Justin Holbrook discussion

He’s not the same kind of temperament in the coach’s box but I stand by my argument that Holbrook’s tenure so far is so close to exactly what Craig Bellamy would do with our squad.

I’m not jumping the gun and saying we’re on Melbourne’s level right now. But the speed of the overhaul in our playing style, what he’s done so far, it’s exactly what we would have expected if we’d somehow managed to sign Craig as our head coach. Craig fixes big problems quicker than anyone else and his teams always play to their strengths. That’s what we’ve done so far.

He’s a 10/10 in the big picture stuff we needed to get right to get the best out of this squad as constructed.
 
Glad we got Holbrook to fix our big problems and set the team up to play to our strengths, because AOB was still locked in long term, we "missed out" on Hannay. Not sure Josh is fixing the big problems at the Titans with AJ still at 6 despite contributing no line breaks, try assists, or tries this year, and Tino is still at prop, which seems to be a waste of his best talents.
 
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There are still fans of his at the club he was at in England and the Titans, the Roosters also had huge raps on him.

When he went to St Helens "He scrapped the "slow-down" wrestling tactics and implemented a high-speed, expansive NRL-style offense. He unlocked players like Jonny Lomax and James Roby, encouraging them to play eyes-up footy rather than sticking to rigid structures." Sounds incredibly familiar.

On his third year of tenure, he had given them defensive steel. "While their attack grabbed headlines, Holbrook turned them into the best defensive unit in the league. By 2019, they were virtually impossible to break down in the 20-meter zone." Would be amazing if he could do the same for us.

He also started their dynasty: "Most importantly, he broke the "semi-final hoodoo." Before 2019, Saints were known for choking in big games. By winning the 2019 Grand Final, he laid the foundation for the club’s historic "Four-in-a-Row" premiership run (2019–2022)."
 
It does seem like he held guys accountable after the Warriors loss and they responded. Would have been easy to make excuses, though Sharpe being back has helped.
I'll always try to have a coaches back (even AOB after five years 😓) so hoping Justin doesnt wear out his welcome with the playing group too quickly (and more importanly the fans!)
Controversial opinion but if the Knights dont have injuries last year and they phone in the rest of the season AOB doesn't part ways with the club, some things work out for the best...
 
Very interesting thing about pre-season… no army camp, right? And no “who can carry a bucket of water up a hill best” style activiti s yeah?

Seems like it was all just footy, fitness & getting out in the community more on off days, yeah?

As a bit of an army camp skeptic (they go against everything modern sports science tells you, basically turfing proper recovery etc for a week), very interesting to see…
 
I don't know if it's the 6 man bench or the fact that Holbrook spent years in reserve grade without getting many chances, but he clearly takes notice of what's happening in reserve grade, and the players know it because our reserve graders are all having a crack every game.
Manuleleua played well in reserves - firstgrade the next week.
De Courcey had some good games - into the 19.
Hopwood had a good game - into the 17.
Kyle McCarthy playing well - name added to firstgrade squad.
3 solid wins and a narrow loss in reserves, because they all feel they are a chance to catch the coaches eye.
 
Only real criticism is that we’re way too nice in the ruck, especially in second halves where the refs tend to just stop blowing six agains and you can likely go the full Hopoate these days without getting pinged.

I know simply flipping the switch between halves is hard but we need to work on that. Watch how much Brisbane absolutely dog ****ed the ruck in every tackle in the 2nd half last night.
 
Wonder how much say if any Holbrook had with how much of a priority it would be to keep some of these guys. And whether over a bit more time he will have a bit more of a say in the roster. More in the way of the style or types of players he wants.

Ponga is a self explanatory one regardless but having his deal done first also gives you an idea of how much room you have for the rest.

As it was mentioned before AOB had all sorts of say over all aspects and it seemed to burn him out.
 
R_A said:
Wonder how much say if any Holbrook had with how much of a priority it would be to keep some of these guys. And whether over a bit more time he will have a bit more of a say in the roster. More in the way of the style or types of players he wants.

Ponga is a self explanatory one regardless but having his deal done first also gives you an idea of how much room you have for the rest.

As it was mentioned before AOB had all sorts of say over all aspects and it seemed to burn him out.
Click to expand...
AOB lost his recruitment say pretty much as soon as Parr signed, and had almost no say once POS signed.
 
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