Quote: Ceebeejames "
Gentle has been a very capable 3rd string coach at West. He has had the opportunity to work with a master in Sheens.
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Back on topic.
I'd be more than happy if Gentle was given the job. I'm sure he's been waiting for this kind of opportunity for some time. Salford need a coach that has a real purpose when he wakes up in the morning rather than someone who's had a big coaching job before with the only motivation being the contract. I hope if it is Gentle that he views this as a once in a lifetime chance to make a good reputation as a head coach with (no disrespect to Salford at the present time) a view to landing an even bigger job in the NRL in the future.
I knew nothing about Gentle so I've been doing a little digging on the internet and this is what I found. He's got plenty of experience working previously as assistant at Cronulla under Stuart Raper (He was there the last time the Sharks made the play-offs in 2005). He's also been at the Tigers for some time under Sheens and Wests must rate him if he's been offered a new 3 year contract. He coached one of the junior teams to a semi final a couple of years back. Further to this he coached NSW under 18's to victory against Queensland in Brisbane last year and was assistant coach for the Australian national team against New Zealand recently. He also seems very comfortable dealing with the media and comes across very well on some NRL video's that I viewed. He often deputises for Tim Sheens. I also noted his agent is David Howes (British) and his nickname is 'Gents'. Gentle has also worked with Royce Simmons at Wests.
What Salford need is a working coach who will role his sleeves up and take to the training field, it appears from what I've read he will do this.
As for him being third string I don't know because it appears most NRL clubs have two assistant coaches? One will work on say defence and video analysis and the other on attack and other areas. I did read that Steve Folkes was very complimentary about Peter Gentle when he was given the St George assistant's job saying Gentle was a great coach.
Typically after doing this research on Gentle it's bound to be someone else that gets the job now. (With the evening news getting it all wrong) Neil if it is Gentle I'll be expecting a cheque in the post!
Well done. Perhaps someone can go for 4 or 5 pretend conversations?
