“PLAYERS make coaches, not the other way around.”
It’s a line Ben Ikin has borrowed from Wayne Bennett and it’s never far from his lips when he talks about how an NRL team can get better.
Currently it’s the Bulldogs whose roster and coach are under the most scrutiny and when it comes to making changes, the NRL 360 host knows where he’d start.
“From what I can see the key players in that side, the nine, six, seven and one, haven’t fully arrived the way Des (Hasler) would have hoped,” Ikin told the Fox Sports Market Watch podcast.
“He’s invested a lot of time and energy in Michael Lichaa, Josh Reynolds, Moses Mbye and Will Hopoate and for whatever reason I just don’t think they’ve stepped up to the plate the way good halves, good playmakers do.
“ ... Apparently they’ve tried to introduce a new style this year, if that’s the case it hasn’t been fully embraced and they’ve defaulted back to last year’s style and they’re struggling.”
Many Canterbury fans and reportedly some of the club’s most influential powerbrokers, have formed the view that time is up for Hasler.
But rather than punting a two-time premiership coach with a proven track record, Ikin would draw a line under some of his recruitment mistakes and let him start again with a completely redesigned spine.
To get the ball rolling, Ikin would dispense with at least two of the three key position players coming off contract — Reynolds, Hopoate and Lichaa — and make a big splash in the open market.
“I would go and spend my money on James Tedesco and throw a whole heap of cash at a proven nine or six,” Ikin said.
“Kieran Foran’s only on a one year deal at the Warriors, he’s got a close relationship with Des Hasler, I think he’d be enormous.
“If you dragged Tedesco across, you’ve got Foran at six beside Moses Mbye and maybe give Reynolds a crack at nine, potentially that’s your answer.”
After playing a key role in NSW’s drought-breaking Origin series victory in 2014, Reynolds has failed to regularly recapture his best form and his future is up in the air.
If a club is prepared to meet that massive asking price it would almost certainly be the end of the 27-year-old’s time at the Dogs, leaving another hole to plug in the spine.
If not, a move to the No.9 role for either he or Mbye might be the only way to keep the pair at the club together.
“There was talk around last year that Des was considering playing Moses Mbye at dummy half,” Ikin said.
“If he can see Moses has that ability then it’s probably worth a crack, because the current set up isn’t working.”
The ability to get the best out of Mbye and Reynolds would fade into the background if the Bulldogs could lure two superstars of the calibre of Foran and Tedesco.
If that sounds fanciful, the Hasler-Foran link and the current disarray on show at the Wests Tigers could conspire to deliver a miracle.
“The big thing for the Wests Tigers players if they’re looking at the Bulldogs would be their facilities, financial strength and stability versus whatever you want to call the Wests Tigers set up at the moment,” Ikin said.
“I know they’re striving to get better, and hats off to them, but at the moment the joint venture has a less than desirable reputation in the marketplace among players and coaches.
“Aaron Woods, James Tedesco, whoever it was from the Wests Tigers, if they got a tour of the Bulldogs facilities they’d have to look and go ‘wow’, particularly as the Tigers has been their only club.
“They’d be blown away by what’s happening over there at Belmore.”
http://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl...s/news-story/d7edb681befb780e4b5842622db419ba
It’s a line Ben Ikin has borrowed from Wayne Bennett and it’s never far from his lips when he talks about how an NRL team can get better.
Currently it’s the Bulldogs whose roster and coach are under the most scrutiny and when it comes to making changes, the NRL 360 host knows where he’d start.
“From what I can see the key players in that side, the nine, six, seven and one, haven’t fully arrived the way Des (Hasler) would have hoped,” Ikin told the Fox Sports Market Watch podcast.
“He’s invested a lot of time and energy in Michael Lichaa, Josh Reynolds, Moses Mbye and Will Hopoate and for whatever reason I just don’t think they’ve stepped up to the plate the way good halves, good playmakers do.
“ ... Apparently they’ve tried to introduce a new style this year, if that’s the case it hasn’t been fully embraced and they’ve defaulted back to last year’s style and they’re struggling.”
Many Canterbury fans and reportedly some of the club’s most influential powerbrokers, have formed the view that time is up for Hasler.
But rather than punting a two-time premiership coach with a proven track record, Ikin would draw a line under some of his recruitment mistakes and let him start again with a completely redesigned spine.
To get the ball rolling, Ikin would dispense with at least two of the three key position players coming off contract — Reynolds, Hopoate and Lichaa — and make a big splash in the open market.
“I would go and spend my money on James Tedesco and throw a whole heap of cash at a proven nine or six,” Ikin said.
“Kieran Foran’s only on a one year deal at the Warriors, he’s got a close relationship with Des Hasler, I think he’d be enormous.
“If you dragged Tedesco across, you’ve got Foran at six beside Moses Mbye and maybe give Reynolds a crack at nine, potentially that’s your answer.”
After playing a key role in NSW’s drought-breaking Origin series victory in 2014, Reynolds has failed to regularly recapture his best form and his future is up in the air.
If a club is prepared to meet that massive asking price it would almost certainly be the end of the 27-year-old’s time at the Dogs, leaving another hole to plug in the spine.
If not, a move to the No.9 role for either he or Mbye might be the only way to keep the pair at the club together.
“There was talk around last year that Des was considering playing Moses Mbye at dummy half,” Ikin said.
“If he can see Moses has that ability then it’s probably worth a crack, because the current set up isn’t working.”
The ability to get the best out of Mbye and Reynolds would fade into the background if the Bulldogs could lure two superstars of the calibre of Foran and Tedesco.
If that sounds fanciful, the Hasler-Foran link and the current disarray on show at the Wests Tigers could conspire to deliver a miracle.
“The big thing for the Wests Tigers players if they’re looking at the Bulldogs would be their facilities, financial strength and stability versus whatever you want to call the Wests Tigers set up at the moment,” Ikin said.
“I know they’re striving to get better, and hats off to them, but at the moment the joint venture has a less than desirable reputation in the marketplace among players and coaches.
“Aaron Woods, James Tedesco, whoever it was from the Wests Tigers, if they got a tour of the Bulldogs facilities they’d have to look and go ‘wow’, particularly as the Tigers has been their only club.
“They’d be blown away by what’s happening over there at Belmore.”
http://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl...s/news-story/d7edb681befb780e4b5842622db419ba
