Nathan Brown discussion
- Thread starter rhugh89
- Start date
mozza
Game on broheim
The worst part is Hooper is spouting these unfounded rumours in front of Jayden Brailey. Hopefully he’s sensible enough to ignore all this garbage.I may not agree with all of your posts ... but this one... strong post.
Kurriboy
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
Or all of it. Anyone see the footage of Bennett walking back in to the Souths dressing room after they beat Brisbane. Say what you will about him, but that is a coach the players want to play for!
Battler
Adam MacDougall
Battler
Adam MacDougall
It was certainly uncomfortable having to watch Jayden listen to the 10 minute segment on the Knights.
Hooper is 100000x more thin skinned then Gardner based off his twitter account and the abuse he cops.
But that’s every journo who complains about ‘doing their job’ when they think ambulance chasing Barba and teams celebrating MM without their consent is acceptable.
The media know as little as everyone else.
Don’t be fooled.
And like you said as it should be.
I remember the good old days when Frillingos was in charge of things, and probably the last time I contributed to paying for the Telecrap.
sorry its paywalled. here it is
The naivety of the Newcastle Knights and their boss Phil Gardner is disturbing.
The symbol for where they are at will remain Kalyn Ponga sucking back on his strawberry thickshake last week as news arrived that the Knights had sacked his coach Nathan Brown.
“I was at lunch having a nice strawberry thickshake so I wasn’t too sad,” Ponga said
Ponga is at a vulnerable age but is already being sucked into the wider politics at Newcastle, with detrimental effect.
Gardner is making the classic mistake of assuming that because he is an expert in one industry it automatically makes him an expert in a neighbouring one.
Just because he knows the licensed club industry, heading the powerful Wests Leagues Club group that owns the Knights, does not guarantee he knows the particular politics of rugby league.
The cemetery for others who assumed the same is always growing.
It takes a pocketful of brains or a pocketful of cash to navigate your way out of trouble in the NRL. The Knights are heading for one while assuming it is the other.
He totally cocked up the negotiations with incoming Knights coach Adam O’Brien, effectively sabotaging any chance the Knights had of making this year’s finals when news leaked.
That some players were allowed to be part of the coup reinforces the naivety of their actions.
The players spoke about Brown’s sacking last week and appeared largely unmoved. They insisted it was merely part of professional sport, an apparent reason for their lack of shock.
Their professionalism did not carry through to their performance on Saturday night, though, when a Wests Tigers outfit with $2 million sitting on the sideline went through them like Raper’s Dragons.
“We really let our coach down, we let our fans down, and as a team it was totally unacceptable,” captain Mitch Pearce said on Monday.
“Weak minds,” Andrew Johns called it.
Several directors remained concerned at Gardner’s behaviour. They had no knowledge of the backroom game to secretly woo O’Brien, even as the season was on the line. Neither did Knights director of football Brian Canavan.
Trouble began, as best as anyone can tell, about eight weeks ago when Brown told Gardner that recruitment boss Troy Pezet had to go.
Brown had lost trust in him. In any normal business a head coach telling the boss that relations with a lower-tiered employee had become unworkable would be the end of him.
But it was a fatal mistake for Brown.
He did not know that in the past 12 months Gardner and Pezet had formed a strong alliance.
Pezet, a former player from the 1990s, has operated around rugby league for many years without any great success. He managed players for a while before finally moving into junior football.
Between them, it seems Pezet and Gardner have realised they can benefit each other.
Pezet can tip to Gardner on football matters he should already know, and which would make him appear like he knows in the often murky world of NRL politics, while the powerful Gardner could take Pezet to places he has long dreamed to be.
Soon after Brown wanted to offload Pezet it has emerged Gardner, on the quiet, sent Pezet to have a meeting with O’Brien.
It was a naïve move. Some club officials have wondered why the Knights would disrespect the Roosters by secretly approaching their assistant, when the two clubs had an amicable relationship.
More trickery is afoot, though.
At the same time O’Brien was being wooed by Ponga, the Knights superstar, began seeking an upgrade and extension to his contract.
But Gardner told Ponga’s father Andre Ponga they won’t discuss an upgrade while Wayde Rushton remains his manager. Andre Ponga told Rushton this earlier this month, a day before Rushton left for America.
The reason why Gardner delivered the ultimatum is mysterious. There seems no reasonable explanation.
Rushton delivered what was then considered a massive deal for the unproven Ponga and has not done him a disservice since.
It has put Ponga in a position where the sooner he discards Rushton the quicker he gets his upgrade and extension. But they have a contract until October next year.
At the same time Gardner has told Andre Ponga he can introduce him to another player manager, Isaac Moses.
Moses happens to also be the manager for O’Brien, soon to be appointed the head coach.
It would link the club’s coach with the club’s future in a way beyond management’s control.
A loop that closes once it is understood Pezet and Moses once worked together at David Riolo’s Titan Management.
It is a small world rugby league. For some, it gets smaller by the minute.
The naivety of the Newcastle Knights and their boss Phil Gardner is disturbing.
The symbol for where they are at will remain Kalyn Ponga sucking back on his strawberry thickshake last week as news arrived that the Knights had sacked his coach Nathan Brown.
“I was at lunch having a nice strawberry thickshake so I wasn’t too sad,” Ponga said
Ponga is at a vulnerable age but is already being sucked into the wider politics at Newcastle, with detrimental effect.
Gardner is making the classic mistake of assuming that because he is an expert in one industry it automatically makes him an expert in a neighbouring one.
Just because he knows the licensed club industry, heading the powerful Wests Leagues Club group that owns the Knights, does not guarantee he knows the particular politics of rugby league.
The cemetery for others who assumed the same is always growing.
It takes a pocketful of brains or a pocketful of cash to navigate your way out of trouble in the NRL. The Knights are heading for one while assuming it is the other.
He totally cocked up the negotiations with incoming Knights coach Adam O’Brien, effectively sabotaging any chance the Knights had of making this year’s finals when news leaked.
That some players were allowed to be part of the coup reinforces the naivety of their actions.
The players spoke about Brown’s sacking last week and appeared largely unmoved. They insisted it was merely part of professional sport, an apparent reason for their lack of shock.
Their professionalism did not carry through to their performance on Saturday night, though, when a Wests Tigers outfit with $2 million sitting on the sideline went through them like Raper’s Dragons.
“We really let our coach down, we let our fans down, and as a team it was totally unacceptable,” captain Mitch Pearce said on Monday.
“Weak minds,” Andrew Johns called it.
Several directors remained concerned at Gardner’s behaviour. They had no knowledge of the backroom game to secretly woo O’Brien, even as the season was on the line. Neither did Knights director of football Brian Canavan.
Trouble began, as best as anyone can tell, about eight weeks ago when Brown told Gardner that recruitment boss Troy Pezet had to go.
Brown had lost trust in him. In any normal business a head coach telling the boss that relations with a lower-tiered employee had become unworkable would be the end of him.
But it was a fatal mistake for Brown.
He did not know that in the past 12 months Gardner and Pezet had formed a strong alliance.
Pezet, a former player from the 1990s, has operated around rugby league for many years without any great success. He managed players for a while before finally moving into junior football.
Between them, it seems Pezet and Gardner have realised they can benefit each other.
Pezet can tip to Gardner on football matters he should already know, and which would make him appear like he knows in the often murky world of NRL politics, while the powerful Gardner could take Pezet to places he has long dreamed to be.
Soon after Brown wanted to offload Pezet it has emerged Gardner, on the quiet, sent Pezet to have a meeting with O’Brien.
It was a naïve move. Some club officials have wondered why the Knights would disrespect the Roosters by secretly approaching their assistant, when the two clubs had an amicable relationship.
More trickery is afoot, though.
At the same time O’Brien was being wooed by Ponga, the Knights superstar, began seeking an upgrade and extension to his contract.
But Gardner told Ponga’s father Andre Ponga they won’t discuss an upgrade while Wayde Rushton remains his manager. Andre Ponga told Rushton this earlier this month, a day before Rushton left for America.
The reason why Gardner delivered the ultimatum is mysterious. There seems no reasonable explanation.
Rushton delivered what was then considered a massive deal for the unproven Ponga and has not done him a disservice since.
It has put Ponga in a position where the sooner he discards Rushton the quicker he gets his upgrade and extension. But they have a contract until October next year.
At the same time Gardner has told Andre Ponga he can introduce him to another player manager, Isaac Moses.
Moses happens to also be the manager for O’Brien, soon to be appointed the head coach.
It would link the club’s coach with the club’s future in a way beyond management’s control.
A loop that closes once it is understood Pezet and Moses once worked together at David Riolo’s Titan Management.
It is a small world rugby league. For some, it gets smaller by the minute.
OnTilt
Sean Rudder
Wow, none of that makes any sense, it reads like a bunch of wild ideas cobbled together. Why would Ponga want O'Brien as coach, how would he even know who the bloke is. Why would he be in such a rush for his extension, he doesn't need to out his coach for a new manager he will get good money no matter what he does.
we will see if its dribble come next october if ponga signs with moses, i always assumed his father was going to look after him when rushton left and they didnt wanna pay an agency fee.
paul kent to me seems to be there abouts with most things and isnt a hooper/weidler type who run stories with nothing
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What do you mean? Paul Kent is worse actually. And one of the Kings of making up stuff up out of thin air.
I find Weidler way more accurate then those germs. If only he didn't hang off of SBWs nutsack, he'd probably be more respected.
For example, Remember when he said the Knights form woes earlier in the year was because of partying when it had nothing to do with that? lmao. Got that completely wrong didn't he.
Danny Weidler's bit on the Knights in his weekly column is probably more accurate then any crap Kent and Hooper can come up with, even though it's not as bold, but in reality we will never know when the wheels started turning.
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Remember when everyone in the media speculated the extent of Cronk's injury and whether he would play the Week leading up to the Grand Final and then when Trent Robinson revealed on live national TV on Channel 9 after the Grand Final the exact injury and extent of it the media (in particular News) were so butt hurt that all their dumb predictions and pretend doctoring were wrong they had a go at the Roosters/Robinson and NRL for being allowed to keep it a secret and lie about it to an extent when the fans didnt really care too much?
That's why I know the media have no clue in regards to this situation just like they haven't had a clue in the past.
Good thing once the dust settles the media can go and talk about the other clubs they usually do every week while letting us be.
That's why I know the media have no clue in regards to this situation just like they haven't had a clue in the past.
Good thing once the dust settles the media can go and talk about the other clubs they usually do every week while letting us be.