He certainly seemed to.

At the time of signing Lance, Simmons said that he had been asked to give options on who was available, bearing in mind neither Kyle nor Leon were looking like our future halfback pairing. However, the one player Royce did fight tooth and nail over getting was Laffranchi. I only know this because Laffranchi said in an interview that Royce had worked very hard to get him over here.

Snooker? Crown green bowling?

What no Chess????

I don't remember Simmons waxing lyrical about Hohaia's abilities and the impact he'd have on team organisation. I'm not saying he didn't say nice things about the guy. But I'd expect any good coach to say the same about one of his players.

Of course, he may have wished to leave Gaskell at six initially as a reward for his efforts the season prior. But if Simmons had absolute confidence in Hohaia's abilities I'd expect him to start from game one. Especially as he would need as much game time as possible in order for him to be completely up to speed by the business end of the season.

Purely by body language you could tell Hohaia was at best uncomfortable, at worst downright unhappy. IMO, [isomething[/i was said around the time of Royce's departure which precipitated a string of events (perhaps even playing a role in Simmons' downfall) that led to Gaskell being put on ice permanently and Hohaia handed the six jersey.

Nor do I. I only know what Simmons himself said and that was he had been asked for options by the club. Presumably Hohaia was one of those options but he might not have been.


It wouldn't surprise me.

But then the appointment of Brown by McManus would be a strange one given that Brown has made it clear he doesn't see Hohaiah as a 6.

Exactly,theres no way Lance will be close to first choice stand off next season.

Brown has also overseen five straight losses. Simmons was sacked after four. McManus gave the losses as the reason why he sacked Simmons. You'd think, therefore, given that this isn't the first time Brown had overseen a slump in the Hudds team mid season that McManus wouldn't appoint him for results reasons either.

Who knows why McManus chose Hohaia or Brown. He's contradicting himself on both counts (if the mere speculation about Hohaia is correct and if the reason he sacked the previous coaching regime is correct) because like it or not, McManus has the final say on player recruitment. Remember, he owned up to making a mistake about Lee Gilmour.

It's pretty clear why he's gone for Brown (assuming the story about McM promising Hohaiah the stand off berth is untrue) as he's been instrumental in establishing them as a top side rather than relegation fodder. The 'mid season slump' isn't, I'm fairly certain, a coaching technique he employs so there's no reason to think it will happen at a new club, with new players and a different ethos.

The Simmons thing has been done to death, but it was as much the style of play during those losses as the losses themselves which demanded action. For the first time I can remember, I simply couldn't see where the next win would come from.

And, Wigan defeats aside (and I accept that's a major, major issue if we are serious about competing for trophies), results suggest the decision had merit.

Do you just have posts saved on your computer and you just copy and paste them in every now and again?

You're like a broken record...

I'm not interested in discussing Simmons.

As I have just said, I was highlighting inconsistencies and also the fact that we have no idea why McManus makes the choices that he makes. We are all just speculating about everything.

Except that McManus did admit to making a mistake over Lee Gilmour. That is all we actually know.

Ok I will read what is there...



How many times have you said this?!

How anyone can compare with what's happened to hudds to saints next year is laughable!

Totally different players, totally different styles, totally different clubs, it's impossible to say that saints will have mid season slump like the giants have had.