Hello people,


Now i used to be a massive fan of Daniel Anderson and im just wondering if Simmons is any good? iv not heard of him before ( Due to my lack of knowledge of NRL ) but IMO Anderson was fantastic and i didn't like Potter but do we think Simmons can lead us to play off victory?



Thanks, Jamie.

The simple answer is we just dont know, yet!
DA led a great team to an unprecedented season, but i'd suggest he didnt encourage much in the way of youth development and looked out of ideas in the last two grandfinals.
His lack of success at Parramatta could show that he just had an amazing team at saints, that anyone could have lead to victory, a bit harsh? possibly!

What's the old saying, "Players win matches, coaches lose them"

John Dorahy comes to mind.

Youre quite right, but my general point is that I dont think that DA was the greatest coach on earth!

Daniel Anderson was the best defensive coach we've had. We were formidable defensively and the Grand Final defeats were due to Leeds being better than us and not down to any particular weakness in our coaching. They had the pacey backs we have lacked for years and that was the difference.

Simmons I'd give till March before I criticis..... judge.

So does Mr Millward

Anderson had some real success, but he was far from perfect.
I used to often bemoan our inability to get repeat sets on the opposition line. We never seemed to put the ball into the in goal to force the drop out, instead often trying something more risque to try and score every set, but infact leading to the turn over.
Good percentage rugby, good defense & few penalties were what he brought into a team that already had flair and a will to win. What he had at his disposal was a not only an excellent playing roster, but also a very well balanced one - players like Hooper and Talau may not have been superstars, but they were experienced, capable in big games and had plenty of yard dog in them. We had the massive front row, Cunningham and Long were that big younger and we had Jamie Lyon's strike.
An excellent coach for us, but probably no world beater.

what has Simmons ever won at Saints? he is rubbish, sack him now before he causes any more problems/

I'd rather have Simmons over Potter and we haven't even played a game yet

Thought DA was fantastic at saints, agreed he inherited a great side with the likes of Cunningham, Long and Wellens 3years younger than what Potter had at his disposal, aswell as Lyon. I'm not saying I was a huge fan of Mick but thought he did okay as the team was in a transitional period and the big names gettin older, retiring and moving on. Not heard much if anything about Royce, little knowledge of NRL, time will tell. Fingers crossed he brings some long overdue silverware home.(or to widnes)

DA Had got a team off the back of millward great attacking tatics and added defenece to the game. Plus most of the team was in the prime.

Simmons has won nothing.

Spends all his time eating kit kats in his witch's hat and posting on twitter.

DA took a while to win me over completely. We were dumped out of the cup very uncerimoniously by Hull in his first few games and when they beat us by 1 point at KR (cooke drop goal) in the league I was haunted by the words of a poster who'd proclaimed he wasn't a coach to bring trophies in. Mind you, I also said that it wouldn't matter so much as long as I didn't have to drive home from Odsal/Headingly twice a year after a 60 point drubbing that Basil used to get us. He proved me wrong though and really pulled things together in 2006 and won plenty of trophies for us, even if a couple of GF defeats stick in the throat.

I, like most, got swept along in the wave of enthusiasm that Millward arrived with. He certainly had some strengths and gave us some great memories, but I do think his performance declined throughout his years here. He was not restricted by the salary cap, had an extrodinary playing roster and inhertited a squad that had honed its mental toughness and defence under Ellery Hanley.
Rumour had it that he wouldn't give a young player the time of day until they'd become a 1st teamer, and desperation signings like Leon Felton and Heath Cruikshank make you wonder what he was thinking at times.
He had his plus points, but in a salary capped competetion, I wouldn't like him at my club.


My feeling on Potter were also mixed. I would often argue for him against your complaints as I felt on the whole you and his other detractors were unfair. He did a lot of good, we always finished in a decent position and obviously getting to the GF is an acheivement in itself. We were top scorers last year - not bad for (and I quote) "a team with a worse back line than wakefield". It was a difficult time for the squad and he's guided us through well, blooding some promising youngsters along the way.
My complaints were that sometimes (normally towards the end of the season) we seemed clueless - how many times did we end up with someone like Jammer kicking on the final play? A real no-show in the GF against wigan was a pretty gutwrenching way for him to finish up.
I also have convinced myself our terrible injury jinx, especially with the young backs, were a product of a either generally poor conditioning regeime or an attempt to concentrate on bulk rather than fitness/athletisism.
I think speccies from any other club probably thinks he did a good job. We're just a little spoilt at Saints. People may not have rated him, but I reckon we'd have had a much worse time if Basil had been in charge for the last 2 years.

Assuming it translates to less injuries and doesn't affect our go forward, i agree. I too thought we generally looked in poor shape.

RL may not be as free flowing as 10 years ago, but we (compared to other clubs) relied far to much on grubbers close to the line or barging over with a big forward from 1 yard. Wigan showed this year that slick hands out wide still gives the rightful benefits.
Apparently W.Tigers were reknown for their attack, so hopefully some of that with transfer with Sizzler.
A given
If people want more flowing rugby, perhaps handling errors will be expected - barring any atrocious ball retention, the key for me is the quality of the structure when we do have the ball.