Quote: vastman "Funny but I remember Kear coming in and sorting that all out after Smith and we were all mighty impressed by Kears training methods and organisation - you and me included included.
So are we suggesting he's forgotten how to do all that and somehow in 5 years he's deteriorated that much, come on. He may be using boring negative tactics but even they should work far better than they are doing if the players had that nouse to carry them out. Lets be right here, he's giving them the easiest possible game plan and they can't even manage that, yet folk are seriously suggesting a new Coach will give them a new exciting brand of Rugby. We may not like kicking early, I don't but It's Tommy Lee who's kicking it badly, with over a 100 SL games under his belt Kear should be able to trust him.
It may be time for Kear to move on, but IMO we are kidding ourselves if we think another Coach will get any better from this lot apart from maybe a spurt of extra effort at the start. The truth is most of them are simply nowhere near good enough for SL, that's why we have them. They have played way beyond themselves for most of the season but now it's over.
Murphy, George, Amor, Johnson and perhaps Marriano may one day be SL players but that's it. Our halfbacks are nowhere near, Wildie and Hyde are nothing like, I have trouble working out what Lee is whilst Davey the only one with a Rugby brain is so small it's scary.
Two years ago we were watching players like Brough and Drew and perhaps they flattered Kears coaching, but in fairness these players do the opposite. I saw very little yesterday that had anything to do with Coaching and everything to do with players who couldn't do the basics required of them in SL. They have done their best but most are years off being Saints standard if obviously at all.
I'm a realist, I accept it's easier to sack a Coach than players. Personally I don't blame either especially though they play their part. I look at a owner who was given a lifeline at the start of the season with a team that over performed and then utterly failed to invest and push on. He didn't take the risks required and did it on the cheap in true Trinity style. He didn't tie up his Coach, his players but above all he added no quality to a team that anyone could see would run out of fuel very quickly if not improved. I'm sick of hearing that his hands are tied until franchise, b*llocks they are - he didn't need to break the bank to add a hooker and a S/H, especially if they had had the bottle to send Hickey packing.
I'll put it simply, we were never serious about SL on the field this season and it shows. If it was a calculated gamble it's failed as we are losing all the support and goodwill brought to the club since 2004. We are right back to the days of 2001 and for that the old and new regimes are to blame IMO not JK or his players.
So basically I don't think it's a great summary because it's over simplistic and misses far to mush of the "grey area" stuff which is not the posters fault - but a lot of us on here know it's far more complex.'"
This is going to come as a shock vastman, but to a degree or two i think your mainly right.
I agree with you on Kear ( i've calmed down since sunday, i didn't agree then!!!) he cannot have become such a crap coach in his tenure from his saviour days, I think he is a total bufoon for picking Hickey 5 weeks out of five when everyone even away supporters can see that.
I think mr Glover (if he truly believed/believes) should have tried harder to bring in some short term quality (where we needed it) at about game 3-4 when confidence was high and we had picked up points.
I'm not sure about the bit about losing all the good work since 2004, 2009 and 2010 wiped much of that away and you only have to look at our attendances dropping in those two years to see those facts back up that statement. I do think people are hugely frustrated and my only argument in the defence of anyone at the club, from Mr Glover down to the tea lady is that it must also be very frustrating dealing with this franchise scenario every working minute of every working day.
Its not just the overt unfairness of it, its everything that comes along with it, unsettling players and coaches, to spend or not to spend, to throw untried players in or stick with broken players who are still up for the fight.
We are a hugely damaged club at the minute, and we all still need to be strong.
For our own dignity we need to finish above Crusaders, then we can stick two fingers up at the RFL and say well you couldn't relegate us no matter how hard you tried and (if they kick us iut) this decision makes you look totally corrupt and we are glad to be no further part of it.
The Players i believe are pretty much broken, yes Kear should be resting them and playing others, but we should question wether booing and shouting at them (i was guilty of both on sunday) is actually only making us feel better and offering nothing to the players (who don't pick the side).
In short i think as a club are showing the signs of stress as a direct result of the franchise system, we know we are staring down the barrel of a gun and while we all know there is fault on all sides, the biggest culprit in this is the RFL for putting any of its members in such a stressful situation, they have a duty of care over there members which IMO they have shown total disregard for.
IMO we have shown them enough this year that we are capable of to warrant a franchise, maybe not a full 3 year one, but a conditional, " get your ground built or at the very least steel in the ground by the end of this next SL season or you're out" that i would consider a fair compromise for the circumstances.
I think for ourselves as hard as it is, we must remain strong until the 26th and then take it from there, we are all aware of the situation well enough to know that it is not of the doing of AG, JE, JK the players or anyone else at the club, it is the doing of the governing body and for all the faults of the people we are currently venting our spleen at, we should remember that.
We/they could have done more, but we have come a long way in my eyes, if not in the eyes of the decision makers.
We know we are a far better shout than other clubs in SL, but the decision rests with others, and its
SELF EDITED frustrating.
