These 3 people were the the directional force, of our team for the last few years.

How much will they be missed?

Regarding Eaton it's difficult to quantify as JD is an unknown quantity coaching wise. I think a lot will depend on if JD can keep the squad as united as it was under Barry and can win them over in to his coaching methods and tactics.

Danny Jones will be missed more than anyone because he was pure class. In my opinion he was our leader on the field. His kicking and his ability to guide us around the pitch will be difficult to replace.

I don't think we'll miss Presley too much. A great bloke off the field. He would have scored plenty of tries in this division due to his explosive style. However, he was a liability in defence because he couldn't tackle.

My problem with Barry was that he still believed that he could play as well as he did in his ‘pomp’, and that was a real problem, especially, when he played against Widnes. Ego or what? His lack of pace was severely exposed, he shied away from tackles yet berated his players for not doing what he should have been doing but was incapable of doing it. By this comment, I mean tackling and performing for the full 80 minutes. That said, he was a decent coach, developed the players abilities and won promotion to the Championship.

Had it not been for the ineptitude of the Directors which enabled us to start with –9 points, then we still could have been there. Better not say any more on that subject!

Whenever he played against us with his former teams he kicked us to death with 40/20’s by the score; but how many did he (or his players in his absence) kick for us? We need more and I believe that JD re-introduce this aspect of the game to the Cougars in 2011.

I’ve supported Keighley since 1962 and have seen the ‘Good Years’ as well as the ‘Bad’ and have seen some truly ‘Great’ games as well as those that were abject. That is why I feel that we need fast, open play. No-one can beat it. The great sides of the 60’s and 70’s had it and so do the good Super League sides of today.

Danny Jones is real ‘CLASS’. He’ll do well in any side. It’s a pity that he’s gone. But there are others that will take his place, just as Jeff Nicholson did after Colin Evans. Scrum Halves are born to play in that position and we do have replacements.

As far as Presley is concerned, to my way of thinking, he never ‘backed’ his own ability. He could have scored many more tries if he had actually believed in himself. Perhaps Dave Woods will develop this aspect of his play at York but, he was brilliant at times but inconsistent overall. As long as we have a good replacement who actually believes in his ability and backs his ability to score then I don’t think that we’ll miss him so much. That said, it will be JD’s job to instil belief into whoever becomes our first choice stand-off in 2011.

nice to see after all the positives of the past couple of days , Guess Who try put a damper on it , youv'e had at least a week in total to discuss,, why do it now??????

Sorry Jim but you could have brought up any of the three departures from Cougar Park at anytime over at least the last month, and certainly in the case of Pres n Jonsey ....seems a bit OTT to try provoke an argument now...

We've a team n club we need to sell n market from our own existing fan base , seems a s*** when one that was supposed to be 'one of us' is set on creating problems just for the hell of it...

Whats the agenda ...????

as a neutral,Danny Jones will be a big loss IMO - he ran the show at Toulouse (despite being on the losing side) and was brilliant for Wales at Albi against the french in the Alitalia Cup - after the match he said it was the 'greatest day of my life' - yes,a big loss to the Cougars

Never heard of 'em

Please explain how me asking these questions is me [icreating problems just for the hell of it...[/i?

This is a forum for people to discuss things. Thats what my post was intended to do. As you can see from the posts it has done that. People have taken the time to do very good posts.

There is no agenda from me.

Can you say the same?

I think the answer to that is an emphatic "YES!!!"
-Can't see that Rach has an axe to grind...
Danny Jones was influential in open play, but it has to be said he missed a lot of conversion attempts.
If Dimitriou takes this steady, gets to know the squad and those around them, hopefully the good work that Barry did will be carried on.
Presley was fast, but I too think he lacked confidence, and shied away in tackles at times. I think Gav Duffy will shine in this division, as will Hutch.

JIM and Rach need a room fast then we can all move on.

Up the cougars.

I just hope the new coach has other game plans than we have seen over the past 10 years. I get fed up with watching us 20metres away from the opponents try line near the touch line and passing the ball into the centre of the pitch for the forwards to run in.If you have watched most of the opposition with quality backs they can pass the ball from one touch line to the other with 3 passes creating space on the opposite wing from where the play the ball took place.

I couldn't agree more!

As I've said on numerous occasions, you can't beat pace and I'm sick and tired of the Cougars keeping the ball in the centre of the field when tthere have been numerous opportunities for them to score out wide.

Tactical kicking, which has been absent since Jason Ramshaw left need to be reintroduced to take the hard work out of making yards. 40/20's aren't the preserve of Superleague so I hope that JD will bring some intelligence with him and be aware of the opportunities.

On numerous occasions last season, when we ran the ball from scrums within our own 10 metre line with the opposing full back being inside our half, we could have easily kicked and, if not winning a 40/20 our wingers could have even regained posession, or at worst pushed the opposing team back to their 20. We've never seemed to be aware of opportunities beyond the next 20 metres and that's what I hope JD will change.

Flippin' heck, I must have had too much beer over new year cos I find myself agreeing with 666 4.11767578125:5