Is Ricky Stuart the person to lead us to another premiership?

[gerg]

I'm not disrespecting the club but the club hasn't made it past week 1 of finals without Ricky as a player or coach. He's been quite influential for the club. Particularly any of its on field success.

That’s straight up not true.

1987 - made the GF. No Ricky
2000 - week 2 of finals. No Ricky
2003 - week 2 of finals. No Ricky
2010 - week 2 of finals. No Ricky
2012 - week 2 of finals. No Ricky

Nice one Finchy.

So across the 15+ year period Ricky wasn't at the club we made the finals 4 times.

Since he has been here we've made the finals on 5 occasions in 10 years. A GF and 2 Preliminary finals.

Your point stinks.

No actually. We made the finals more than 4 times. Those are just the times we made it past week 1. My point is accurate. Yours is straight up false.

Oooof.

Real back of the net stuff here.

[gerg]

I'd say Ryles ran back to Melbourne because that was his preferred job. Melbourne likely wanted Billy, but he has probably ruled himself out. So Ryles happy to wait for Bellamy to retire.

I'm with you on the Ricky bashing though BB. I think Ricky's a bit of man baby (i.e., doesn't control his emotions well) and has other flaws - but the commentary on here is mostly unhinged in the negative. Even if we do win a comp under Ricky, you can already imagine the posts the following year when we lose a trial game. It will all be about how lucky we were to win a comp, and how we won it despite having him as coach. No new information will be integrated, the priors are stuck.

He wins a comp and he can do (almost) whatever the hell he wants here.

I give him credit for turning us into a more consistent side but whether we finish 2nd, 3rd, 8th or wherever in the top 8 doesn't mean much in the greater scheme. Just win damnit.

The frustration has been laid out on this forum by many posters. We are drifting away from, instead of towards a premiership. Hard to fault the fan's passion and resentment in the past two years.

[The Nickman]

I suspect if we’d finished Top 4 in 2022 and 2023 instead of sliding in **** backwards after other teams fell over then not many people would be complaining either.

Like Bot said, nobody was making too much noise (except Rickmando) in 2019 and 2020.

Even most of us were prepared to give Stuart a hall pass for a horrible 2021 based on the goodwill saved up from 2019-20.

That good will has largely evaporated. Despite scraping into 8th in an extremely unconvincing fashion the last two years, the last three have been entirely uninspiring and largely garbage.

[Boomercm]

And in the last 3 years:
* the (only) brain of our side, Hodgson, was injured/retired. Unplanned loss of most important player
* Hodgson's potential replacement, Trev, injured seriously twice
* G Willy debacle. I've been critical of Stuart for how he handled that, but either way G Willy was leaving
* Fog brought in and misses his first half year
* CNK seriously injured, never really comes good. End last year replaced by Savage who breaks his jaw, hammy, this year. At best he's a cherry on top sort of player anyway. He's never going to be the brain or heart of a team.
* All of the above, especially no direction around him, exposes Wighton. He gets progressively worse over those three years.

So sure everyone can be frustrated. We all want success. But the commentary on Stuart is a lot more like Stuarts man-babying after a close loss than it is any sort of real analysis. No team does well with that scenario in the spine. And all of that is out of his control. We've debatably over achieved in the last three years. And of course we have looked ugly doing it. That's a no brainer with those spine issues.

The only miss step you might argue is not heavily targeting a brain after losing Hodgson. The player we possibly could have got was Chad Townsend. We should have done what we needed to do to be able to offer him more than NQ did. He would have been a much better solution than Fog imo, and we desperately needed a controlling/direction player.

[NoMan]

None of that was in his control? Really? He shouldnt be expected to deal with problems now?

[gerg]

Yes we had our share of injuries. Like every single club in the competition. Which year was it that Roosters had half their team missing but still made the 8? Panthers had Cleary out for a third of their games this year, still minor premiers. Add to that churning over Api, Kikau, Burton. No excuses from them.

[The Nickman]

And in the last 3 years:
* the (only) brain of our side, Hodgson, was injured/retired. Unplanned loss of most important player
* Hodgson's potential replacement, Trev, injured seriously twice
* G Willy debacle. I've been critical of Stuart for how he handled that, but either way G Willy was leaving
* Fog brought in and misses his first half year
* CNK seriously injured, never really comes good. End last year replaced by Savage who breaks his jaw, hammy, this year. At best he's a cherry on top sort of player anyway. He's never going to be the brain or heart of a team.
* All of the above, especially no direction around him, exposes Wighton. He gets progressively worse over those three years.

So sure everyone can be frustrated. We all want success. But the commentary on Stuart is a lot more like Stuarts man-babying after a close loss than it is any sort of real analysis. No team does well with that scenario in the spine. And all of that is out of his control. We've debatably over achieved in the last three years. And of course we have looked ugly doing it. That's a no brainer with those spine issues.

The only miss step you might argue is not heavily targeting a brain after losing Hodgson. The player we possibly could have got was Chad Townsend. We should have done what we needed to do to be able to offer him more than NQ did. He would have been a much better solution than Fog imo, and we desperately needed a controlling/direction player.

To recall a catch-phrase thrown around an awful lot in the declining years of the David Furner era, "NO EXCUSES"

[NoMan]

The problem with the Ricky’s spine stinks so its not his fault is:

- He offered Jack 1.1m a year to be the teams five eighth for another 4 years

- His solution for Hodgson was Levi and Starling. He has doubled down on that for another two years.

- He had no backup fullback for either a player the coaches have big concerns
over in Savage, or more likely his first choice was Kris who is missing 4/5ths
of what a fullback needs.

- His solution for Williams leaving was Fog, who is a decent player but is an obvious downgrade.

- His priority signing was a second rower in Fifita, which wouldve been a coup but it wouldve locked in Fog, Jack, a risky fullback and two of the three hookers for at least a few years with no cash to upgrade.

Most of these were decisions that would still be impacting the team for years into the future. Thats why people have an issue with his recent decision making, what he did years ago doesn’t excuse that in any way.

He may be saved by the rookie strategy but he doesn’t need to be head coach to recruit.

[Off]

And in the last 3 years:
* the (only) brain of our side, Hodgson, was injured/retired. Unplanned loss of most important player
* Hodgson's potential replacement, Trev, injured seriously twice
* G Willy debacle. I've been critical of Stuart for how he handled that, but either way G Willy was leaving
* Fog brought in and misses his first half year
* CNK seriously injured, never really comes good. End last year replaced by Savage who breaks his jaw, hammy, this year. At best he's a cherry on top sort of player anyway. He's never going to be the brain or heart of a team.
* All of the above, especially no direction around him, exposes Wighton. He gets progressively worse over those three years.

So sure everyone can be frustrated. We all want success. But the commentary on Stuart is a lot more like Stuarts man-babying after a close loss than it is any sort of real analysis. No team does well with that scenario in the spine. And all of that is out of his control. We've debatably over achieved in the last three years. And of course we have looked ugly doing it. That's a no brainer with those spine issues.

The only miss step you might argue is not heavily targeting a brain after losing Hodgson. The player we possibly could have got was Chad Townsend. We should have done what we needed to do to be able to offer him more than NQ did. He would have been a much better solution than Fog imo, and we desperately needed a controlling/direction player.

To recall a catch-phrase thrown around an awful lot in the declining years of the David Furner era, "NO EXCUSES"

from the concerned supporters.

Sent from my SM-A536E using Tapatalk

[rayden83]

And in the last 3 years:
* the (only) brain of our side, Hodgson, was injured/retired. Unplanned loss of most important player
* Hodgson's potential replacement, Trev, injured seriously twice
* G Willy debacle. I've been critical of Stuart for how he handled that, but either way G Willy was leaving
* Fog brought in and misses his first half year
* CNK seriously injured, never really comes good. End last year replaced by Savage who breaks his jaw, hammy, this year. At best he's a cherry on top sort of player anyway. He's never going to be the brain or heart of a team.
* All of the above, especially no direction around him, exposes Wighton. He gets progressively worse over those three years.

Look at all pathetic excuses being trotted out for Ricky's crap coaching. There's not a club in the NRL that hasn't had to deal with injuries, suspensions, personal issues etc. You don't see Penrif whining about losing Kikau, Burton, Korisau etc, they just get on with life and continue to compete week in week out no matter what's going on.

Even when Stuart's roster is fully fit and healthy we are still get thrashed at home by the in form teams. His only saving grace is that he knows how to grind out wins against the bottom 3 sides, and if we are fortunate to get to place those teams twice, then we are a good chance of finishing 8th. You only have to look at how poor the Raiders play against the good sides, and how terribly Stuart conducts himself during press conferences with his clueless analysis, to know we have next to zero chance of ever winning a premiership under his tenure.

[Rickmando]

P.s. Who is Jason Ryles? What sort of pulling power and connections does he have in the game?

He ran back to Melbourne with his tail between his legs because he knew he couldn't handle a rebuild of St George. A powerful Sydney club with multiple junior nurseries. And you're suggesting he could attract talent here? To Canberra? You have to be kidding.

He was sounded out by Saints but got cold feet when he wasn’t given complete control, and the likes of Gus got in his ear and warned him a rebuild of a bottom club wouldn’t be a smart coaching career move for a rookie coach, much like Ciraldo and Benji are finding out now.

When the Roosters found out he was negotiating for the job behind their backs they cracked the **** and punted him. He then took up the Melbourne job where he had previously worked, with Bellamy due to retire shortly, it’s a much more desirable and logical gig for him. Not sure about running away from anything with his tail between his legs.

Taking the Saints job was the easy but foolish option. Taking the Melbourne job was the smarter long game option.

I thought Ryles knocking back the St George job showed a level of insight and maturity that our current Head Coach could only dream about possessing

[Raidernation]

The problem with the Ricky’s spine stinks so its not his fault is:

- He offered Jack 1.1m a year to be the teams five eighth for another 4 years

- His solution for Hodgson was Levi and Starling. He has doubled down on that for another two years.

- He had no backup fullback for either a player the coaches have big concerns
over in Savage, or more likely his first choice was Kris who is missing 4/5ths
of what a fullback needs.

- His solution for Williams leaving was Fog, who is a decent player but is an obvious downgrade.

- His priority signing was a second rower in Fifita, which wouldve been a coup but it wouldve locked in Fog, Jack, a risky fullback and two of the three hookers for at least a few years with no cash to upgrade.

Most of these were decisions that would still be impacting the team for years into the future. Thats why people have an issue with his recent decision making, what he did years ago doesn’t excuse that in any way.

He may be saved by the rookie strategy but he doesn’t need to be head coach to recruit.

a bit of balance here, Savage was injured just before the season started, bringing someone in would have meant 1/3 of the way through the season the back up goes back to NSW Cup and takes Stewarts position. My guess is this was a calculated punt to not stifle Stewarts progression. Problem is Savage didn't do enough to convince the coaching staff he was any better than what they had in Kris and Raps.
In terms of Jack, not worth the money I agree but with no one on the market and no one in the system ready to start I get it. It would have been a poor decision but no Jack or options would have seemed like a massive step back at the time.
G.Williams has more potential (arguably a left sided 6) but in no way is fog a downgrade on performance. Fog is a huge upgrade on kicking alone despite stuffing up in the finals. G.Williams did very little as our 7.
I dont rate fifita as highly as many do but going after a tackle breaking second rower is a must with a halfback who is limited.

[BJ]

Is Ryles now assistant coach at the Wallaby’s?

[T_R]

Is Ryles now assistant coach at the Wallaby’s?

If so, we should grab him. That's the kind of winning culture we should be buying into.

Sent from my SM-G998B using Tapatalk

[BadnMean]

The problem with the Ricky’s spine stinks so its not his fault is:

- He offered Jack 1.1m a year to be the teams five eighth for another 4 years

- His solution for Hodgson was Levi and Starling. He has doubled down on that for another two years.

- He had no backup fullback for either a player the coaches have big concerns
over in Savage, or more likely his first choice was Kris who is missing 4/5ths
of what a fullback needs.

- His solution for Williams leaving was Fog, who is a decent player but is an obvious downgrade.

- His priority signing was a second rower in Fifita, which wouldve been a coup but it wouldve locked in Fog, Jack, a risky fullback and two of the three hookers for at least a few years with no cash to upgrade.

Most of these were decisions that would still be impacting the team for years into the future. Thats why people have an issue with his recent decision making, what he did years ago doesn’t excuse that in any way.

He may be saved by the rookie strategy but he doesn’t need to be head coach to recruit.

a bit of balance here, Savage was injured just before the season started, bringing someone in would have meant 1/3 of the way through the season the back up goes back to NSW Cup and takes Stewarts position. My guess is this was a calculated punt to not stifle Stewarts progression. Problem is Savage didn't do enough to convince the coaching staff he was any better than what they had in Kris and Raps.
In terms of Jack, not worth the money I agree but with no one on the market and no one in the system ready to start I get it. It would have been a poor decision but no Jack or options would have seemed like a massive step back at the time.
G.Williams has more potential (arguably a left sided 6) but in no way is fog a downgrade on performance. Fog is a huge upgrade on kicking alone despite stuffing up in the finals. G.Williams did very little as our 7.
I dont rate fifita as highly as many do but going after a tackle breaking second rower is a must with a halfback who is limited.

Actually what Savage already did in 2022 at FB was streets ahead of anything we saw from makeshift FBs in 2023, in attack and defence over Kris and in attack, over Rapa. It was a pure Ricky funk that he determined all a FB needed to do in 2023 was make hit ups.

[Botman]

And in the last 3 years:
* the (only) brain of our side, Hodgson, was injured/retired. Unplanned loss of most important player
* Hodgson's potential replacement, Trev, injured seriously twice
* G Willy debacle. I've been critical of Stuart for how he handled that, but either way G Willy was leaving
* Fog brought in and misses his first half year
* CNK seriously injured, never really comes good. End last year replaced by Savage who breaks his jaw, hammy, this year. At best he's a cherry on top sort of player anyway. He's never going to be the brain or heart of a team.
* All of the above, especially no direction around him, exposes Wighton. He gets progressively worse over those three years.

Just on this, i know others have had a crack at it too however

- Hodgson wasnt an unplanned loss. The club elected to let him go. He was chasing more security and dollars and we decided that wasnt for us.
So it was entirely planned, and Stuart elected to replace him with the idea of a kid, albeit someone very talented, but someone who had a proven track record of injury history and who had not proven anything at NRL level and then supplimented that by signing Danny Levi who has spent 7 seasons and 100 first grade games proving he's not an NRL standard footballer
That's ENTIRELY on Stuart. He made the call to invest in other hookers outside of Hodgson and he made the decision about who to invest in.

- The Williams debacle was handled incredibly poorly by the coach imo. Stuart's the coach. He got Fog to replace him and i think that's been a reasonably defensible decision.

- CNK did get hurt but he also finished his career with us playing reserve grade. He was fit and healthy and not considered in the coaches top 17. And rightly so as he was a major hand break on this team offensively and the team dramatically improved when he was replaced... he also left for his kids and i dont blame the club or player for that, that's life.
However we've since seen him go to a new place and he's functioning absolutely brilliantly for them, including using his passing game. So our coach couldnt get out of CNK in 3-4 years what Webster got out of him in one off season. HUGE indictment on the coach.

Seb Kris, objectively and statistically one of the worst fullbacks in the game played most of the year at fullback, and it was a disaster. That's on Stuart too.

- As others have said, Wighton elected to leave us. This coach wanted to give this guy 1.1m to continue to be a 5/8th, a position not 6 months later he decided Jack Wighton cant play. I mean what on earth are we doing here? What's the process for our HC? The guy who builds this squad? It's mind boggling, regardless of where you stand on Wighton as a player. Process is a mess.

The problems with the spine are entirely of the coaches making... so if you want to tell me he cant win because his spine sucks, ill say fine, lets blame the decision maker that delivered this spine.

And good new... Corporate needs me to find the difference between the HC who cant win with a **** spine and the decision maker who delivered this spine



Now the one saving grace and where Stuart gets a ton of credit, is he's identified and successfully recruited 3 guys in key spine positions who i think are special talents in Stewart, Strange and Sanders... hats on that, 10/10 no notes stuff. Brilliant... but Stuart the recruiter has done his job, and now we rely on Stuart the coach... ane the track record... it aint that flash when it comes to key spine positions.

[Hong Kong Raider]

Newcastle's best player is Kalyn Ponga. AOB admitted he was wrong to play him in the front line at 5/8, and shifted him back to FB. Got him playing close to the best football of his career - so much that he's going to get an Aust jumper even though the team has a FB as their captain and Reece Walsh. AOB deserves credit for that and a contract extension for winning 10 straight and best sequence of results since 2001.

Who's our most highest paid player ? Ricky couldn't get the best out of him in the last few seasons, esp. this year, he played that bad that he moved him from 5/8 and others were calling him to be dropped from FG. That's on Ricky. We gave him credit when credit's due in 2019 - 2020 as to how Jack was playing. He would have only polled in the Dally M in the two games v Dolphins. And he decided to leave us.

Ricky got a contract extension on or around 22 July 2022, to 2025, when we were outside the top 8, ranked 10th at the time. The year before we were 10th. The board could have delayed the extension to this year. It shows the Raiders board and Furner don't value results and success like we fans do.

[Robert the Bruce]

I'm not disrespecting the club but the club hasn't made it past week 1 of finals without Ricky as a player or coach. He's been quite influential for the club. Particularly any of its on field success.

That’s straight up not true.

1987 - made the GF. No Ricky
2000 - week 2 of finals. No Ricky
2003 - week 2 of finals. No Ricky
2010 - week 2 of finals. No Ricky
2012 - week 2 of finals. No Ricky

Nice one Finchy.

So across the 15+ year period Ricky wasn't at the club we made the finals 4 times.

Since he has been here we've made the finals on 5 occasions in 10 years. A GF and 2 Preliminary finals.

Your point stinks.

No actually. We made the finals more than 4 times. Those are just the times we made it past week 1. My point is accurate. Yours is straight up false.

Raiders finals appearances in non Stuart years - 8/15 - 53%

Raiders finals appearances with Stuart as coach - 5/10 - 50%.

Let’s just say Instead, he’s made the finals 5/8 times since he first got us in the the finals in 2016.

He did take over the club when we’re in absolute crisis. 2013-15 was also our second longest finals drought in our history.

Think it’s weird to include his first seasons as coach because he was brought in to rebuild the club. And a damn good job he did at that! 15th before he came to 2nd in his third year.

Rickheads unite


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Raidernation]

The problem with the Ricky’s spine stinks so its not his fault is:

- He offered Jack 1.1m a year to be the teams five eighth for another 4 years

- His solution for Hodgson was Levi and Starling. He has doubled down on that for another two years.

- He had no backup fullback for either a player the coaches have big concerns
over in Savage, or more likely his first choice was Kris who is missing 4/5ths
of what a fullback needs.

- His solution for Williams leaving was Fog, who is a decent player but is an obvious downgrade.

- His priority signing was a second rower in Fifita, which wouldve been a coup but it wouldve locked in Fog, Jack, a risky fullback and two of the three hookers for at least a few years with no cash to upgrade.

Most of these were decisions that would still be impacting the team for years into the future. Thats why people have an issue with his recent decision making, what he did years ago doesn’t excuse that in any way.

He may be saved by the rookie strategy but he doesn’t need to be head coach to recruit.

a bit of balance here, Savage was injured just before the season started, bringing someone in would have meant 1/3 of the way through the season the back up goes back to NSW Cup and takes Stewarts position. My guess is this was a calculated punt to not stifle Stewarts progression. Problem is Savage didn't do enough to convince the coaching staff he was any better than what they had in Kris and Raps.
In terms of Jack, not worth the money I agree but with no one on the market and no one in the system ready to start I get it. It would have been a poor decision but no Jack or options would have seemed like a massive step back at the time.
G.Williams has more potential (arguably a left sided 6) but in no way is fog a downgrade on performance. Fog is a huge upgrade on kicking alone despite stuffing up in the finals. G.Williams did very little as our 7.
I dont rate fifita as highly as many do but going after a tackle breaking second rower is a must with a halfback who is limited.

Actually what Savage already did in 2022 at FB was streets ahead of anything we saw from makeshift FBs in 2023, in attack and defence over Kris and in attack, over Rapa. It was a pure Ricky funk that he determined all a FB needed to do in 2023 was make hit ups.

Savage can't defend, doesn't communicate in defense and to be honest is a little lazy. The funny thing is the one thing I thought he did well was hit ups. Kris was just as bad defensively, a little worse in attack and just as good with hit ups. Difference is Kris is an NRL player meaning the effort is always there and he is clearly a better communicator than Savage. Effort and communication were and are the only barriers to Savage playing fullback or now wing. It's not like the coaching staff wouldn't be telling him this over and over. It's not like they don't want him to succeed, he had no business being in first grade last year, he was dreadful but they gave him a long contract and we're fully planning to start him at fullback this year. There's a real question if he has the mentality to be an NRL footballer. Right now fullback is still open and so is wing so it's up to him but the idea that the staff only look at hit ups is nonsense.

[gangrenous]

What evidence is there for Savage not putting in effort, and Kris being a better communicator?

[Bluesbrother]

And in the last 3 years:
* the (only) brain of our side, Hodgson, was injured/retired. Unplanned loss of most important player
* Hodgson's potential replacement, Trev, injured seriously twice
* G Willy debacle. I've been critical of Stuart for how he handled that, but either way G Willy was leaving
* Fog brought in and misses his first half year
* CNK seriously injured, never really comes good. End last year replaced by Savage who breaks his jaw, hammy, this year. At best he's a cherry on top sort of player anyway. He's never going to be the brain or heart of a team.
* All of the above, especially no direction around him, exposes Wighton. He gets progressively worse over those three years.

Just on this, i know others have had a crack at it too however

- Hodgson wasnt an unplanned loss. The club elected to let him go. He was chasing more security and dollars and we decided that wasnt for us.
So it was entirely planned, and Stuart elected to replace him with the idea of a kid, albeit someone very talented, but someone who had a proven track record of injury history and who had not proven anything at NRL level and then supplimented that by signing Danny Levi who has spent 7 seasons and 100 first grade games proving he's not an NRL standard footballer
That's ENTIRELY on Stuart. He made the call to invest in other hookers outside of Hodgson and he made the decision about who to invest in.

- The Williams debacle was handled incredibly poorly by the coach imo. Stuart's the coach. He got Fog to replace him and i think that's been a reasonably defensible decision.

- CNK did get hurt but he also finished his career with us playing reserve grade. He was fit and healthy and not considered in the coaches top 17. And rightly so as he was a major hand break on this team offensively and the team dramatically improved when he was replaced... he also left for his kids and i dont blame the club or player for that, that's life.
However we've since seen him go to a new place and he's functioning absolutely brilliantly for them, including using his passing game. So our coach couldnt get out of CNK in 3-4 years what Webster got out of him in one off season. HUGE indictment on the coach.

Seb Kris, objectively and statistically one of the worst fullbacks in the game played most of the year at fullback, and it was a disaster. That's on Stuart too.

- As others have said, Wighton elected to leave us. This coach wanted to give this guy 1.1m to continue to be a 5/8th, a position not 6 months later he decided Jack Wighton cant play. I mean what on earth are we doing here? What's the process for our HC? The guy who builds this squad? It's mind boggling, regardless of where you stand on Wighton as a player. Process is a mess.

The problems with the spine are entirely of the coaches making... so if you want to tell me he cant win because his spine sucks, ill say fine, lets blame the decision maker that delivered this spine.

And good new... Corporate needs me to find the difference between the HC who cant win with a **** spine and the decision maker who delivered this spine



Now the one saving grace and where Stuart gets a ton of credit, is he's identified and successfully recruited 3 guys in key spine positions who i think are special talents in Stewart, Strange and Sanders... hats on that, 10/10 no notes stuff. Brilliant... but Stuart the recruiter has done his job, and now we rely on Stuart the coach... ane the track record... it aint that flash when it comes to key spine positions.

That's complete waffle.

Hodgson having 2 ACL injuries and turning to **** wasn't planned. Once he had those injuries the club decided to move him on as he was earning close to 1 million dollars. That certainly wasn't the plan though.

Williams - again, far from a planned departure. Handled poorly by the coach? The guy was not coming to trainings? He was on 600k a year and supposed to be running the side. Aren't you saying no one is bigger than the club.... again though, not a planned exit. He was 25 at the time and killing it. He could have been with us at least another 5 seasons.

CNK, again not a planned exit. He was elite for us and we'll loved by all. However he had serious injuries and he didn't recover. He was away from home and the club let him go after 1, he wasn't performing and 2, his mental health being away from home was not good.

I don't think any of those things were planned or Ricky's doing.

You are deadset delusional!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Do that to any club and they don't make finals. Yet, we did, and have continued to.

So we lose 3 elite players in the spine and our attack takes a hit but despite that we're still playing finals!!!!!!!!! How can you possibly argue that he is doing a poor job? You're incredibly biased.

[The Nickman]

Needs more exclamation marks.

[BadnMean]

The problem with the Ricky’s spine stinks so its not his fault is:

- He offered Jack 1.1m a year to be the teams five eighth for another 4 years

- His solution for Hodgson was Levi and Starling. He has doubled down on that for another two years.

- He had no backup fullback for either a player the coaches have big concerns
over in Savage, or more likely his first choice was Kris who is missing 4/5ths
of what a fullback needs.

- His solution for Williams leaving was Fog, who is a decent player but is an obvious downgrade.

- His priority signing was a second rower in Fifita, which wouldve been a coup but it wouldve locked in Fog, Jack, a risky fullback and two of the three hookers for at least a few years with no cash to upgrade.

Most of these were decisions that would still be impacting the team for years into the future. Thats why people have an issue with his recent decision making, what he did years ago doesn’t excuse that in any way.

He may be saved by the rookie strategy but he doesn’t need to be head coach to recruit.

a bit of balance here, Savage was injured just before the season started, bringing someone in would have meant 1/3 of the way through the season the back up goes back to NSW Cup and takes Stewarts position. My guess is this was a calculated punt to not stifle Stewarts progression. Problem is Savage didn't do enough to convince the coaching staff he was any better than what they had in Kris and Raps.
In terms of Jack, not worth the money I agree but with no one on the market and no one in the system ready to start I get it. It would have been a poor decision but no Jack or options would have seemed like a massive step back at the time.
G.Williams has more potential (arguably a left sided 6) but in no way is fog a downgrade on performance. Fog is a huge upgrade on kicking alone despite stuffing up in the finals. G.Williams did very little as our 7.
I dont rate fifita as highly as many do but going after a tackle breaking second rower is a must with a halfback who is limited.

Actually what Savage already did in 2022 at FB was streets ahead of anything we saw from makeshift FBs in 2023, in attack and defence over Kris and in attack, over Rapa. It was a pure Ricky funk that he determined all a FB needed to do in 2023 was make hit ups.

Savage can't defend, doesn't communicate in defense and to be honest is a little lazy. The funny thing is the one thing I thought he did well was hit ups. Kris was just as bad defensively, a little worse in attack and just as good with hit ups. Difference is Kris is an NRL player meaning the effort is always there and he is clearly a better communicator than Savage. Effort and communication were and are the only barriers to Savage playing fullback or now wing. It's not like the coaching staff wouldn't be telling him this over and over. It's not like they don't want him to succeed, he had no business being in first grade last year, he was dreadful but they gave him a long contract and we're fully planning to start him at fullback this year. There's a real question if he has the mentality to be an NRL footballer. Right now fullback is still open and so is wing so it's up to him but the idea that the staff only look at hit ups is nonsense.

Some false equivalency there. A disingenuous comparison of defence and attack between the two.

Kris was the worst defensive FB in the comp, try causes, line break causes, never there for a grubber and if he did he fumbled it (or knocked it out of the blokes hand who DID gather it). In black and white numbers, worst defensive FB.

Savage was ok in defence, numbers nor eye was anywhere near as bad. The meme was that he was bad and you guys love to spout it but there's no data or examples. Just a vague dislike. Savage was streets ahead in attack- again, look at the try assists, linebreaks (in games at FB each) etc etc, the data is there and shows a stark difference- then have a look at the highlight reel and see what he could do and what our team lacks...

Whenever I've watched Savage play FB this year and last he was always talking. Anyway you're fine to not want him at FB, that's an opinion. But I'll keep calling out the fudging and false statements when they are nowhere near what actually happened and bent just tu suit the "Savage can't defend" meme.

I would absolutely believe the coaching staff only value bleeding green and hit ups- it's the same blokes who keep running out the slowest back 3 in the game and who cannot organise a single play which gets their best ball runner (Timoko) the ball 1 on 1 in the 20m over an entire season.

[Rickmando]

Newcastle's best player is Kalyn Ponga. AOB admitted he was wrong to play him in the front line at 5/8, and shifted him back to FB. Got him playing close to the best football of his career - so much that he's going to get an Aust jumper even though the team has a FB as their captain and Reece Walsh. AOB deserves credit for that and a contract extension for winning 10 straight and best sequence of results since 2001.

Who's our most highest paid player ? Ricky couldn't get the best out of him in the last few seasons, esp. this year, he played that bad that he moved him from 5/8 and others were calling him to be dropped from FG. That's on Ricky. We gave him credit when credit's due in 2019 - 2020 as to how Jack was playing. He would have only polled in the Dally M in the two games v Dolphins. And he decided to leave us.

Ricky got a contract extension on or around 22 July 2022, to 2025, when we were outside the top 8, ranked 10th at the time. The year before we were 10th. The board could have delayed the extension to this year. It shows the Raiders board and Furner don't value results and success like we fans do.

Could you imagine Rick ever genuinely putting his hand up and saying he got a key decision wrong?

Impressive from a relatively junior coach in AOB, who has far less job security than our dictator.

I don’t think as fans we expect the decision-makers to get everything right! But, seeing leadership take zero accountability is the glaring problem. Organisations that don’t have leadership setting the right example - well they simply don’t go anywhere due to their inability to self-scout and therefore improve.

Some self-scouting in the post-2019 afterglow would have us in a much better position than we are now

[Botman]

You're incredibly biased.

Genuinely funny coming the resident “Leave Britney/Stuart Alone!” guy

[Hong Kong Raider]

This Andrew Webster bloke is going alright...

I thought this was a good article on Webster. Didn't complain about the roster, worked at improving the players through coaching, communication, and analysis.

Why Andrew Webster – the coach, not the gibberer – deserves the Dally M

The first thing new Warriors coach Andrew Webster did was enact a policy that ensured every player walks past the coaches’ offices every day – when they arrive and when they leave. By doing so, Webster didn’t just know when players were arriving but could also engage with them when they left. If there was something that needed addressing, it was done before they went home for the night.

He also adopted the same straightforward, strategic approach that made him invaluable at the Panthers. He showed his players the targets they needed to hit statistically to roll with the big boys of the competition, either defensively or in terms of possession. That included explaining the historical data of the leading sides of the past five years.

Read more: https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/why-an ... 5e5gy.html

[Off]

How refreshing.

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[Rickmando]

Someone needs to tell Webster that what he’s doing isn’t leadership! We were told by our dictator what leadership is earlier in the year. Apparently, it should be more like this:

Stuart lashes ‘muppets’ as Croker call vindicated

CANBERRA coach Ricky Stuart has taken fresh aim at those who doubted his decision to rest soon-to-be 300-gamer Jarrod Croker after the call was vindicated by Friday’s tight win over Wests Tigers.

“When you’re in leadership, you’ve got to take a risk,” he said. “I was going to cop it from every one of you (the media) in here tonight if we had’ve got beaten. But I was prepared to take the risk. That’s leadership, not these other muppets, who pretend they know.

Read more: https://citynews.com.au/2023/stuart-las ... indicated/

I hope you’re taking notes, Webster

[Raidernation]

The problem with the Ricky’s spine stinks so its not his fault is:

- He offered Jack 1.1m a year to be the teams five eighth for another 4 years

- His solution for Hodgson was Levi and Starling. He has doubled down on that for another two years.

- He had no backup fullback for either a player the coaches have big concerns
over in Savage, or more likely his first choice was Kris who is missing 4/5ths
of what a fullback needs.

- His solution for Williams leaving was Fog, who is a decent player but is an obvious downgrade.

- His priority signing was a second rower in Fifita, which wouldve been a coup but it wouldve locked in Fog, Jack, a risky fullback and two of the three hookers for at least a few years with no cash to upgrade.

Most of these were decisions that would still be impacting the team for years into the future. Thats why people have an issue with his recent decision making, what he did years ago doesn’t excuse that in any way.

He may be saved by the rookie strategy but he doesn’t need to be head coach to recruit.

a bit of balance here, Savage was injured just before the season started, bringing someone in would have meant 1/3 of the way through the season the back up goes back to NSW Cup and takes Stewarts position. My guess is this was a calculated punt to not stifle Stewarts progression. Problem is Savage didn't do enough to convince the coaching staff he was any better than what they had in Kris and Raps.
In terms of Jack, not worth the money I agree but with no one on the market and no one in the system ready to start I get it. It would have been a poor decision but no Jack or options would have seemed like a massive step back at the time.
G.Williams has more potential (arguably a left sided 6) but in no way is fog a downgrade on performance. Fog is a huge upgrade on kicking alone despite stuffing up in the finals. G.Williams did very little as our 7.
I dont rate fifita as highly as many do but going after a tackle breaking second rower is a must with a halfback who is limited.

Actually what Savage already did in 2022 at FB was streets ahead of anything we saw from makeshift FBs in 2023, in attack and defence over Kris and in attack, over Rapa. It was a pure Ricky funk that he determined all a FB needed to do in 2023 was make hit ups.

Savage can't defend, doesn't communicate in defense and to be honest is a little lazy. The funny thing is the one thing I thought he did well was hit ups. Kris was just as bad defensively, a little worse in attack and just as good with hit ups. Difference is Kris is an NRL player meaning the effort is always there and he is clearly a better communicator than Savage. Effort and communication were and are the only barriers to Savage playing fullback or now wing. It's not like the coaching staff wouldn't be telling him this over and over. It's not like they don't want him to succeed, he had no business being in first grade last year, he was dreadful but they gave him a long contract and we're fully planning to start him at fullback this year. There's a real question if he has the mentality to be an NRL footballer. Right now fullback is still open and so is wing so it's up to him but the idea that the staff only look at hit ups is nonsense.

Some false equivalency there. A disingenuous comparison of defence and attack between the two.

Kris was the worst defensive FB in the comp, try causes, line break causes, never there for a grubber and if he did he fumbled it (or knocked it out of the blokes hand who DID gather it). In black and white numbers, worst defensive FB.

Savage was ok in defence, numbers nor eye was anywhere near as bad. The meme was that he was bad and you guys love to spout it but there's no data or examples. Just a vague dislike. Savage was streets ahead in attack- again, look at the try assists, linebreaks (in games at FB each) etc etc, the data is there and shows a stark difference- then have a look at the highlight reel and see what he could do and what our team lacks...

Whenever I've watched Savage play FB this year and last he was always talking. Anyway you're fine to not want him at FB, that's an opinion. But I'll keep calling out the fudging and false statements when they are nowhere near what actually happened and bent just tu suit the "Savage can't defend" meme.

I would absolutely believe the coaching staff only value bleeding green and hit ups- it's the same blokes who keep running out the slowest back 3 in the game and who cannot organise a single play which gets their best ball runner (Timoko) the ball 1 on 1 in the 20m over an entire season.

I've made the point before that that the stats should inform what you see on the field. What I mean by that is you don't have a missed tackle if your not there to make the tackle, a try assist where I give it to the person next to me to beat 4 players to score is not really a try assist. I agree opinions will differ but I firmly believe the reason he isn't in the team is him and not because the coaching staff want Kris(the worst fullback in the league) playing fullback. Giving this kid a pass because he is quick and can line break every so often won't help him develop, just watch Sloan at the dragons or dufty at the dragons who were exactly the same. I'd like to see Savage to develop better than that and giving the kid a pass into first grade won't help him and he is more than capable of being our starting fullback or winger next year if he figures it out. Let's see if he can.

[Off]

Ah yes this pearl of wisdom, the decline in stuarts decision making is startling.

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[The Nickman]

This Andrew Webster bloke is going alright...

I thought this was a good article on Webster. Didn't complain about the roster, worked at improving the players through coaching, communication, and analysis.

Why Andrew Webster – the coach, not the gibberer – deserves the Dally M

The first thing new Warriors coach Andrew Webster did was enact a policy that ensured every player walks past the coaches’ offices every day – when they arrive and when they leave. By doing so, Webster didn’t just know when players were arriving but could also engage with them when they left. If there was something that needed addressing, it was done before they went home for the night.

He also adopted the same straightforward, strategic approach that made him invaluable at the Panthers. He showed his players the targets they needed to hit statistically to roll with the big boys of the competition, either defensively or in terms of possession. That included explaining the historical data of the leading sides of the past five years.

Read more: https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/why-an ... 5e5gy.html

And that, my friends, is a coach.

[PNGRaider37]

This Andrew Webster bloke is going alright...

I thought this was a good article on Webster. Didn't complain about the roster, worked at improving the players through coaching, communication, and analysis.

Why Andrew Webster – the coach, not the gibberer – deserves the Dally M

The first thing new Warriors coach Andrew Webster did was enact a policy that ensured every player walks past the coaches’ offices every day – when they arrive and when they leave. By doing so, Webster didn’t just know when players were arriving but could also engage with them when they left. If there was something that needed addressing, it was done before they went home for the night.

He also adopted the same straightforward, strategic approach that made him invaluable at the Panthers. He showed his players the targets they needed to hit statistically to roll with the big boys of the competition, either defensively or in terms of possession. That included explaining the historical data of the leading sides of the past five years.

Read more: https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/why-an ... 5e5gy.html

And that, my friends, is a coach.

Good read. Bit of common sense there. I hope he goes well and doesn't catch Paytens 2nd year syndrome.

[Off]

Or end up spitting vitriol using every excuse under the sun and ultimately embarrassing the club/fans.

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[BJ]

Andrew Webster has adopted some of Ricky’s style and approach to teamwork and getting players to really buy in to broader club culture. He’s admitted he learnt some key stuff off Ricky previously.

But Webster has also added and improved on some of the areas that Ricky is weaker at. That’s where I keep calling for Ricky to seek out an assistant coach who’s better at coaching our attacking structure and game day strategy.

[Off]

Nup, the blokes off his head.

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