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.