Too much negativity. This is a potentially good appointment. Why would we want to participate in the merry-go-round of failed British coaches with "experience" ? After all, people like Jon Sharp have had their talent rather cruelly highlighted by the difference in performance at Huddersfield when Brown arrived. Likewise some of the other names bandied around here. They all have a track record of failing to deliver success at previous clubs. There's no law that says the coaching world has to be a closed shop and nobody else is allowed in. Also, it's always been a bit of a bugbear of mine that clubs automatically assume that top level coaches have to have been top level players. There's no reason why that's the case. In fact, anyone who knows many top-level RL pros might find themselves questioning that assumption quite vigorously.

Powell is young, innovative and untried. He's also, without a doubt, cheap, and if anyone thinks that shouldn't be a consideration, you need to open your eyes to the position we're in. Quins have got a very weak squad, compared to most other SL teams, and that probably explains why the likes of Noble couldn't be tempted even out of unemployment to come down. So there's no rational point to spending big bucks on a tried and tested [and failed] coach, because even Wayne Bennett would have a bit of a task trying to get Quins out of the bottom four next year.

This is good thinking. Powell will be able to hold the fort cheaply while more young London players emerge, and in the meantime, he may well surprise a few people.

Quote: BroncOnIon "He says to add to Chris Bailey and Nick Kouparitsas, two Australians who have already been recruited for 2011." Oh dear, I hope that's not the end of our recruitment.'" www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/no ... ague-coach Harlequins have appointed Rob Powell as their new coach, a decision that can be interpreted either as another indication of the London club's problems, or as further evidence of the low-profile progress being made in the development of the game in capital. Andy Wilson making the point I wanted to make in a very succinct journalistic way.

Quote: BroncOnIon "He says to add to Chris Bailey and Nick Kouparitsas, two Australians who have already been recruited for 2011." Oh dear, I hope that's not the end of our recruitment.'" www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/no ... ague-coach Harlequins have appointed Rob Powell as their new coach, a decision that can be interpreted either as another indication of the London club's problems, or as further evidence of the low-profile progress being made in the development of the game in capital. Andy Wilson making the point I wanted to make in a very succinct journalistic way.

Clearly our BIG announcement has sent ripples of expectation and fear through the RL community.........normally the most trivial bit of news can expect to spark a load of comment across rlfans message boards, but as a of a few moments ago there were only 3 postings and all on the Warrington board. Comments range from `who is he?`.....`never heard of him`.......and `Quins are taking a bit of a chance on an unknown`.

Do these people not know of our new leaders distinguished pedigree and long track record at both domestic and international level.........high time the marketing department kicked into gear and pushed out some positive messages on Facebook.

Has he?
DH's statement said
It's that word "shortly" again. I don't know if that's happened.

Mmm. Maybe some good reason for the negativity. You are not exactly filling me with positivity and optimism with some of your own comments.

Surely its the worst thing in the world to be considered a stop-gap. If its true we approached Daryll Powell and Aston first, that means Rob Powell was 3rd choice. Him signing a two-year deal might give people the impression that he's simply a holding figure until someone more established declares an interest.

If you're going to appoint someone like Rob Powell, you make him your first choice, you back him and you give him time. Let's hope he's given that.

I didn't phrase that well. I didn't mean he was holding the fort until a better coach came along, I meant that he was holding the fort until we can produce a better team !

I am fairly negative about Quins chances next year because of the weak squad. But I think Powell has got as much of a chance of getting the best out of them as anyone, in fact, given the fairly consistent failure of the usual suspects on the coaching carousel, he may well have a better chance.

Typically of Wilson, even if it can be considered to be progress, he puts a negative spin on it that development in London is "low-profile". Surprised he doesn't include "I'm not anti-expansionist but" in the sentence.

Clearly we should be appointing our coach based on whether or not people ion Warrington have heard of him. I'm sure they had heard of James Lowes. Bet they wish they hadn't.

Ironically Sharp struggled when he was given more quality players. If Quins have a full cap and plenty of quality players then he is probably not your man.

However Sharp took an okay squad to a CC Final and 5th in SL in consecutive years. I think many Quins fans would settle for such limited talent.

Not sure what you're getting at there, think it was quite a fair assessment tbh and the comments in this thread would appear to agree with him.

Has anyone listened to the clip of Powell on the BBC Sport website? Can't get it at work. How did he come across? Good media performer? Might make a refreshing change from McDermott's brand of bolshy nonsense.

If he said it was a low profile appointment I wouldn't disagree. The fact that he says development in London is low profile is nonsense as surely there cannot be many people in the game unaware of the spread of the amateur game and the production of good level southern RL players. If he means in the country as a whole, there can be few things about rugby league that aren't low profile!

There is a radio interview with Rob on the BBC Sports website which is worth listening to. Clarifies the `new signings` position i.e. don`t expect any marquee signings and we are only looking for a couple of probable `loan` signings. The 2 Aussies have yet to arrive in the UK.

God I`m depressedicon_sad.gif

Don't panic he has got a northern accent! Blimey, we've moved on from cockneys can't play to cockney's can't coach! He was far more comfortable than Big Mac in the interview, he knows the players, he knows the set-up and he knows we're broke. So let him get on with it. Please given him support even if it is critical support. We need all the support we can get! BTW I see Hauraki has gone from Crusaders to Leeds, I fancy us finishing above them for starters!

Yeah - they've got an absolute rubbish coach.



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