Email from Steve Folkes to myself

[Wahesh]

Firstly, I've taking the liberty to email Steve and ask him first hand why he persists with Daniel Holdsworth over Aaron Groom after everyone here asks that question. I received 2 emails from him in response to 2 questions and I can assure you that Steve Folkes see's the errors that Holdsworth makes and does what he thinks is best. I would like to apologise to Daniel for any rude comments i've said to him on the Kennel after Steve opened my eyes to our teams current situation.

PS - I am not going to disclose Folksey's email address nor tell you how I got it, so don't ask. - I also received consent from Steve to post it on this forum as an answer to the questions you are all asking. The emails are below:

Ajay, Aaron Groom is a talented young player who is learning his trade in NSW cup not Toyota cup. How many of these supporters you speak of have actually seen him play this year? I would think not many of you. His coach Terry Lamb is of the opinion that he does not deserve selection at this point and on what I have seen I would agree with him, that’s not to say I wouldn’t take a punt on him. Daniel had a shocker last weekend by his own admission but his effort could not be faulted. It is extremely difficult to play as a halfback wen your forwards are not winning the ruck and we continue to drop the ball. While we are obviously not entirely happy with his form he has played quite competently in a number of games which funnily enough I didn’t receive any congratulatory emails on his form. I think it is disgraceful that Bulldog supporters are giving him such a hard time. You guys should be encouraging him as much as possible because the constant barrage of abuse he is coping is not helping his confidence or his desire to play for you the fan. While I admire your passion you should perhaps look for another scapegoat. We at present have almost 50% of our salary cap on the sidelines. I thank you for your interest and look forward to some better results for ourselves and for our fans.

Steven Folkes
Coach
Mitsubishi Electric Bulldogs

Ajay, I of course was not saying your behavior was disgraceful but I heard some of our supporters as we left the field giving Daniel a terrible pay, made me a little ashamed actually. I can assure you and all our supporters that these guys work their butts off every week. Unfortunately most of our fans while passionate and mostly with good intention have absolutely no idea how difficult it is to play NRL let alone excel. And yes sometimes it makes me cranky when the very people that we play for are the first to be critical. These guys only ever do their best, sometimes it's not good enough but they keep trying.

Steven Folkes
Coach
Mitsubishi Electric Bulldogs

 

[iWahash]

Is this for real?! There's a typo!

 

[d_eye]

there u go, you so called bulldog supporters.

I feel ashamed on all your behalves.

 

[rexest]

The fkwits that gave it to dj on the weekend are not bulldogs supporters.

 

[bullfrog_rip]

Folkes pinpointed what i realised fully on sat night, our forwards are fkt i think stil that holdsworth isnt playing as well as id like, but our forwards have as much blame to cope as holdsworth.

 

[bulldogruss]

interesting read thats for sure

 

[bdog]

thanx for the insight on what Folkes is thinking

 

[pha_t0ny]

if this isnt a gee up then i applaud folkes for atleast not keeping us in the dark

 

[-- Jay --]

always good to see the view from both sides of the fence

agree with what he said about disgraceful supporters but still think he should be dropped

 

[Old Bulldog]

What a load of crap! Holdsworth's form has not been up to standard in ANY game this season. Last weekend's game wasn't a one-off by any stretch of the imagination. If Aaron Groom isn't the answer, try someone else. But he also may step up beautifully. I personally don't give a lot of credence to the current NSW Cup side form. They are poorly coached and are finding it frustrating to make a claim for 1st grade.

And the players don't play for us, they play for pay. And most of that money comes from us and sponsors. Holdsworth works for us and we aren't happy with his performances. And we aren't happy with your performances either Steve.

I don't care how hard a player trains or tries, if he is a severe determent to the cohesion of the team, then he has to go. Sorry, but that's reality.

Folkes sounds as though he and the players of his choice should be treated with more respect. Earn it.

 

[Abdul..]

About time someone put's this whole DJ issue into perspective.

 

[Game Breaker]

So its settled

Our forwards sucked on Saturday. I said this after our loss, and looks like Folkes agrees with.

That was a big reason why we lost. We just wernt making any metres, and let Panthers make easy metres. Their play the balls were fast, ours were slow.

 

[Ben Godberts.]

what about john kite surely he deserves a chance from the bench

 

[Abdul..]

What a load of crap! Holdsworth's form has not been up to standard in ANY game this season. Last weekend's game wasn't a one-off by any stretch of the imagination. If Aaron Groom isn't the answer, try someone else. But he also may step up beautifully. I personally don't give a lot of credence to the current NSW Cup side form. They are poorly coached and are finding it frustrating to make a claim for 1st grade.

And the players don't play for us, they play for pay. And most of that money comes from us and sponsors. Holdsworth works for us and we aren't happy with his performances. And we aren't happy with your performances either Steve.

I don't care how hard a player trains or tries, if he is a severe determent to the cohesion of the team, then he has to go. Sorry, but that's reality.

Folkes sounds as though he and the players of his choice should be treated with more respect. Earn it.

Who would you try if not Groom? Serious question. I am not having a go at you, but I myself think that we have not recruited / retained well in the halves & front row. Dissapointing as it is.

 

[Nexus]

What a load of crap! Holdsworth's form has not been up to standard in ANY game this season. Last weekend's game wasn't a one-off by any stretch of the imagination. If Aaron Groom isn't the answer, try someone else. But he also may step up beautifully. I personally don't give a lot of credence to the current NSW Cup side form. They are poorly coached and are finding it frustrating to make a claim for 1st grade.

And the players don't play for us, they play for pay. And most of that money comes from us and sponsors. Holdsworth works for us and we aren't happy with his performances. And we aren't happy with your performances either Steve.

I don't care how hard a player trains or tries, if he is a severe determent to the cohesion of the team, then he has to go. Sorry, but that's reality.

Folkes sounds as though he and the players of his choice should be treated with more respect. Earn it.

Exactly f$%king right. I am actually quite surprised at Folkes response and thought he could have been a bit more professional. You can tell he is copping it from all ways, but he brings alot of it on himself IMO.

 

[mr j]

What a load of crap! Holdsworth's form has not been up to standard in ANY game this season. Last weekend's game wasn't a one-off by any stretch of the imagination. If Aaron Groom isn't the answer, try someone else. But he also may step up beautifully. I personally don't give a lot of credence to the current NSW Cup side form. They are poorly coached and are finding it frustrating to make a claim for 1st grade.

And the players don't play for us, they play for pay. And most of that money comes from us and sponsors. Holdsworth works for us and we aren't happy with his performances. And we aren't happy with your performances either Steve.

I don't care how hard a player trains or tries, if he is a severe determent to the cohesion of the team, then he has to go. Sorry, but that's reality.

Folkes sounds as though he and the players of his choice should be treated with more respect. Earn it.

you do raise some very good points. i guess ill sit on the fence on this topic but i mean folkes has nothing to loose but go for groom. best way to learn how to swim is to jump in the deep end. why not put groom in and see how he goes off the bench , even if its to play the last 10 min like he did with ma'afu. its worth the experiment for 1 game surely! thats what the majority of fans are asking for

 

[mofo sixx]

i call Shenanigans, i dont believe folkes or any other coach would discuss business with some random who emails them, secondly it doesnt even sound like Folkes words & the "his effort could not be faulted" is plagerized from his post match comments, Get a life you tool!

 

[Nexus]

Who would you try if not Groom? Serious question. I am not having a go at you, but I myself think that we have not recruited / retained well in the halves & front row. Dissapointing as it is.

Hughes.

 

[Nexus]

i call Shenanigans, i dont believe folkes or any other coach would discuss business with some random who emails them, secondly it doesnt even sound like Folkes words & the "his effort could not be faulted" is plagerized from his post match comments, Get a life you tool!

Thats a good point Davo.

 

[JackTheLad]

What a load of crap! Holdsworth's form has not been up to standard in ANY game this season. Last weekend's game wasn't a one-off by any stretch of the imagination. If Aaron Groom isn't the answer, try someone else. But he also may step up beautifully. I personally don't give a lot of credence to the current NSW Cup side form. They are poorly coached and are finding it frustrating to make a claim for 1st grade.

And the players don't play for us, they play for pay. And most of that money comes from us and sponsors. Holdsworth works for us and we aren't happy with his performances. And we aren't happy with your performances either Steve.

I don't care how hard a player trains or tries, if he is a severe determent to the cohesion of the team, then he has to go. Sorry, but that's reality.

Folkes sounds as though he and the players of his choice should be treated with more respect. Earn it.

Bloody hell mate, how bitter can you get. This type of venomous criticism does no one any good especially the players. If you want to get the anger off your chest go kick a dog or something.

They don't need us to tell them they were flogged and made lots of mistakes, blind freddy can see that. If you don’t want to support a team when they are losing, go and support the Storm they are on a winning streak.