These are my thoughts on our current board and previous board
Previous board - gave Des too much control and didnt intervene enough when wrong decisions were made by him. The club was strong for the majority of their tenure being able to attract star players. We made 2 GFs and finals for 5 years straight and had some great times from 2012-2015 especially.
Des has his strong points and weak points. I think hes a good coach in the strict meaning of the word. Our defence was strong. He built a strong team culture and the players gave it their all and fought hard alot of the time even though they were inferior on paper. The 2014 finals run was awesome. The 2015 Finals win against St G was awesome. 2012 we needed that GF win but he was outcoached in that game. But the change from Moore to Des was chalk and cheese, it was a massive improvement.
He brought some really good kids up like Jacko Klemmer Finucane Reynolds only to let some of them leave, and kept Lichaa while letting Cook go. That was a DUD call. Same with the myth that was TRex who should have been punted early on. And there are many similar examples that have been done to death here.
Des clearly has big problems when it comes to recruitment/retention and salary cap management. This may not make him a bad 'coach' of rugby league players, but its now an essential part of the game for a coach, unless you have a great front office or recruitment team that can do it for you. All in all Dessies time was up , the place got stale and I was happy for a change.
Current coach. I still cant make a call on Pay. He has rookies running around and hes a rookie himself as coach with no track record. I was happy for him to have a shot. BUT IF I HAD KNOWN last year we were going to go through a massive rebuild this year I WOULD HAVE WANTED A COACH WITH A TRACK RECORD OF REBUILDING. No-one knew last year we were heading for a rebuild this year and what looks like the coming year(s). That all happened on the back of the board elections.
Now onto current board. I dont know how successful they will be and how capable they are. The major figures that have control of the footy club in CA and his wife dont really have a track record of running a footy club and rebuilding a club. CA was a great coach in the 90s. Lynn was involved in the 90s at our club then the Titans who have been abit of a rabble themselves, she also has experience with paralympics which suits our current attacking style.
Jokes aside I wish them the best and I hope they know what they're doing. I think the lack of TPAs will hurt our club attracting good players, and I dont think investing in kids is the best way to rebuild. The job is difficult and complicated. If they do well and we see some light out of this shitty tunnel in the next 2 years they will get re-elected. If this situation doesnt improve and the rebuild project isnt successful we will probably have a new board in feb 2021.
I think a massive misconception on the kennel is support for the old board means not supporting the current board and vice verse when both can be mutually exclusive.
Il make a decision on the current board and coach in a years time when they had a fair crack at it. But as it stands i cannot be blindly confident until I see some positive results.
My feelings are that we arent in an ideal situation on or off the field with the lack of experience we have (see my other thread). Our club needs a Gould type character is CA that man? Lets hope so, otherwise we will struggle and this rebuild project thats commenced will take alot longer.
Back onto the coach.
There is a big difference for eg in the job rookie coach Seibold has at Souths walking into a club with settled halves, the 3 Burgess bros killing it upfront, Gagai and Inglis at centre etc and the job rookie coach Pay has at rebuilding a team of kids. Both are rookie coaches but both have very different task on their hands.
Pay may be a good rugby league coach but his job now is to rebuild a FG team from having a handful of quality NRL players. He has a massive job which now involves great recruitment and at its forefront and crucial decisions all around.
Who knows how he will go? Ditto with new board.
I hope everyone at our club is judged on their results in a fair time frame & not on agendas and bias etc. My opinion on Pay & the current board will be based on results , the proof will be in the pudding & I wish them all the best.
