Coaching issues

[Raider47]

How failed $2.7m move exposed Raiders’ biggest ‘problem’ as Ricky is sent dire warning: https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-pr ... 3b209fb528

You can see the spotlight is starting to be put on us.

However in typical fashion, it's the narrative that the players are **** and it's recruitment to blame. Not one comment about coaching.

Find it interesting too about this story being built that our squad is inexperienced. I find it the opposite- few too many players reaching father time. Other than Kris/Savage, HSS (a back up) and Woolford all the players in our starting 17 are pretty much at peak age/over the hill.

[Mickey_Raider]

You can just tell how uncomfortable Paul Kent gets whenever the blowtorch even comes close to being applied to Ricky.

Just does acrobatics to try and divert any discussion away from our obvious coaching issues.

[kiwi raider]

You can see the spotlight is starting to be put on us.

However in typical fashion, it's the narrative that the players are **** and it's recruitment to blame. Not one comment about coaching.

Find it interesting too about this story being built that our squad is inexperienced. I find it the opposite- few too many players reaching father time. Other than Kris/Savage, HSS (a back up) and Woolford all the players in our starting 17 are pretty much at peak age/over the hill.

its absolute garbage, our forward pack is littered with Rep players and veterans, even players like Guler and Horsburgh are in there 5th and 6th seasons of Nrl footy, the only young player in our first choice spine is Savage who hasn't played this year, we've then recruited journeymen like Levi and Fogarty to join our marquee player who Stuart has tried to build this team around in Wighton in the spine. Starlings coming up 25 and has played 70 first grade games, and while Woolford hasn't played a lot he's 26 years old
Our outside backs have some youth but the likes of Timoko and Kris(when playing in his proper position) have been our best over the last couple of years, plenty of experience in Rapana, cotric, Hopoate alongside them too.

[Choc Magic]

Not sure if already mentioned, but I would take a gamble on replacing Ricky and Madge with the Walker Brothers.
They would likely be more in touch with the modern game and have connections with a host of upcoming Q cup talent.

[BadnMean]

How failed $2.7m move exposed Raiders’ biggest ‘problem’ as Ricky is sent dire warning: https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-pr ... 3b209fb528

You can see the spotlight is starting to be put on us.

However in typical fashion, it's the narrative that the players are **** and it's recruitment to blame. Not one comment about coaching.

Find it interesting too about this story being built that our squad is inexperienced. I find it the opposite- few too many players reaching father time. Other than Kris/Savage, HSS (a back up) and Woolford all the players in our starting 17 are pretty much at peak age/over the hill.

Experienced: Jack, Fog, Starling, CHN, Papa, Tarps, Whitehead, Hors, Guler, Rapa, Cotric, even Kris has been around FG for a few years now.

Inexperienced: Timoko, Savage, Woolford, Schiller, Hoppa, HSS.

I don't think that's an inexperienced squad. By the time you are bringing in 2nd and 3rd back ups, of course most of those will be inexperienced.

Ricky is also completely responsible for the squad assembled. He has free reign with it. And if we failed to try and recruit any experienced, good Fgers then that's on Rick.

[greeneyed]

Not sure if already mentioned, but I would take a gamble on replacing Ricky and Madge with the Walker Brothers.
They would likely be more in touch with the modern game and have connections with a host of upcoming Q cup talent.

They haven't been coaching for a couple of years at least, after delivering one premiership in Q Cup in nine years. They were touting themselves last year on a podcast, but I can't see any club signing them as head coaches, without recent NRL experience as assistants.

[-TW-]

Not sure if already mentioned, but I would take a gamble on replacing Ricky and Madge with the Walker Brothers.
They would likely be more in touch with the modern game and have connections with a host of upcoming Q cup talent.

More likely to bring Mal Meninga back

Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

[Choc Magic]

Not sure if already mentioned, but I would take a gamble on replacing Ricky and Madge with the Walker Brothers.
They would likely be more in touch with the modern game and have connections with a host of upcoming Q cup talent.

They haven't been coaching for a couple of years at least, after delivering one premiership in Q Cup in nine years. They were touting themselves last year on a podcast, but I can't see any club signing them as head coaches, without recent NRL experience as assistants.

Fair call... Another without NRL coaching experience is Former Wigan and current English international coach Shaun Wayne. Co incidentally, his English head coach gig expires at the same time as Ricky's Raiders contract. He'd obviously attract some top English talent if appointed.

[sprintman]

Shaun Wayne would do.

[Luffto]

Another good indicator of how poorly we are going is the Dally M points. Dally M points can be one of those things where, if you lose a close one, your players can end up pulling some decent Dally M points in a losing side still. This just goes to show that when we do lose it's not even close, even if the score sometimes ends up respectable.

Dally M points per team:

Team - Points(Players)

Broncos - 58(9)
Warriors - 48(9)
Sea Eagles - 34(6)
Bulldogs - 34(8)
Knights - 30(8)
Panthers - 30(9)
Cowboys - 29(8)
Titans - 27(5)
Roosters - 27(6)
Rabbitohs - 25(7)
Sharks - 25(9)
Dolphins - 24(5)
Dragons - 23(5)
Storm - 22(5)
Eels - 16(7)
Raiders - 11(3) [Horsburgh has 5 and is leading our count]
Tigers - 5(3)

Any **** who uses Dally M to prove a point is having a laugh. **** most pointless topic to talk about

[The Nickman]

Another good indicator of how poorly we are going is the Dally M points. Dally M points can be one of those things where, if you lose a close one, your players can end up pulling some decent Dally M points in a losing side still. This just goes to show that when we do lose it's not even close, even if the score sometimes ends up respectable.

Dally M points per team:

Team - Points(Players)

Broncos - 58(9)
Warriors - 48(9)
Sea Eagles - 34(6)
Bulldogs - 34(8)
Knights - 30(8)
Panthers - 30(9)
Cowboys - 29(8)
Titans - 27(5)
Roosters - 27(6)
Rabbitohs - 25(7)
Sharks - 25(9)
Dolphins - 24(5)
Dragons - 23(5)
Storm - 22(5)
Eels - 16(7)
Raiders - 11(3) [Horsburgh has 5 and is leading our count]
Tigers - 5(3)

Any **** who uses Dally M to prove a point is having a laugh. **** most pointless topic to talk about

Yeah, good point Luffto. Raiders are going heaps better than *checks Dally M board* second last.

[dubby]

You can just tell how uncomfortable Paul Kent gets whenever the blowtorch even comes close to being applied to Ricky.

Just does acrobatics to try and divert any discussion away from our obvious coaching issues.

This is so tiresome.

The coach is not the problem. You and others think, hey, let's sign coach x and all will be well.

You and others constantly lament Ricky but provide no viable alternatives

[woppadingo]

Ha ha you **** calling for Stuarts head...
Watch out you might get what you wish for...

Nek minit. .

Micheal Maguire! New raiders coach!

[Finchy]

I feel like I'm seeing double of everything...

[The Nickman]

You can just tell how uncomfortable Paul Kent gets whenever the blowtorch even comes close to being applied to Ricky.

Just does acrobatics to try and divert any discussion away from our obvious coaching issues.

This is so tiresome.

The coach is not the problem. You and others think, hey, let's sign coach x and all will be well.

You and others constantly lament Ricky but provide no viable alternatives

That is such a ridiculous statement. The coach is so obviously a HUGE part of the problem.

Guys like you and Kenty with personal investment in the argument just refuse to see it.

[dubby]

You can just tell how uncomfortable Paul Kent gets whenever the blowtorch even comes close to being applied to Ricky.

Just does acrobatics to try and divert any discussion away from our obvious coaching issues.

This is so tiresome.

The coach is not the problem. You and others think, hey, let's sign coach x and all will be well.

You and others constantly lament Ricky but provide no viable alternatives

That is such a ridiculous statement. The coach is so obviously a HUGE part of the problem.

Guys like you and Kenty with personal investment in the argument just refuse to see it.

I'm not excusing Ricky. Just asking you how to fix it.

[Rickmando]

You can just tell how uncomfortable Paul Kent gets whenever the blowtorch even comes close to being applied to Ricky.

Just does acrobatics to try and divert any discussion away from our obvious coaching issues.

This is so tiresome.

The coach is not the problem. You and others think, hey, let's sign coach x and all will be well.

You and others constantly lament Ricky but provide no viable alternatives

That is such a ridiculous statement. The coach is so obviously a HUGE part of the problem.

Guys like you and Kenty with personal investment in the argument just refuse to see it.

I'm not excusing Ricky. Just asking you how to fix it.

The first step towards fixing it is acknowledging the problem. You seem incapable of doing that Dubs

[The Nickman]

You can just tell how uncomfortable Paul Kent gets whenever the blowtorch even comes close to being applied to Ricky.

Just does acrobatics to try and divert any discussion away from our obvious coaching issues.

This is so tiresome.

The coach is not the problem. You and others think, hey, let's sign coach x and all will be well.

You and others constantly lament Ricky but provide no viable alternatives

That is such a ridiculous statement. The coach is so obviously a HUGE part of the problem.

Guys like you and Kenty with personal investment in the argument just refuse to see it.

I'm not excusing Ricky. Just asking you how to fix it.

Sack the current coach and hire a new one. The current one doesn’t work and isn’t working.

[Ultima]

So if something doesn't work half of you would prefer to just keep at it because maybe the alternative would be worst, maybe it won't be but you would prefer to stick with the known non working part on the off chance we replace it with another non working part...

Literally we only have one team doing worse than us right now, and that's a team which hasn't made the finals in a decade and are the reigning wooden spooners. Surely rolling the dice with some up and coming coach, getting someone over from the UK, or throwing everything we have at Bellamy would be better options than just sticking with our current no ideas approach?

[The Nickman]

So if something doesn't work half of you would prefer to just keep at it because maybe the alternative would be worst, maybe it won't be but you would prefer to stick with the known non working part on the off chance we replace it with another non working part...

Literally we only have one team doing worse than us right now, and that's a team which hasn't made the finals in a decade and are the reigning wooden spooners. Surely rolling the dice with some up and coming coach, getting someone over from the UK, or throwing everything we have at Bellamy would be better options than just sticking with our current no ideas approach?

Hahaha yeah, and if you head over to the Wests Tigers thread, it’s being thrown around by the very person in this thread saying you can’t blame the coach that apparently it’s the coach’s fault why the Tigers suck.

You just can’t make this stuff up.

[dubby]

You can just tell how uncomfortable Paul Kent gets whenever the blowtorch even comes close to being applied to Ricky.

Just does acrobatics to try and divert any discussion away from our obvious coaching issues.

This is so tiresome.

The coach is not the problem. You and others think, hey, let's sign coach x and all will be well.

You and others constantly lament Ricky but provide no viable alternatives

That is such a ridiculous statement. The coach is so obviously a HUGE part of the problem.

Guys like you and Kenty with personal investment in the argument just refuse to see it.

I'm not excusing Ricky. Just asking you how to fix it.

Sack the current coach and hire a new one. The current one doesn’t work and isn’t working.

And if, like last year....when ironically we were missing a key member or 2 from our spine, we go on to make the 8 and beat the Storm, what will your position be?

[dubby]

You can just tell how uncomfortable Paul Kent gets whenever the blowtorch even comes close to being applied to Ricky.

Just does acrobatics to try and divert any discussion away from our obvious coaching issues.

This is so tiresome.

The coach is not the problem. You and others think, hey, let's sign coach x and all will be well.

You and others constantly lament Ricky but provide no viable alternatives

That is such a ridiculous statement. The coach is so obviously a HUGE part of the problem.

Guys like you and Kenty with personal investment in the argument just refuse to see it.

I'm not excusing Ricky. Just asking you how to fix it.

The first step towards fixing it is acknowledging the problem. You seem incapable of doing that Dubs

I don't think Ricky is the problem

[Raiders_Pat]

This is so tiresome.

The coach is not the problem. You and others think, hey, let's sign coach x and all will be well.

You and others constantly lament Ricky but provide no viable alternatives

That is such a ridiculous statement. The coach is so obviously a HUGE part of the problem.

Guys like you and Kenty with personal investment in the argument just refuse to see it.

I'm not excusing Ricky. Just asking you how to fix it.

The first step towards fixing it is acknowledging the problem. You seem incapable of doing that Dubs

I don't think Ricky is the problem

So what do you suppose is our main issue? Is it the players? It's Ricky Stuart who decides who is in the squad, and he has already rebuilt his roster twice.

[The Nickman]

I'm not excusing Ricky. Just asking you how to fix it.

Sack the current coach and hire a new one. The current one doesn’t work and isn’t working.

And if, like last year....when ironically we were missing a key member or 2 from our spine, we go on to make the 8 and beat the Storm, what will your position be?

If, like last year, we somehow pull this binfire of a season out of the fire and make the 8, I'll give credit where credit is due and acknowledge that it's taken an outstanding performance from the coach and players alike to do something incredible again after such another poor off-season and start to the season.

I'm always happy to give credit where it's due, I want nothing more than this club to be successful. But this whole notion you can only give the coach praise and need to ST#U everytime his obvious coaching flaws are highlighted is just a nonsense. This belief that you can only have one opinion and need to rigidly stick to it despite evidence to the contrary is the very reason social media is such a tedious place to inhabit.

[Choc Magic]

I'm hoping that the off season in Canberra's heat just takes it out of us. Is it a coincidence that we often start to come back to the pack when it gets cooler?

[The Nickman]

I'm hoping that the off season in Canberra's heat just takes it out of us. Is it a coincidence that we often start to come back to the pack when it gets cooler?

"Off season in Canberra's heat"...

[Choc Magic]

I'm hoping that the off season in Canberra's heat just takes it out of us. Is it a coincidence that we often start to come back to the pack when it gets cooler?

"Off season in Canberra's heat"...

well, compared with the climate that we play the majority of our season in... the offseason is particularly hot. Maybe not 'Rockhampton' hot but believe it or not, summer gets hot here

[The Nickman]

I'm hoping that the off season in Canberra's heat just takes it out of us. Is it a coincidence that we often start to come back to the pack when it gets cooler?

"Off season in Canberra's heat"...

well, compared with the climate that we play the majority of our season in... the offseason is particularly hot. Maybe not 'Rockhampton' hot but believe it or not, summer gets hot here

I've been there in summer... I remember wishing I'd packed a jumper.

[Choc Magic]

I'm hoping that the off season in Canberra's heat just takes it out of us. Is it a coincidence that we often start to come back to the pack when it gets cooler?

"Off season in Canberra's heat"...

well, compared with the climate that we play the majority of our season in... the offseason is particularly hot. Maybe not 'Rockhampton' hot but believe it or not, summer gets hot here

I've been there in summer... I remember wishing I'd packed a jumper.

Poor thing! I'm talking about the guys that play for our team... the guys that live here and have acclimatised to Canberra weather.

[Botman]

You’re talking to a guy who was wearing a beanie and jumper on a day that it was like 18-20
Everyone else was in t shirts. ‘Twas a fine day

Which tells you how truly busted QLD climate it. You live in qld long enough and anything under 20 (so like a huge portion of the entire globe) is unmanageable

[dubby]

I'm not excusing Ricky. Just asking you how to fix it.

Sack the current coach and hire a new one. The current one doesn’t work and isn’t working.

And if, like last year....when ironically we were missing a key member or 2 from our spine, we go on to make the 8 and beat the Storm, what will your position be?

If, like last year, we somehow pull this binfire of a season out of the fire and make the 8, I'll give credit where credit is due and acknowledge that it's taken an outstanding performance from the coach and players alike to do something incredible again after such another poor off-season and start to the season.

I'm always happy to give credit where it's due, I want nothing more than this club to be successful. But this whole notion you can only give the coach praise and need to ST#U everytime his obvious coaching flaws are highlighted is just a nonsense. This belief that you can only have one opinion and need to rigidly stick to it despite evidence to the contrary is the very reason social media is such a tedious place to inhabit.

I am not saying there can be only one opinion. Discussion and debate make life interesting.

Inasmuch as you dislike the perception there can only be one POV, I tire of reading the same things from the same people pretty much all the time.

And I hope you do not think I am personally attacking you, I am really interested in what you have to say. There is no one that loves the Raiders more than you, and like you we all want success. It has been a heck of a long time since we were premiers, and I know I want to experience that feeling again.

I agree re: social media. I have deactivated FB, never really used IG and have absolutely no interest in Snapchat, Twitter or Tik Tok. Social media is a sewer, and I am happier just hanging out with you blokes on the GH. Even if we disagree.

[The Nickman]

You’re talking to a guy who was wearing a beanie and jumper on a day that it was like 18-20
Everyone else was in t shirts. ‘Twas a fine day

Which tells you how truly busted QLD climate it. You live in qld long enough and anything under 20 (so like a huge portion of the entire globe) is unmanageable

Dogg turned to me shivering and said "I'm cold, are you cold? I wish I'd packed a jumper!"... and I agreed with him, it was frigging awful for the middle of summer!

[dubby]

That is such a ridiculous statement. The coach is so obviously a HUGE part of the problem.

Guys like you and Kenty with personal investment in the argument just refuse to see it.

I'm not excusing Ricky. Just asking you how to fix it.

The first step towards fixing it is acknowledging the problem. You seem incapable of doing that Dubs

I don't think Ricky is the problem

So what do you suppose is our main issue? Is it the players? It's Ricky Stuart who decides who is in the squad, and he has already rebuilt his roster twice.

Good question, Pat.

TBH, I think we have an unbalanced squad. The sad passing of Skull has really affected our recruitment and retention. Yes, Ricky has to take accountability for this.

It starts with our spine. It sucks.

An injury plagued tenure with Hodgo at the end didn't help, and the heir apparent in Trevilyn is always injured. Hence, we have Starling who reminds me so much of McCrone some days; can't pass or kick well but has explosive speed off the mark. We had to pluck a 25 (?) year old Woolford from NSW Cup to cover our depth at 9, and he has been good. But we need to recruit a damn good dummy half.

The loss of G Williams set us back big time. Fog is serviceable, but we really need a quality halfback to put us on the front foot. GWilly was a damn fine footy player. There is a shortage of halves in the comp at the moment, and this is a concern.

Jack. Rocks and diamonds, but lets be honest, he is our best and most important member of the spine. He wins us more games than we could remember, and I hope we keep him. I have to admit, his inconsistency is damn frustrating. Would walk into any club in the NRL.

Fullback. Savage is still under development. But, we have learned that in his absence we have absolutely zero depth here. Yep, that is on Ricky and the club. We do have Chevy Stewart coming thru, but that is years away. Do we take a punt on Daine Laurie? We need a good fullback to start our sets well, and help organise the defence. Savage is a long way from this at this stage.

I think our forwards struggle to get forward because we don't have a good enough dummy half to bring them onto the ball. Watch what Harry Grant does for Melbourne. We need that sort of dh to get our players moving forward and gaining momentum.

Our halves kick it all over the place. Some days they are good, others you see Jack kick it into outer space. The fact they can do it some days but not others bewilders me. We all know they practise this stuff, so why is inconsistency a problem? I think its easy to blame the coach here, but Ricky should not be teaching a 30 year old Wighton how to kick. I think its execution, and that comes down to the individual to be mentally ready under any circumstance, especially and Australian rep.

Do I think Ricky could use the bench better? Of course.

Do I get frustrated when I see poor execution, brain farts, and silly mistakes like dropping from the kick off? You bet.

But until we can attract some high quality members to our spine, our team will continue to look clunky, be inconsistent and rely on individual brilliance to win games.

[Coastalraider]

I'm not excusing Ricky. Just asking you how to fix it.

Sack the current coach and hire a new one. The current one doesn’t work and isn’t working.

And if, like last year....when ironically we were missing a key member or 2 from our spine, we go on to make the 8 and beat the Storm, what will your position be?

If, like last year, we somehow pull this binfire of a season out of the fire and make the 8, I'll give credit where credit is due and acknowledge that it's taken an outstanding performance from the coach and players alike to do something incredible again after such another poor off-season and start to the season.

I'm always happy to give credit where it's due, I want nothing more than this club to be successful. But this whole notion you can only give the coach praise and need to ST#U everytime his obvious coaching flaws are highlighted is just a nonsense. This belief that you can only have one opinion and need to rigidly stick to it despite evidence to the contrary is the very reason social media is such a tedious place to inhabit.

I am not saying there can be only one opinion. Discussion and debate make life interesting.

Inasmuch as you dislike the perception there can only be one POV, I tire of reading the same things from the same people pretty much all the time.

And I hope you do not think I am personally attacking you, I am really interested in what you have to say. There is no one that loves the Raiders more than you, and like you we all want success. It has been a heck of a long time since we were premiers, and I know I want to experience that feeling again.

I agree re: social media. I have deactivated FB, never really used IG and have absolutely no interest in Snapchat, Twitter or Tik Tok. Social media is a sewer, and I am happier just hanging out with you blokes on the GH. Even if we disagree.

I actually think we will jag finals again this year. We are bang on for our pattern of behaviour that has been set for years. We are due for an angry players wife, we should have the function room booked fir round 10 for the senior leadership group and Sticky to have a drunken honesty session and turn it all around.

And I’ll say the same thing as I did last year, and many other years… imagine what we could be if we stop ****ing the first 10-12 rounds of every year with poor form, no systems, odd selections, and an ingrained behaviour of not taking it seriously enough until it becomes necessary.

My personal frustration is not that we are a bad team, it’s because we spend so much of every damn season playing so far under the cumulative ability of the squad. And that’s coaching.

[PerthRaider86]

I love the raiders like everyone else on this forum but us making the finals last year was one of the worst outcomes...... Just put a fresh coat of paint over all the cracks, and i fear if we make this finals again this year there will just be a new coat of paint and no thought about fixing the cracks.

The one thing that i do see when watching the games is:

Who is telling them to bomb all the time inside 20?? Why not grubber into the in goal and build pressure?
Who is telling them crash ball plays are the way to go when we are inside the 20?? Why not spread the ball wide to the centres and wingers? I think most of our tries this year have been scored within 10m eitehr side of the posts
Why was woolford only on for 30+ min on friday and then didnt return even tho we looked more threatening with him on???
Why has it taken 6 rounds for ricky to realise that HSS wasnt up for it and needed some time in NSW Cup?
Why is it that we seem to have a Plan A and when **** hits the fan we dont change anything and just keep to the plan??


All of these are coaching issues. We need to relieve ricky of his coaching duties and move him to some higher position, have madge take over for the rest of the year and then give us time to search and look at all the young NRL assistants, Super League coaches and maybe even NSW cup/Q Cup coaches and come up with the best person who wants to move us forward.... I dont see us moving forward with ricky as coach. I love ricky dont get me wrong. He's was an awesome player and deserves every accolade he receives. but hand on heart you have to ask yourself, if our coach wasnt Ricky Stuart (Say it was Siebold or someone like that), would you have put up with the mediocre form for so long?????

and think the answer will be no.