments you make on the subject
Oh yeah, mal definitely popped smoke, he saw the writing on the wall. Good on Kev for taking the gig knowing he was up against it. I’ve had my reservations with kev recently with defence and bench usage but in the past weeks we have looked much improved in both aspects.
 
I thought at the time that Kevvie's origin win was quite remarkable considering the circumstances he took over. the team had just completed the longest run in origin history but as said had lost the bulk of their superstars. Kev was on a hiding to nothing so to manage a series win first up was nothing short of miraculous.

Anyone who tries to diminish this achievement obviously has very little understanding of what origin is and what origin coaching is all about.
 
Is kevie a top tier coach or a master tactician? No, but that is not what he was brought in for, or even what we needed after the seibold era.

The vibe and feel within the club was at all time low. Kevie was brought in to change that vibe and was a figure that the fans, ex players and all other stake holders could unite behind because he is a club legend and as DD indicated, a top bloke.

He struggled early on but please name another NRL rookie coach who took the role at a club that had just won a wooden spoon, everyone within the club was miserable, had no CEO, absent football manager, an incompetent board, mismanaged salary cap etc. and was able to turn it around on a dime.

When DD and Ikin came in and were able to make some of the calls (managing our salary cap and enabling us to rid our team of toxic or overpaid characters and poor performing staff) we started yield some benefits.

Kevie is about playing for your mate and enjoying yourself. I think it is visible this is starting to occur. As I said, do I think he is a top tier coach, no. Do I think he should have a tactically minded and top tier assistant, yes! But it is admirable what kevie has achieved in that our players actually look like they are trying this year.
 
Why is it so hard for some to give credit to Kevvie? I can understand having reservations still to see if this run of form is a flash in the pan or something more solid but you can go on current form and couple that with the back end of last year, you just cannot argue Kevvie isn’t doing well.
 
Why is it so hard for some to give credit to Kevvie? I can understand having reservations still to see if this run of form is a flash in the pan or something more solid but you can go on current form and couple that with the back end of last year, you just cannot argue Kevvie isn’t doing well.
Too early to make a call really. He had a massive challenge and had to deal with a lot of things outside of control but he was getting a lot of the things he can control wrong. He’s seemingly improved in these areas a lot and the team seems to be benefiting from it.

The biggest improvement has been his bench usage and team lists. I think he got lucky with injuries - by that I mean the injuries to Niu, Mead, Turpin and Isaako not being around, it somewhat forced his hand into a good decision to play Paix and TMM. But to his credit he still made the right choices when they were presented. I definitely didn’t support the TMM at fullback decision so well done there. I really don’t think it’s a coincidence how much the team changed when Turpin and Niu were out.

All in all we’ve only really played 2 good games this season. We have 5 wins but it’s only against 3 teams (dogs twice bunnies twice). The next 6 weeks will be a good indicator of where we are actually at. Plenty of teams we should be able to beat. Signs are good though:
 
Is kevie a top tier coach or a master tactician? No, but that is not what he was brought in for, or even what we needed after the seibold era.

The vibe and feel within the club was at all time low. Kevie was brought in to change that vibe and was a figure that the fans, ex players and all other stake holders could unite behind because he is a club legend and as DD indicated, a top bloke.

He struggled early on but please name another NRL rookie coach who took the role at a club that had just won a wooden spoon, everyone within the club was miserable, had no CEO, absent football manager, an incompetent board, mismanaged salary cap etc. and was able to turn it around on a dime.

When DD and Ikin came in and were able to make some of the calls (managing our salary cap and enabling us to rid our team of toxic or overpaid characters and poor performing staff) we started yield some benefits.

Kevie is about playing for your mate and enjoying yourself. I think it is visible this is starting to occur. As I said, do I think he is a top tier coach, no. Do I think he should have a tactically minded and top tier assistant, yes! But it is admirable what kevie has achieved in that our players actually look like they are trying this year.
Another huge fact that should not be ignored either is that Kev is (by all accounts) being paid a pittance in comparison to some coaches despite coaching the biggest club in the country. Also, he was happy to back himself and go on a rolling contract rather than hold the club to a three or four year deal.

I'd agree that he's not a master tactition (yet), but he is still learning the craft. It's his first gig as an NRL coach for Christ sake.

Besides your Bellyache and perhaps Robinson no other coach can be labeled as master tactitions either.

Arthurs at the Eels has for a number of seasons 'choked' at the pointy end of the season. Madge has won a GF yet he is still struggling with the 'top eight intolerant' Tigers. Look at Barrett, he has now had two cracks at NRL coaching with two different teams and he still looks more suited to modelling hair than coaching in the NRL.

No one mentions the mess Des left at the Bulldogs! And O'Brien is not exactly setting the league ladder on fire despite the roster he has been given. Hollbrook, has the backing of the mighty Mal of origin fame yet his tactics and coaching have so far taken the Titans to the dizzy heights of third from the bottom of the ladder. Let's not even mention Ricky Stuart's implosion either.

We are such a huge club that the fanbase demands we win every week. Unfortunately, we are still recovering from an inept school teacher that our admin thought was such a master tactition they signed him up to a whopping five year deal. His tactics though were all about him. The rest, as they say is history.

The inexperience of Kev and indeed the majority of the playing group means we'll still be faced by games we lose when we should have won. As a supporter, it's up to us to make sure we have the backs of the players who are putting in.

At least when the team takes the field tonight I know they are all working as a unit. I know they are all focused on the same goal. We have been missing that sort of cohesion for some time. That is ALL down to coaching.

Of course we'll get bad calls against us. Kev experienced that all his playing career in the Broncos colours. He'll eventually have the boys coached to ignore that and win DESPITE it.
 
Another huge fact that should not be ignored either is that Kev is (by all accounts) being paid a pittance in comparison to some coaches despite coaching the biggest club in the country. Also, he was happy to back himself and go on a rolling contract rather than hold the club to a three or four year deal.

I'd agree that he's not a master tactition (yet), but he is still learning the craft. It's his first gig as an NRL coach for Christ sake.

Besides your Bellyache and perhaps Robinson no other coach can be labeled as master tactitions either.

Arthurs at the Eels has for a number of seasons 'choked' at the pointy end of the season. Madge has won a GF yet he is still struggling with the 'top eight intolerant' Tigers. Look at Barrett, he has now had two cracks at NRL coaching with two different teams and he still looks more suited to modelling hair than coaching in the NRL.

No one mentions the mess Des left at the Bulldogs! And O'Brien is not exactly setting the league ladder on fire despite the roster he has been given. Hollbrook, has the backing of the mighty Mal of origin fame yet his tactics and coaching have so far taken the Titans to the dizzy heights of third from the bottom of the ladder. Let's not even mention Ricky Stuart's implosion either.

We are such a huge club that the fanbase demands we win every week. Unfortunately, we are still recovering from an inept school teacher that our admin thought was such a master tactition they signed him up to a whopping five year deal. His tactics though were all about him. The rest, as they say is history.

The inexperience of Kev and indeed the majority of the playing group means we'll still be faced by games we lose when we should have won. As a supporter, it's up to us to make sure we have the backs of the players who are putting in.

At least when the team takes the field tonight I know they are all working as a unit. I know they are all focused on the same goal. We have been missing that sort of cohesion for some time. That is ALL down to coaching.

Of course we'll get bad calls against us. Kev experienced that all his playing career in the Broncos colours. He'll eventually have the boys coached to ignore that and win DESPITE it.
I actually think, even last season, Kev has shown some pretty good tactical thinking when it comes to game plans, he just hasn’t yet installed the structures to take advantage. It’s the fine details that I think Kev has lacked (bench usage, structures, etc). He seems pretty good at the fun stuff - attitude, game plans.
 
I actually think, even last season, Kev has shown some pretty good tactical thinking when it comes to game plans, he just hasn’t yet installed the structures to take advantage. It’s the fine details that I think Kev has lacked (bench usage, structures, etc). He seems pretty good at the fun stuff - attitude, game plans.

Part of his problem last year was not having anyone on the roster that could implement even the most simple of plans
 
Too early to make a call really. He had a massive challenge and had to deal with a lot of things outside of control but he was getting a lot of the things he can control wrong. He’s seemingly improved in these areas a lot and the team seems to be benefiting from it.

The biggest improvement has been his bench usage and team lists. I think he got lucky with injuries - by that I mean the injuries to Niu, Mead, Turpin and Isaako not being around, it somewhat forced his hand into a good decision to play Paix and TMM. But to his credit he still made the right choices when they were presented. I definitely didn’t support the TMM at fullback decision so well done there. I really don’t think it’s a coincidence how much the team changed when Turpin and Niu were out.

All in all we’ve only really played 2 good games this season. We have 5 wins but it’s only against 3 teams (dogs twice bunnies twice). The next 6 weeks will be a good indicator of where we are actually at. Plenty of teams we should be able to beat. Signs are good though:

I'm not saying we should be lauding Kevvie from the rooftops yet, I am also still cautiously optimistic as the jury is still out overall but all I'm saying is, to discredit the guy completely is totally unfair. He was on a hiding to nothing when he came in and there is just no fair argument the team has not improved or that any improvement is just due to someone else.

The team is pointing in the right direction and it has been since the back end of last year really, that is becoming a fair sample size to give credit where it is due. This does not mean he is or has been flawless, he has made some pretty big mistakes but he seems to grow and learn each time, I like to see that. IN some ways, he is growing with his team and they are undoubtedly growing into a better team.

Let's look at it objectively even. Name one player who improved under the last coach. Now under Kevvie, we've seen almost everyone individually improve. We are seeing even Haas start adding more and more playmaking to his game. Carrigan has levelled up. Cobbo is becoming a genuine freak. After a slow start, Staggs is starting to become more consistent. Flegler seems to be ironing out the dumb from his game. He's figured out how to use Kennedy to become a genuine weapon. Paix is starting to really blossom, Oates has returned to vintage Oates and so on and so on.

Credit where its due, he is doing a really, really good job. The team is playing with structure too and he has figured out how to make the most of Reynolds' strengths. Under his watch, it looks Flegler has become an origin player, Carrigan will become one this year, Oates may well return there and Staggs may well become one as well. Cobbo may well even get there this year if things turn out in certain ways.
 

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