Being locked in long term is very different to being interim. They are playing for him at the moment because he is only there for the short term, things aren't too serious, and you can see that in his press conferences. He has played the interim coach thing very well.
Bottom line, there are reasons our defence has gotten worse, and those reasons need to get sorted out next season if we are going to threaten the 8. Taking over as interim coach halfway through a season with a team with only 2 wins and with the hardest part of the season behind them is a LOT different to taking charge for a full pre-season and with expectations that with the new recruits and blokes like Burto with a full season under their belts we should be pushing for top 8.
Would like to see him stay in the organisation though.
Ok, thanks. I understand your point of view. Still not an opinion I share.
I think there’s a lot more to what potter is doing than just telling the team to play without pressure. Our attacking structures have been looking great in recent weeks. He has given us more than just freedom.
As far as our d goes, yeah it needs work, but I certainly don’t think it’s gotten worse. Potter has been forced to make key positional changes in our backline week after week. That’s going to impact the cohesion of any defensive line. If you look at our most recent games, our defence was good against Parra, pretty good against the tigers, ok against the sharks…. The rabbits are putting scores on everybody at the moment, including top 8 teams. Kick defence was really poor today but a lot of that was Casey being caught badly out of position. If Avo plays today, we win very comfortably, imo. Fair chance we go very close to beating the sharks too, if not for Casey’s horror debut.
No doubt our defence needs work, but I don’t think it’s accurate at all to say it has gotten worse. Potter has faced a lot of challenges in recent weeks. And I don’t think there are many coaches out there who can significantly improve a team’s defence overnight without a preseason.
As far as pressure goes, I think any coach who comes to the club is going to feel that pressure. There’s a lot less pressure on an assistant, too. Ciraldo has only head coached three games, also on an interim basis. Or if we went Flano, the man hasn’t coached at any level for years. A lot of things have changed in the game since then (the six again for one). So I think there’d be a lot of pressure on Flano too. Woolf hasn’t coached at NRL level…. Pressure.
Potter isn’t a mug. He has coached extensively in the UK, and was probably given up on a bit too quickly at the tigers. He came to the club during a bit of a rebuilding phase, with the team doing poorly in Sheens’ last season…. And he also had to contend with some pretty significant personnel changes. The best part of a decade has passed since he left and the club hasn’t rebounded since, with even well respected/ premiership winning coaches trying and failing.
I want to see us playing finals as much as anyone. I think we’d have a great chance of getting there next year under Mick (especially with a new defensive coach to help him). If I didn’t think he could get us there, I wouldn’t want him in the job.
Sorry for the lengthy tome… lol. I respect your opinion. I also love a good debate.
