I have always rated him.
He has done well in previously struggling teams (warriors and panthers 1st time).
Yes, he did the dirty on Wests Tigers but that doesn't mean his grand plan for them wouldn't have worked out. His plan was in fact to get Nathan over and build the Tigers. Didnt happen and although you can be critical of him abandoning them during a rebuild, he has proven that whatever coaching plan he had, it was a winning one.
You can point to the penrith juniors all you want and its fair to credit Gus and Hook for what they did in the lead up years before, but credit to Fletcher in bucking the trend, going against Gus Gould, putting their eggs in tye Clearys basket and getting the job done.
They have been one of the top 2 teamsfor 2 seasons straight and could easily have been B2B premiers. Remember they scored 4 tries apiece last year against Melb.
Im from the BDP and i dont hide the fact that i was very vocal in wanting Des sacked in favour of Cleary, even before the Tigers signed him up. I got offside with some BDPers at the time, but i think the last 2 years has vindicated my opinion.
Fletcher is simply vindicating his actions in this article. Who knows..... maybe im Fletcher!!
