Patience

I can fully understand the frustration about the performance on Saturday on here. However, as a general rule in sport, people are too quick to call for the head of the coach. The coach is only one element to a successful team. History will tell you that the most successful teams don’t chop and change their coaches just because of a bad run of form. In fact changing the coaches frequently seems to have a detrimental effect on a team’s ability to have continued success. Consistency is the key to a successful team and given it can take at least a season or two to get ‘your team’ assembled, that is simply impossible if you change the coach each year.

In my opinion it’s only fair to judge Agar starting from this season. It’s a fact that the amount and length of injuries we had over the past two seasons ruined any chance of success. Look at Leeds, three times SL Champions for example this year. Of course the coach will get some decisions wrong every now and again. For example, bench rotation and player selection. For me the blame should be shared equally amongst him and his assistant as well as all the players, particularly the senior ones. In reference to the Salford game, Agar would have given the team a game plan to win but they simply didn’t give themselves a chance to execute it. He didn’t make those incredible amount of handling errors and give away endless amount of penalties. With the amount of extra possession you are giving the other team, even the best sides in the world would struggle with those statistics. It came down to desire and motivation and that is one area Agar needs to improve. However, players have only 80 mins out of an entire week to be motivated enough to play at an intense level. Even if the players don’t play for the coach and don’t have respect for him (which I doubt is the case), they should be professional enough to motivate themselves and each other. They should be able to find motivation elsewhere if it’s not forthcoming from Agar. Whether it’s their own reputation that’s at stake, not letting their team mates down, playing for the badge and the fans or even simply the fact they get paid very well to do it! They shouldn’t need the riot act to be read before every game and again at half time just to get up for it. There is also the fact that Moore doesn’t appear to be helping in this area. He needs to stand up and be counted too. Sometimes you need your assistant to “assist” in areas you are not so skilled at, yet nobody seems to look at this.

From what I understand Agar is highly respected by his peers, a true judge of someone’s worth in their position. I think he has improved the team on and off the field this year. Ok we have had some poor away form that needs addressing. Our edge defence on both sides is the biggest concern for me, not the ability of the coach to motivate players who should be doing that themselves anyway.
What isn’t needed is a knee jerk reaction for change as soon as we have a tough patch, something most teams experience throughout a season. Judge him at the end of the season and if it’s still not working then fair enough. I think they will respond against KR and Warrington and silence a few of their critics.