Tbh that was my initial thought when Harrison was appointed. Too similar to jimmy. Think he needs someone who looks at game from a different perspective to bounce ideas off.

Some stuff from the Harrison article

Sorry?


Sorry? Surely, the starting point is why we DIDN'T "play with what we had". Half the squad may as well never have been signed! Also, it begs the question as to what was the recruitment policy. Clearly from this, it was nothing to do with Harriso. Is it right that it was little or nothing to do with Lowes either, and that Ferres made the signings? I suppose that would fit with Jimmy's personality - "I didn't ask for him, I don't want him, I'm not playing him"?


Very strange. If a player is unproven -but you never play him - how will you get to know whether he is capable of being proven? We seem from all this to have been stuck in some sort of irreconcileable dispute between the coach and the club. Unless Lowes really did want all those players, as individuals - but if he did, then why would he never use them.

Agreed. It's a clear statement that Ferres has signed players Lowe's didn't want.

Well there does appear to be a clear disconnect between players Ferres deemed appropriate and how Lowes feels about the same players.

I can't recall how long a time period Ferres was recruiting before Lowes came on-board, but clearly Ferres had to begin recruiting in earnest as he couldn't have known how long it would take to get the first team coach on-board. You would think that Ferres has been around the block enough to in theory be trusted to commence that recruitment process.

Lowes and Harrison are cut from the same cloth - blunt, arrogant and full of attitude. Neither know the difference between being a boss and being a leader of men. I can imagine them both ranting and raving in the dressing room, struggling to put a coherent sentence together.

If those are the criteria for the coach, then we've got a busload of top candidates on these boards

Jimmy took over before relegation was confirmed, so I'd say he came in sort of late June -ish. Don't really have a clue as to [iexactly[/i when recruitment started, but I'd guess it certainly didn't get into full swing until our position for 2015 was pretty certain, ie around the time Jimmy rocked up or very shortly afterwards.

I've always felt that a number of players were signed from Youtube videos and, probably someone known to the club in Aus, saying they might be OK. Clearly, two or three weren't good enough for to Jimmy to risk in the side, so given the standard of a couple of others who were played, that is some indictment.

Considering the Bulls had been playing with "Skinny" squads for the past few seasons, I suspect part of the brief was to make sure there was large playing squad to increase competition and cover the usual injuries accrued from pre season right through to season end. Hindsight by some says quality over quantity, which considering the Bulls precarious finances meant good players were not going to be easy to find.

Absolutely Blotto. It was always going to be difficult to recruit 'quality' players after being relegated - in fact, we did well to retain as many of the previous year's staff as we did, no doubt helped by the fact there was no promoted club that season, if there had been we may well have lost far more than we did.

The Harrison article does seem to suggest that Lowes is very much a my way or the highway sort of manager. I just wonder if that, combined with his little tantrum after the MPG explains our less than stella performances across the year?

I have to say, I'm still not conviced by Lowes as a head coach and I'd be surprised if he's still in charge this time next year should we fail to gain promotion again.

No, he has to get to the MPG. Unless by some minor miracle we end up in it playing against another side in total disarray, then we all now know we have no chance of winning it. So you can't sack a coach for that. And anyway, they didn't sack him this year, when we could and should have won it, so why would they next year if we get easily controlled by a superior quality SL team?

Having thought a lot about the permutations this year, I'm convinced that the best chance of promotion from this division isn't the MPG, it is somehow making the 3rd spot. It's not a lot easier than the MPG but if the combination of fixtures and critically other results goes our way, there would be a way to sneak in via the 3rd place door. Essentially what you need is one of the SL teams to have a mare throughout the playoffs.

It makes you wonder why we didn't turn up against Wakefield in the first meeting in the Middle 8s. Would that have given us third place if we'd also bothered to try against Halifax and beat all Championship opposition plus two SL teams?

Our best chance of rising is maybe that one of the SL clubs goes through the same kind of financial problems which laid us low. I wouldn't wish that on any club though, but it must remain a medium [at least] possibility, the way things are and maybe even a bigger possibility if the clubs start overreaching themselves with their 'marquee' signings.

I fully expect the coaching situation will be decided well before we get to the play off's in August.
If you were in charge would you leave such a big decision to a few games in September?
I would decide after Easter if Jimmy is the man for a third season. If so, then give him an extension. If not - which I suspect most fans will now say is their preferred option - then start looking in May or around then so the new man can start planning.

I will say now that I expect to hear calls for Brian Smith to be offered the job when Jimmy completes his contract. I will be very surprised to see Jimmy offered a new contract early in the season. If he isn't, then Green is waiting to see how they go but he can't wait too long. Jimmy needs to know early or the new man does or we are playing catch up for a third year.

Imagine this situation. In June we offer Smith a job for 2017 and he accepts. Wakey then end up in the play off's again. What will their chairman do as his coach will be coaching against his new club in vital games. Would Smith really want to stop the Bulls getting promotion as it would hurt his chances of SL. It would be hilarious reading the posts on the Wakey site questioning Smiths loyalty. This is just a thought - but a possibility!

Not quite sure how you accommodate your ethos under a different salary cap..Quality costs money usually at the cost of quantity.