This season is make or break for Agar I feel, he has now had time, ok - we have had some disruption but we cant use that as an excuse. The squad was thin already without losing Tansey - but he is now going to be replaced by Phelps.

I hope, if we do have a poor season, that we dont use the 'its gonna be a massive recruitment off season' excuse

some on here will defend Agar no matter what happens, it wont be his fault in any way, shape or form.

I think Agar knows himself he has to deliver or else.

Some on here will attack Agar. It is always his fault in whatever way, shape or form.

My position re Agar is as I posted weeks ago. He must continue to improve the team and finish higher than he did last year in 6th. That will likely require an improvement in playing style from last year. Last year he improved the playing style from the previous two years and massively improved the league finishing position over the previous two years. That is fact, whether you or others like it or not.

I think that it was a good thing that we improved last year, and that for the first 23 rounds we were in the top 5. Some on here I suspect would have preferred that improvement not to have taken place, however that is irrelevant. This year we must improve further and injuries permitting I think we will. If we get hit hard by injuries it will become a struggle, but if that means we finish lower than 6th Agar should still carry the can as it is his recruitment that has built the squad and therefore its depth.

Those who continually berate Agar had a tough time last year as things improved on the field - having to change tack and bring in complaints about style of play and alike. To improve further we must score more points for sure and that will require a style improvement. The rebuilding of the team rightly began with the pack and the pack is as good as any other IMO. We have some good young players in the backs but undoubtedly need bolstering further.

If we finish lower than 6th then he should go a year before the end of his contract. We cannot slip back after last year's profgression. If things improve again this year then he should be given subsequent credit - something that some who post on here - a small minority of the fan base - will no doubt find hard to stomach again.

What's your definition of success/failure this season Jake?

Good post...A view that most of the fans would agree on.

Agree with all of that, I personally want Agar to succeed because if he does so do my team, if not and we drop down the league I will be shouting as loud as the next fan to get rid.

And how many of that "pi$$ poor" squad were given contracts by Agar ??

You're always contradicting yourself to suit your argument.

You were probably one of the many on here who defended Sharpe's recruitment master strokes when he gave us Byrne, Cusack, Sicknote Dykes, Sing, Maiava etc,, then left us with Yeaman, Horne etc.. on lifetime contracts. There were a few of us at that time who dared to ask wtf was going on and we were lambasted by all. Now people like you are jumping on the bandwagon and using it as a ridiculous excuse to defend our clown of a coach.
This is HIS squad, it's not good enough and when it fails (I hope it doesn't BTW) we will have the usual excuses again...."bad luck"...."injuries"..." no half backs".... blah blah blah...

What does "deliver" mean ? top 8 ? top 6 ? top 4 ?

WHEN we finish around 7th-8th after having another season of "bad luck" he will probably still have his job for 2012 then we can all talk about the massive signings that are coming the season after next again.

I really hope Rich Agar succeeds as that my mean my team has succeeded. The key thing for me is that there are absolutely no excuses this time around. The signings of Westerman and Sharp are positive but are offset by the fact that we've lost Berrigan and now have no real halfback/hooker cover. Ultimately, this is the squad that Rich has chosen to run with (barring any further signings) and he'll have to live and die by it - end of story.

so just for clarity after 10 games what position or above in the league would YOU call a sucessful start to the season then?? just so everyone knows

There is nothing that I would love more than Agar to prove me wrong and turn out to be coach of the year because we've done the SL & CC double. Unfortunately, I've got more chance of bumming Carol Vorderman live on CH4 in place of the usual 4pm countdown show !

Interesting analogy!

Very good !! I see what you did there !

again i will ask you too what would you consider a realistic finish to the season ???