Noble was the right appointment for the initial job.
Whether replacing him so soon was a good idea,only time will tell.
But you simply can't call either of them second rate coaches,purely because they're not to your taste.

REDRUM is right - in the ranking of coaches Harris clearly isn't first rate - whether he's even second rate is debatable. Warrington went through this appointing Paul Cullen and James Lowes - you can have all the stars you want but until you've got a top class coach you will underachieve, it's the most important appointment at the club.

A lot of what happens with Harris will depend on how the players react to the change. If they use it as an excuse to become unsettled we could slip down the league and he will be lucky to still be in a job next season. If he gets us in the 8 and the cup run goes on he will probably still be in a job at the start of 2015.

Said this before but when the Doc made the announcement on Friday someone came on here and said that Morley had gone onto Twitter? and said what a shock this was. Now if he's the club captain I'd be amazed if he wasn't aware of any dissent amongst the ranks.

I also simply can't see Noble being the type to let a player destabalise the dressing room, he proved with his management when the GB coach that anyone stepping out of line would get dealt with.

If he wasn't he isn't the club captain I thought he was going to be.

All leads me to doubt that the issues behind the scenes were entirely player driven.

Thought he was calling Noble second rate,which with his record is clearly wrong

The future of Iestyn Harris coaching career at Salford is extremely simple to predict isn't it? So much so I don't even have to type what the minimum requirements will be.

Without wanting to be accused of being the Minister of Forum Corrections again you said "you simply can't call either of them second rate coaches" which I took to mean you didn't think either were second rate coaches.

Noble's record is clearly first rate, whether he is still a first rate coach is a different question. I've not changed my opinion of him since he's been sacked - I thought he was the right man to help rebuild the club from the ground up as that is exactly what we needed (and still need) but like everyone else I had doubts about whether he was truly passed it or not at the very highest level. I'm happy to discount last season because of the state of the squad but this year the performances have been average at best. I would have given him until the end of the season at least to see what he can do with the squad he has assembled and because we need stability as a club.

However, as the decision had been taken to replace him, the important thing was that we replaced him with as good a coach as we could get. I don't think anyone really believes Harris is the best. The main thing in his favour appears to be having worked at Wigan for a couple of years, the main negative is his record as a head coach at Crusaders and Wales, admittedly with limited squads.

Noble seemed to say on the SL Show that Harris was lined up to become his assistant and then somehow things changed and he became his replacement. The most intriguing thing in all this is who advised Koukash that Harris was suitable head coach material.

It will be very interesting to see what changes Harris makes tactically. Obviously defense is one area that needs immediate attention as is the speeding up the play the ball. I'm also hoping for a more expansive and entertaining style of play.

I refer to this point in time and what is right for our club not what my taste is. If you were to ask me is Noble currently one on the best coaches available - one that could take us forward with an inventive attractive style of rugby then no he isn't. He took a great team to dizzy heights but as has been said on here before he is way behind the times and IMO rugby has moved on - he hasn't. Harris has done very little to suggest to me that he is ready for this appointment and that worries me. We have an owner who is obviously keen to see his investment reap quick rewards yet he is either being badly advised or is simply choosing the wrong personnel when he could have/afford the very best

I think that of all the other chairmen in the league the Doc has possibly formed quite a close relationship with Lenegan as they do seem to have many shared ideals for the future of SL so I'd guess that there is a good possibility that the Doc asked for his advise.

Also throw in HH, Hock, Long (gained from his brief spell working there last season) and too some extent Smith's friendship gained with many of the faces still at Wigan would all have inside knowledge on what Harris may bring to the table.

One of the problems with Noble was that everyone thought the attacking play would be dour (but structured) and the defence would be solid. However, the defence so far has been poor and the attack has looked entirely without structure. Every time a team ships the ball wide against us we look at all sea and as soon as teams get a roll on against us they are cutting us to be ribbons around the ruck.

Bonita Red
Cheeky half-back


Joined: Tue Jan 26, 2010 6:32 pm
Posts: 737
Location: Anywhere that's warmer and drier than Ramsbottom


Noble was the right appointment for the initial job.
Whether replacing him so soon was a good idea,only time will tell.
But you simply can't call either of them second rate coaches,purely because they're not to your taste.

If they are not Australian,they must be second class!!

OK,if that had been explained to me I'd have understood.
Irony is alive and well.

As a Wales and Crusaders fan, I'd like to put my two penneth in.

I am genuinely surprised and sorry that you have swapped Brian Noble for Iestyn Harris . Koukash has done great things to benefit rugby league, but this move will probably turn out as a disaster, you all deserve better.

When Noble was at the Crusaders, there was a positive buzz. In no small part due to Noble and his positive, inclusive manner. As an example, before matches, he'd walk on the pitch and applaud the fans, creating a positive feedback loop, much as Clive Griffiths does. We never ever saw Iestyn Harris, he was the club, we were just the necessary evil.

When Noble was at the helm, and during the last 2 years with Griffiths in charge, we played positive successful rugby. With Harris it was negative, I imagine his team talk probably goes like this “ don't take risks, it's more important to hang onto the ball than to race up the field”.

I'd forgotten how negative Crusaders played under him, until I saw a carbon copy approach taken by Wales in the World Cup.

Both I and my son missed a Wales match because our feelings about Harris. We had been talking about watching the odd Salford game this year, not now.

Anyway good luck, I'm keeping my fingers crossed and really hope you do well. You deserve it.

you are clearly forgetting Brian Noble has been sat idle for a couple of years whilst Iestyn Harris has been learning under one of the best coaches in super league and has been apart of the structures Wigan have in place and no doubt Marwan wants him to replicate that at salford. Can he been a bit miserable? yes but seriously would you moan if he brought some consistency and some structure to your attack so you don't struggle when chase isn't playing?

On a side note how can anybody try and judge him on the wales performance? He is building a base and foundation for actual welsh players and not just stuffing the team full of heritage players. Take out all of the heritage players from the lower teams and wales would more than likely dominate them.