Adam O'Brien replacement?

In many ways he seems like the perfect assistant coach - technical, very hard working … maybe the club got caught up with the hype around his performance in that role and didn’t consider how it would translate to a head coaching role. And we’ve discussed before how he had no experience as a head coach, other than as a player-coach in country league back in the day.
 
krustykraz said:
Can anyone give any positives about AOB's coaching?

If not, theres no point persisting with him.
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He does does some things very well.
The obvious one is bringing players into firstgrade much, much better than Brown. Brown may have been the worst ever at that. He dropped multiple players into unfamiliar positions with massive pressure to perform or get cut. Most sank without a trace - a few went OK.
O'Brien brings young players in slowly with little pressure and into a role they are very experienced in. Most young guys have kicked on, and even the ones who don't, like Musgrove, had a very fair chance to show if they had it or not.
O'Brien is also famously a very hard worker and spends hours studying every aspect of a players development, from diet, training stats and even sleep etc.
 
Kurriboy said:
You can point the finger wherever you like I guess.

Ive never seen a players contract torn up for their knock on rate!

The teams performance comes back to the coach.

Maybe management hired the wrong type of coach for what this club needs, went with the hype around OB being the next big thing. They can shoulder that blame.

But the only question to be asked is under OB do you think the team has been overperforming, underperforming, or about right?

For mine, well under. Yeah we made back to back finals but may as well not have, we were clearly passengers with no chance.

Our style of football hasnt evolved at all. Our players are not performing to the best of their ability. Over the past few seasons we have gone backwards and this season we are tipped for the spoon.

I don't see how any of this is an argument to keep OB.
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Agree we are underperforming. I think we need a new coach. I doubt though whether a new coach will get this playing group to lift their game, but it's the lowest hanging fruit in terms of trying something different.
 
jamesgould said:
Have also heard he’s a bit of a control freak which isn’t a good quality for a head coach.
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jamesgould said:
In many ways he seems like the perfect assistant coach - technical, very hard working … maybe the club got caught up with the hype around his performance in that role and didn’t consider how it would translate to a head coaching role. And we’ve discussed before how he had no experience as a head coach, other than as a player-coach in country league back in the day.
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💯

Wayne Bennett, notoriously, has never been a particularly gifted X’s and O’s coach, and I doubt he’s suddenly discovered an aptitude for it in his 70’s. He’s the GOAT (or at least on Mt Rushmore with Bellamy & Gibson) because he’s such a great man manager. Players will run through a brick wall for him.

Bennett is also stereotyped as conservative, but would you say his Souths side and the Broncos side he coached between 2015 and 2018 were boring and didn’t score a lot of points? Nope, what he does is embrace a style of play which fits the players he has, empowers them to be the best version of themselves. His Dragons sides were conservative and played the percentages because it fit the players he had.

It’s really hard to find coaches their players love like that and of the guys without an NRL job now it’s pretty much just Flanagan who has the reputation of being a really good man manager beloved by his players. And yeah his Sharks sides weren’t pretty to watch, but was that him forcing a scrappy, mean, grinding style on his playing group, or was it him embracing a style which fit those players?
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
💯

Wayne Bennett, notoriously, has never been a particularly gifted X’s and O’s coach, and I doubt he’s suddenly discovered an aptitude for it in his 70’s. He’s the GOAT (or at least on Mt Rushmore with Bellamy & Gibson) because he’s such a great man manager. Players will run through a brick wall for him.

Bennett is also stereotyped as conservative, but would you say his Souths side and the Broncos side he coached between 2015 and 2018 were boring and didn’t score a lot of points? Nope, what he does is embrace a style of play which fits the players he has, empowers them to be the best version of themselves. His Dragons sides were conservative and played the percentages because it fit the players he had.

It’s really hard to find coaches their players love like that and of the guys without an NRL job now it’s pretty much just Flanagan who has the reputation of being a really good man manager beloved by his players. And yeah his Sharks sides weren’t pretty to watch, but was that him forcing a scrappy, mean, grinding style on his playing group, or was it him embracing a style which fit those players?
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I didn’t even know Flanagan had that reputation. Good to know if we do go with him.
 
Yeah I’ve heard some of his ex-players talk about him, particularly Gal who’s got his ugly face on TV all the time. Still great mates and they talk all the time.
 
Kurriboy said:
You can point the finger wherever you like I guess.

Ive never seen a players contract torn up for their knock on rate!

The teams performance comes back to the coach.

Maybe management hired the wrong type of coach for what this club needs, went with the hype around OB being the next big thing. They can shoulder that blame.

But the only question to be asked is under OB do you think the team has been overperforming, underperforming, or about right?

For mine, well under. Yeah we made back to back finals but may as well not have, we were clearly passengers with no chance.

Our style of football hasnt evolved at all. Our players are not performing to the best of their ability. Over the past few seasons we have gone backwards and this season we are tipped for the spoon.

I don't see how any of this is an argument to keep OB.
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I agree with so much of this, but I don't think it is fair to hang being favourites for the wooden spoon on the coach. I think we have locked in our spine for a while and have bought in the type of player the club needs. Having done the preseason under Obi, I really think we need to see results the next few games before he is seriously under pressure.

That said, I am struggling to see improvement on the field. My gut feel is this is going to go south sooner rather than later. But I'll be at Leichhardt next Sunday hoping it is the start of an upward trend.

From all reports Obi works very, very hard. But I still don't think we have locked down the basics with him to even start growing on. For all his talk of simple messaging, maybe being that highly technical coach is muddying the message to the players.

Of the options, I like Morris as a guy who has already shown he is good at bringing juniors through given where we are with our flegg boys.

But then Flanagan does have that hard nosed, win at all costs approach we probably need right now. I look at our top squad and it has the talented core I believe can be a successful unit. I don't want the coach to come in and make massive personnel changes, I want him to unlock the players that are here. Cronulla haven't lost the culture that Flanagan instilled and Fitzgibbon is able to build on that. Maybe we do need Flanagan.
 
Some on here credit Obi with getting us to Semi‘s but think that was as much Pearce as anything, he was the driving force once on the field, he pushed himself and dragged others along, we currently lack in that area and results show.
We need a driving force on the field and a change in coaching style
 
Frank McWilliams said:
Some on here credit Obi with getting us to Semi‘s but think that was as much Pearce as anything, he was the driving force once on the field, he pushed himself and dragged others along, we currently lack in that area and results show.
We need a driving force on the field and a change in coaching style
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Hopefully that will be Hastings .You would think he will have a point to prove next weekend .Maybe he can drag a couple with him ?
 
I would'nt go Flanagan. And if Dessie dosn't want to move away from Syndey or drive down the highway, then we should make a play for Morris. I'm not sure what his contract situation is at the rabbits. If we can’t get him in this year, then have McDermmot as interim coach.

In two trial games and one game I can’t see much improvement in the side from last year. I’m giving him 3 more games. Ponga is on overs also by the way. He should consider a pay cut for the benefit of the team, otherwise let him go.
 
frankLauda said:
I would'nt go Flanagan. And if Dessie dosn't want to move away from Syndey or drive down the highway, then we should make a play for Morris. I'm not sure what his contract situation is at the rabbits. If we can’t get him in this year, then have McDermmot as interim coach.

In two trial games and one game I can’t see much improvement in the side from last year. I’m giving him 3 more games. Ponga is on overs also by the way. He should consider a pay cut for the benefit of the team, otherwise let him go.
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Ponga in a freak with what he is capable of he just needs the right players around him im not sold on Hastings yet either
 
Yeah great player, he’s in the top 10 players I would say. But he’s the highest earning player right now on 1.4. I don’t blame Ponga totally, that’s the deal we had to do to keep but where we are at as a club.
 
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