Depends if he hired AOB or not
Adam O'Brien discussion
- Thread starter Joshhh
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Tackleslikeagirl
Alex McKinnon
Nothing to do with who hired who. I’m talking about if one head coach is blamed for a teams poor attack, then that should be translated across all teams. Don’t just pick and chose to suit agendas.
mozza
Game on broheim
This. Ciraldo is all hype and little substance. Doesn’t take responsibility for his shortcomings. Also is yet to win a Finals game. Still gets called a great coach by his mates in the media though.
Let’s not forget their attack was average for the majority of last year and their defence has regressed massively.
Mclovin
Todd Bates
To be fair to AOB the dogs attack fell off a cliff last year when they decided to make changes to the spine but he and the head coach havnt made to much of a difference to the attack. I actually thought with how they played, AOB would have been a good signing seeing as he likes to play high percentage footy but the game got quicker so maybe it was an unlucky choice by the head coach to hire him.
Precisely. Ciraldo seems a little protected in this area. It’s probably fair to say that Obi isn’t the modern day attack coach you’d want. But yes if all the blame went to head coach when he was here, then all the blame goes to Ciraldo on this occasion too.
HarVeeGee13
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
I remember people were saying that the attack getting worse when going from Sexton to Galvin was because the draw got harder. I felt like I was being gaslit there. They were just obviously worse. Never a super dynamic attacking side but they at least had a lot of clarity about what they were doing, a lot of cohesion.
No Sexton isn’t special, he’s slow and he’s a pretty average defender, but he does a lot of the little stuff which goes unnoticed which leads to his outside men playing with time and space, he rarely makes errors, and he does actually have some stuff that scabs extra tries for a team eg a really good short kicking game, and if there’s something easy & obvious on the table for him like a winger jamming in when they shouldn’t, he tends to see it.
They tossed it away for a guy who is also slow & plays a style of footy which is really hard to fit into a team concept because he’s always calling his own number and chasing direct try involvements. Doesn’t really think about putting in other guys in good positions to do their own thing pretty much ever. Also a guy who has a rep of being a bit of a ****head.
I’m sure he’s delighted with how things are going though, AOB will tell him to keep spamming those short balls and eventually he’ll get try assists out of that.
No Sexton isn’t special, he’s slow and he’s a pretty average defender, but he does a lot of the little stuff which goes unnoticed which leads to his outside men playing with time and space, he rarely makes errors, and he does actually have some stuff that scabs extra tries for a team eg a really good short kicking game, and if there’s something easy & obvious on the table for him like a winger jamming in when they shouldn’t, he tends to see it.
They tossed it away for a guy who is also slow & plays a style of footy which is really hard to fit into a team concept because he’s always calling his own number and chasing direct try involvements. Doesn’t really think about putting in other guys in good positions to do their own thing pretty much ever. Also a guy who has a rep of being a bit of a ****head.
I’m sure he’s delighted with how things are going though, AOB will tell him to keep spamming those short balls and eventually he’ll get try assists out of that.
Kurriboy
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
AOB struggled as a head coach, our attack was deplorable, our defence was ok. AOB here wears all the blame for that as he is head coach. Ciraldo the same at the dogs.
But, if AOB was all to blame for our woeful attack here, why would the Dogs hire him to have an influence on their attack? Just beggars belief.
That being said, the buck stops with Ciraldo and he needs to make changes to the direction the attack is heading, or the support staff he has if something isn't working.
Galvin - Said when he was at WT he is average, nothing has changed my mind since then. I recall I was told when I said that not to write the young bloke off too early, can I now? Or nah keep watching him be mediocre?
But, if AOB was all to blame for our woeful attack here, why would the Dogs hire him to have an influence on their attack? Just beggars belief.
That being said, the buck stops with Ciraldo and he needs to make changes to the direction the attack is heading, or the support staff he has if something isn't working.
Galvin - Said when he was at WT he is average, nothing has changed my mind since then. I recall I was told when I said that not to write the young bloke off too early, can I now? Or nah keep watching him be mediocre?
HarVeeGee13
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
I think he's talented but the worrying signs are mounting if you're a Dogs fan.
Vagabond89
Adrian Bubb
Rumour had it that AOB was hired as he sold the dogs he could help bring Ponga over and that failed. Another that Gus had Drinkwater lined up instead but Ciraldo shot it down as he preferred Tracey.
Joshhh
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
It's just jobs for mates I reckon. Ciraldo and O'Brien are mates. Like when O'Brien got Seibold a job here.
frankLauda
Ben Kennedy
Besides the poor performances and how far we fell off a cliff, he really did dig his own grave with comments like “we are an ugly team” and “Knights fans don’t know anything about rugby league.”
Newygirl
Todd Bates
I don’t think the Dogs were ever as good as they were made out to be. I think everyone got ahead of themselves, Dogs fans most of all. Their defence was great but that’s mostly fallen away now and all they’re left with is their **** spine and **** attack
Ciraldo and AOB seem to share the same philosophy of safety first and foremost, limiting as much of risk as possible. It’s like they’re trying to play the game by numbers. Computer simulations don’t actually work with real people who get tired and makes mistakes. Nor do they take into account what some like Latrell Mitchell can do to you.
lol preferring Tracy over Drinkwater is wild when you have no attack
Ciraldo and AOB seem to share the same philosophy of safety first and foremost, limiting as much of risk as possible. It’s like they’re trying to play the game by numbers. Computer simulations don’t actually work with real people who get tired and makes mistakes. Nor do they take into account what some like Latrell Mitchell can do to you.
lol preferring Tracy over Drinkwater is wild when you have no attack
HarVeeGee13
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
Yeah and something people pointed to with them getting worse as the season goes on, not winning a finals game - that's something that can happen when the team isn't built inside-out (i.e. very good to elite spine and/or great middles), but outside-in (I would argue that their best players are outside backs and back rowers, their middle is more about having a lot of solid hard working guys in depth) + their "thing" in terms of winning games is stifling defence, constant energy. Instantly you have fewer games where the wins are easy. You need to be at a 9/10 every week, and it wears you down.
It would make sense that the redlining issue would crop up not only in terms of running out of steam later in the season, but also after x number of seasons of doing it. Maybe it's all AOB's fault, but maybe also certain guys have come away from the previous two seasons thinking - subsconsciously - gee we gave it everything and still feel like we're so far away, what's the point? Why am I breaking my body like this so Galvin and Burton can make so little hay out of all the work I'm doing?
This may read like I'm criticising a team for being consistent, which would go against what fans want. We would love it if our team was an 8-9/10 every week, I'm sure. But the reality is that being a team which can play at like a 5 or 6 out of 10 and still win pretty easily, that's what you actually want lol. So much easier to summon the extra effort needed in the big games when you don't have to bring that effort every week all year. Brisbane 2025 kind of the ultimate example of this.
Will be interesting how the perception of Gus is if they go on to have a bad run now. Because yeah he did turn them around from a bad spot with his value signings in depth... but also paid his biggest salaries to a centre and back rower, who also happened to be the first big stars to come off contract while he was in charge. Bit of a contrast with POS only being prepared to do the same kind of overpay specifically to secure the #1 and #7 he wanted...
It would make sense that the redlining issue would crop up not only in terms of running out of steam later in the season, but also after x number of seasons of doing it. Maybe it's all AOB's fault, but maybe also certain guys have come away from the previous two seasons thinking - subsconsciously - gee we gave it everything and still feel like we're so far away, what's the point? Why am I breaking my body like this so Galvin and Burton can make so little hay out of all the work I'm doing?
This may read like I'm criticising a team for being consistent, which would go against what fans want. We would love it if our team was an 8-9/10 every week, I'm sure. But the reality is that being a team which can play at like a 5 or 6 out of 10 and still win pretty easily, that's what you actually want lol. So much easier to summon the extra effort needed in the big games when you don't have to bring that effort every week all year. Brisbane 2025 kind of the ultimate example of this.
Will be interesting how the perception of Gus is if they go on to have a bad run now. Because yeah he did turn them around from a bad spot with his value signings in depth... but also paid his biggest salaries to a centre and back rower, who also happened to be the first big stars to come off contract while he was in charge. Bit of a contrast with POS only being prepared to do the same kind of overpay specifically to secure the #1 and #7 he wanted...
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Newygirl
Todd Bates
Yeah it’s weird too that they went the with spending big on on the edges since both Gus and Ciraldo came from Penrith who were the epitome of paying up for the spine and middles with the exception of To’o (because he’s an exception you make)
Gus probably should’ve pinged that would don’t build your team around the guys Penrith are willing to let leave. If you’re going to replicate them, you do what they did with other players not with their discards.
That’s what I’m most interested to see, who goes first Gus or Ciraldo if they don’t figure things out. I was under the impression Gus had final say but if Ciraldo said no to Drinkwater, perhaps that not quite the case.
If history is anything to go by, Gus will start offloading some of these guys he paid overs for Kikau, Burton etc and continue to tinker the team to death, until he finally tinkers himself out of a job
Gus probably should’ve pinged that would don’t build your team around the guys Penrith are willing to let leave. If you’re going to replicate them, you do what they did with other players not with their discards.
That’s what I’m most interested to see, who goes first Gus or Ciraldo if they don’t figure things out. I was under the impression Gus had final say but if Ciraldo said no to Drinkwater, perhaps that not quite the case.
If history is anything to go by, Gus will start offloading some of these guys he paid overs for Kikau, Burton etc and continue to tinker the team to death, until he finally tinkers himself out of a job
Gus always has the long game in mind, even when he was bringing in experienced heads like Maloney and Soward he knew they were never apart of their long term plans and even said to Ivan (according to his book) his first few years there none of those guys will be there when you’re good.
I imagine it’s the same at the Bulldogs. Some guys may be in the longer term plans and you strike it with the right FA (someone like Critchon or Burton) otherwise it’s just the usual roster turnover in the meantime, Penrith went through the exact same thing.