I'm no fan of KFP but can people stop laying the blame at his feet, if you think he has any power to hire and fire coaches or any clout whatsoever you're mistaken.

What's the point of him then?

A very good question. Rent-a-gob Patsy and cheap. He's another poor decision.

He actually gets a decent score from me for passion. You could see him hurt last night, ive seen him slam the walkie talkie down in anger, dump wolfie on his head in front of fans during good times etc.

He scores low when it comes to tactics when it matters, style of rugby and choice of captain.

Unfortunately for him, in rugby the latter is more important than the former.

He didn't come for a paycheck, but goes having had at least 12 monthly ones more than he should've.

It's difficult to think of anything positive to say about him.

Probably his best achievement was getting a side that had been rotten in 2017, to a GF the following year - the semi final win at Saints being the best win in his tenure.

People will talk about his CC win in 2019, but let's be honest, he got very fortunate that day - Saints had a nailed on try bizarrely not taken to the VR early on, and, knowing how we tended to go when going behind in big matches under Price, it's fair to say that was a huge and lucky gamechanger.

I think most of us could have accepted the results if the RL was at least watchable - it wasn't, it was absolute rubbish most of the time and the manner of our defeats in big games was just embarrassing.

And finally, from a coaching point of view, which is ultimately what any coach should be judged on, his work with individual players has been sadly lacking. How many players have improved or maintained their previous quality under him?

Most have gone backwards under him. Christ, Austin started as a marquee player and in 3 years under Price has deteriorated into someone who can't even make the team. Williams presently looks a shadow of the guy who was at Canberra. Widdop has generally flattered to deceive, disappearing in the big games he was brought in to win. The likes of King and Philbin have had some improvement expected of young players, but are going backwards right now - Philbin especially is a major worry for me. From being a standout player, he now looks an average trundler.

Add players like Hughes, Currie and Charnley to the list of supposedly good players who look like average Joe's under Price and you can see his main problem- He simply doesn't have the ability to get the best from players and to build a real unit of a team. Under him we are the classic example of individuals not gelling as a team and that is all on him. Barring the first season, all the squads he has had have underacheived and that's not coincidence, it's just poor coaching from a poor coach.

Overall, he was pretty lousy - 2/10.

That post is the most honest and accurate I've seen on this forum.
The fact is a coach should improve player performance- which player can we honestly say has improved in the time SP has been head coach? I agree a lot of the players have gone backwards - Philbin being a prime example while many have platoed or even gone backwards - Austin particularly.
If a coach like , for example, Justin Holbrook had been appointed ( I know he wasn't available just using him as an example) what would the difference in player performance have been? Look at what Holbrook did at Saints to some players that in the Cunningham era were plodder- Dominic Peyroux an example. No he didn't become a worldbeater but he improved as a player. Luke Thomson another that had a huge improvement.
Fact is SP has got the plaudits for coaching his team to some big wins despite the odds - semi final at Saints 2018 for me the biggest. But was this down to his coaching or did the players over achieve that day? Similar to C Cup 2019. I really like the recognition and honesty of the last post saying Saints had a try appeal ruled out with non referral to video ref.
Simple fact is SP was a poor appointment and wasted years have resulted in player development suffering and consistency lacking. Darryl Powell era things can only get better!

Say what you like about Price, but he’s been let down by a core group of players who also let Tony Smith down and helped see him out of the door. When Price took over there should’ve been a big overhaul in the playing group from top to bottom, there’s an attitude amongst this group of players and it’s been evident long before Price took over.

The clear out that’s taking place now isn’t anywhere near as big as it ought to be. You could easily add a few more to the list.

The club rewards mediocrity and has done for far too long now. Changes need to be made from the top if we’re to progress further and take that next step.

I'll never forget one of Price's first interviews on Sky after a defeat and he said, when questioned (along the lines of): 'I don't know really what went wrong there, I'll have to watch the match back'. From that moment, large alarm bells were ringing. Since then, he's rarely demonstrated any skills expected of a reasonably competent SL manager.

Agree with so much of what's been said already, especially regarding player improvement or lack off - often a guage by which to judge the ability of a coach.

Aside from the awful spectacle, 5 drives and a kick doesn't play to our advantage when we have an average size pack at best. But sadly, I don't think he's ever been capable of anymore as he's never demonstrated anything more than sterile, aimless, basic game tactics which manifest in our performances and his post game interviews. The board should have acted way earlier as this 3 years has been an absolute waste.

I'm still pi$$ed of with most of those players who've pretty much been on a 3 years vacation under Price, but have my sympathies for Hill, a few mistakes aside, deserved so much better - we'll miss him big-time next year.

But the future is much brighter for me. With Powell we have the total antithesis to Price - great brand of rugby, track record of improving players and track record of improving every club he's managed. In Holmes and Matautia, he knows what we need more of - players who'll do an honest shift and more - the cake before the icing is applied with the likes of Williams etc. We do need at least one heavyweight forward to replace Hill and Murdock Massila from last year, but Powell knows what he's doing.

Looking forward to next year. And on a positive, we've still retained the knockout hoodoo over saints!

It was KFP who went to Australia to recruit a Coach, and he chose Steve Price, so he had the authority to hire.

Looking forward to Powell but he hasn't won anything and won't unless we beef up our forwards.

5/10 for me…..that’s for the 5 decent performances in the last 4 years. Just a poor manager. I remember going to the season launch dinner for his first season in 2018 and being totally underwhelmed with how he spoke and WHAT he spoke. He seemed so shy, nervous and introverted that I thought “jeez how is he going to motivate this lot?”. Looks like I was right. Imagine a half time rousing speech from him? No, nor can I.

Lovely bloke, probably a good assistant but no way a head coach. That’s on kiss cam Karl too, both for the initial hire and the extension. Poor.

2/10. Don't let that CF win fool you, if that match had been replayed 10 times in that period we'd have been lucky to register another win.

Price was a weak, shallow coach. Despite changes in personnel, the same flaws haunted us through his tenure:

Turgid, negative tactics
Sterile, safe team selections ( J Clark, J Hughes )
Shoehorning players into the team ( Austin )
Inability to break opposition down
No plan B

Any highlights in his reign were despite him, not due to him.

Powell has a track record of getting close and not winning, I bet he wins a CC with Warrington (getting over his hurdle as a coach and winning something) but will probably fail to win a grand final and overturn Warrington's hoodoo.

Steve starts with a 7 for guiding us to our finest and greatest modern era victory against the Stains at Wembley,
Throw in another one for our grand final appearance and another one for having the guts to take us on knowing the frailties of our management and playing squad nucleus.

9/10 for me, hope we see him back at the HJ soon.

Legend


Footnote: RIP Alistair Brindle and Micky Peers, two fine Wires