Adam O'Brien discussion

R_A said:
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.
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Was he also playing the long game when he sacked Ivan and then the club sacked him so they could get Ivan back and keep Nathan?
 
Bulldogs are a limited attacking side. Even last year but are a lot worse this year. Spine is a concern.

Tracey and Hayward would have to be the least creative starting fullback and hooker in the NRL respectively.

As overhyped Galvin is, he's trying to make plays even if it's a AOB special with a predictable shortball to Preston.

Burton is a guy who can attack space and is a very good hole runner with a big left boot but isn't very a ball player.

The last two years at the beginning of the season I've tipped the Bulldogs to miss the 8 and got it wrong despite thinking they were a one hit wonder for finals but wasn't convinced they'd be a top 8 side this year. I think they miss out for sure.
 
He was probably the right coach for us for 2 or maybe 3 years.
After that we should have moved on.
We are the only club that sticks by coaches for years too long for some reason.
It's a very high paid job, and high paid jobs demand high performance, or you try someone else.
 
I’ll pay that Galvin at least wants the ball. They should prioritise him because he’s their best spine player now. He needs a genuine 7 though. As does their other half.

They have a worse case of “two five eighths” than we do by the looks of it. Irony!

They’ll probably end up punting Burton, having Crichton play there at times with Burton shifting to centre shows their opinion of him.

Who knows who they’ll punt after that. Never stop tinkering Gus.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
I’ll pay that Galvin at least wants the ball. They should prioritise him because he’s their best spine player now. He needs a genuine 7 though. As does their other half.

They have a worse case of “two five eighths” than we do by the looks of it. Irony!

They’ll probably end up punting Burton, having Crichton play there at times with Burton shifting to centre shows their opinion of him.

Who knows who they’ll punt after that. Never stop tinkering Gus.
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Burton's best position is and always has been centre. If he had stayed at Penrith at Centre, he would of been in the top 3 centres in the game instead he is a bog average 6. Just because he has the one trick play with the towering bomb, doesnt make him a half.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
I’ll pay that Galvin at least wants the ball. They should prioritise him because he’s their best spine player now. He needs a genuine 7 though. As does their other half.

They have a worse case of “two five eighths” than we do by the looks of it. Irony!

They’ll probably end up punting Burton, having Crichton play there at times with Burton shifting to centre shows their opinion of him.

Who knows who they’ll punt after that. Never stop tinkering Gus.
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Not sure if its the aob effect on Galvin (saw the same thing alot with us last year) but it looks like he cant play whats in front of him and everything is predetermined before he gets the ball. Perfect example was late in the game last night when he took the ball to the line with tracey on his inside, the dolphins player read it a mile away and moved to tracey leaving galvin a gaping whole to run through yet he still passed to tracey under great pressure and he dropped the ball.
Everytime i start to feel sorry for the dogs i just think of aob laughing in the coaches box in the trial.
 
Billy said:
He was probably the right coach for us for 2 or maybe 3 years.
After that we should have moved on.
We are the only club that sticks by coaches for years too long for some reason.
It's a very high paid job, and high paid jobs demand high performance, or you try someone else.
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Yep all of us could have achieved his KPI's .😀
 
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Billy said:
He was probably the right coach for us for 2 or maybe 3 years.
After that we should have moved on.
We are the only club that sticks by coaches for years too long for some reason.
It's a very high paid job, and high paid jobs demand high performance, or you try someone else.
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I'd argue the Raiders have stuck by Ricky far too long, and the Dragons also with Mary.

Melbourne also looking like they kept Bellamy a year too long. :lol: Current game excluded.
 
Kurriboy said:
I'd argue the Raiders have stuck by Ricky far too long, and the Dragons also with Mary.
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Raiders have to find a coach that wants to be there, similar to the Warriors.

Ricky being a club legend with his experience helped, as well as (now like Benji) is able to get something out of them most years. If he makes a GF once a decade that’s probably good enough.
For sure if it was like his stints at the Sydney clubs he’d be long gone.

Other coaches at times that have been there don’t seem to ‘get’ the Raiders the way someone like Ricky does. Seems like it was more of a springboard into another role (Matt Elliot, Neil Henry)

Teams like the Bears and the Chiefs need to find their version of that. The Titans tried that with Cartwright (who came from the same tree as Cleary under Stuart/Gus) and it seemed like guys like Henry and Holbrook they didn’t have the patience for.
 
Mary and Brown might have been okay if they had more experience under their belt…but they’ve kind of been like what the Warriors were for a while just can’t seem to find the right guy (after Bennett)
 
Ricky is still beloved down here, and they were minor premiers last season.

Every time Ricky looks like maybe next year is his last as coach, he has a great year. I don't think the Raiders will make the 8 this year, but Sanders and Strange are starting to make progress; they gave Penrith a good shake yesterday, and I predict the pattern repeats.

As for AOB, IDK that he is necessarily the problem at the Dogs, surely Gus made them all feel expendable when he basically tapped the hooker and half back on the shoulder in what was until then looked like a successful team. But I'd also predict AOB will go under the bus at some stage.
 
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It’s funny how difficult and unnecessarily complicated, guys like AOB and Seibold make coaching look.

Maybe everyone being miserable, isn’t actually the key to success. Perhaps keeping them, happy, motivated, and playing to a style that suits their talents is actually more effective
 
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