Embarrassing

[Bondicigar]

The coach is fine. Maybe if we developed and looked after our own players more we wouldn't need to look for dickheads like Brandon Smith and uninterested ones like Terrell May.

Sitili Tupouniua is another one we kicked out recently months after extending his contract where's the sympathy for him

The coach is on the slide and he's about to start his biggest test yet at the rooster over the next couple of seasons

[SamKerrSimp]

The coach is on the slide and he's about to start his biggest test yet at the rooster over the next couple of seasons

And we will come out of it just like we have the last two times we got in this position in 2012 and 2016 both times the club swept out some crap, some of it controversial because fans just saw the talent of players, and younger guys emerging got some much needed playing time week in week out and other guys like Jackson Hastings got to show the club that they weren't going to cut it and a replacement was needed.

Young guys need a chance, the club being ruthless isn't a new thing it's just odd the fans suddenly draw the line at Terrell May instead of a host of other players we do this to on a near yearly basis. Everyone says we underachieved so why wouldn't you move players on? It's a business and May is free to negotiate elsewhere from next November anyway so if he plays lights out in a season where we aren't going to win anyway and he goes and leaves then it was all for nothing and if we lose other young players in the process then it's even worse.

I'm also convinced the club are moving players on from that video.

[ChookMaster]

You can throw in Joseph Suualii to that dud list as well.

We got nothing out of that deal and it was just Nick being petty.

[SamKerrSimp]

You can throw in Joseph Suualii to that dud list as well.

We got nothing out of that deal and it was just Nick being petty.

Suaalii will turn out to be a gun but we've wasted so much of his time here playing him at centre when he should've been on the wing. He showed flashes of brilliance at fullback too it's a real shame we've lost him but better to the wallabies than another NRL.

[Rooster_6]

If we want to beat the Riff and Storm, which everyone rightly harps on about, something has to change. Perhaps this is part of that something? We don’t know exactly what is going on with our recruitment at the moment but clearly something is happening. We also don’t know the full details of the May situation. I agree we paid way too much for Smith. He’s not worth that much and it’s a problem that needs to be addressed. Do fans seriously think he’s worth what we’re paying him?

I think you're probably right, Robinson fielded a lot of questions this year about recruitment and he was very staunch on the idea that we would be developing from within and that he wouldn't be bringing in players from the outside to block the path of a young player coming through the ranks.

There seems to be a big emphasis on the Roosters academy which was set up in 2021, focusing on players 16-19yrs of age who in 2025 will be 20-23 years of age coming through the ranks now plus future generations who would've started off in the academy since.

I've been vocally critical on this over the last couple of years but in my opinion we had bit of a lull post Peter O'sullivan in terms of successfully identifying and developing young talent. The last successful crop to come through in my opinion was the Manu/Butcher/Watson/Radley/Latrell/Tupouniua class. Since then it's been few and far between and often recruited on first grade contracts (Walker & Suaalii) instead of developed through our junior reps.

If the club feels like it has the junior talent coming through the ranks to build a future premiership side and I think there was a lot of evidence of that in the back half of the NSW Cup season once they were all fit and playing together then I think that's something to get excited about. I certainly think it's more exciting than the player movement market which for mine should always be used as the icing on the cake.

I think the effects of Cooper Cronk and SBW always get overplayed when breaking down and analysing the success of our premiership seasons. They were key elements and it's a fair and logical argument to say we wouldn't have won those premierships without them. But it is also logical and fair to say that there was only a one or two clubs in each of those season that they could've gone to and won a premiership with. The base was built for them to come in and add the final touch of class. Think Boyd Cordner, Mitch Aubusson, Joey Manu, Latrell Mithcell, Jake Friend, & Victor Radley.

The same goes for coaches, Ivan Cleary lost more games than he won in his first 4 years at the Panthers, had a 50% win rate at the Warriors and a 42% win rate and the Tigers. Now he's just won 4 premierships in a row. The Tigers didn't just magically turn a coach who couldn't win more than half his games throughout a 12 year coaching career into some kind of a magician. Their ability of the Panthers pathways to continually replenish their squad, the depth they hold within their top 30 players and the identification of some generational talent early on in their careers has been the key to their success. Good coaching and some smart signings has helped but it's not the key ingredient to their success, at least in my opinion anyway.

The last decade and a bit has spoiled us as fans and I think distorted our perception of reality, the premise that 3rd and a prelim final was a "shite season" is one I see shared by many of our fans which is wild. But I hold confidence in the underlying rebuilding of the clubs pathway systems post the Peter O'sullivan era as a really exciting step in the right direction and if that's the path we're headed down this season the I'm here for it as if it's done right its benefits will outlast any Terrell May or David Fifita saga the club endures.

[Vasco]

Wasn’t it Docker-Clay and Wong in the video? It’s not like Spencer Leniu had the best year he completely embarrassed the club and the game as a whole in his first game spending 8 matches on the sideline and rarely ever aimed up to the hype since then.

Hard to argue. A big charge from the kickoff here and there and not much else.

I don't agree that May was a star player this season. He doesn't bend the line and turns his back on the defence on most occasions. Handy coming off the bench but not much use as a starting prop. He had several chances starting with JWH suspended most of the time, and pretty much did nothing in those early exchanges.

[Vasco]

I can't recall too many "stars" that have been let go to then go on and become "stars" at other clubs.

Latrell's loss was hard to swallow but it's well and truly been vindicated.

[Vasco]

The coach is on the slide and he's about to start his biggest test yet at the rooster over the next couple of seasons

No doubt about that. Let's see what he's got.

[Steggles]

The coach is fine. Maybe if we developed and looked after our own players more we wouldn't need to look for dickheads like Brandon Smith and uninterested ones like Terrell May.

Sitili Tupouniua is another one we kicked out recently months after extending his contract where's the sympathy for him

But isn’t that actually what the coach is supposed to do? You’ve not gotten any smarter since your return.

[King Salvo]

Coach Robinson is the head coach, with a number of assistant coaches and consultants under him who have various roles, including the development of players, i.e., defence, attack, kick, etc.

Head coaches oversee this.

No different from a workplace where the manager will have staff under them who are in supervisory roles. The manager doesn't do their job as well as their own.

[milanja]

If we want to beat the Riff and Storm, which everyone rightly harps on about, something has to change. Perhaps this is part of that something? We don’t know exactly what is going on with our recruitment at the moment but clearly something is happening. We also don’t know the full details of the May situation. I agree we paid way too much for Smith. He’s not worth that much and it’s a problem that needs to be addressed. Do fans seriously think he’s worth what we’re paying him?

as soon as Bellamy doesn’t want a player, alarm bells should sound, but for some reason our club paid him overs instead.

[SamKerrSimp]

I agree with Rooster6 that Cronk and SBW get way too much credit for the influence they had particularly when it comes to the perception that they created this envious culture in the club, Cronk in particular walked in to a team that was primed to win a premiership and they would have won it in 2018 with Pearce at the 7 anyway. Cronk played 2 grand finals and his greatest contribution in those 2 games was getting sin binned against Canberra, Luke Keary's effort against Melbourne was one of the all time great Roosters performances up there with the very best of Brad Fittler. SBW was quickly forgotten in 2015 with the emergence of SST. I would argue that the 2015 team was the best version of the 3 minor premierships in a row and we would have cruised to a premiership until Pearce and JWH went down against Brisbane late in the year.

Life went on after SBW and Cronk but life hasn't gone on after Aubusson, Cordner and Friend.

I disagree about Ivan Cleary though he was a good coach at the Warriors and was in charge at Penrith the first time when they were in the beginning of the Phil Gould re-build and he cleared the joint out of their previous crop of juniors that came through like Jennings, Graham, Moylan, Lewis etc and he got the Tigers on the improve in the aftermath of losing Tedesco, Moses and Woods. The Tigers just missed the 8 without those 3 players in 2018 which was the closest competition in history. Ivan might not be the greatest of all time but we've never seen Bellamy move around to see how he would go in a different situation just as we've seen Bennett turn most clubs he's joined around even though he's only got 1 premiership outside of his first tenure with the Broncos.

Hard to argue. A big charge from the kickoff here and there and not much else.

I don't agree that May was a star player this season. He doesn't bend the line and turns his back on the defence on most occasions. Handy coming off the bench but not much use as a starting prop. He had several chances starting with JWH suspended most of the time, and pretty much did nothing in those early exchanges.

I agree with you 100% on both accounts I was a fan of signing Spencer but he didn't step up like I hoped he would and he started his time with us like a dickhead he's been underwhelming, I'm not sure his performances and future prospects were worth what he did in Vegas. All this commotion about how hard he runs it on the first hit up coming off the bench is a bit over the top, doing it 10-15 times after starting the game is a different matter. May was good in periods and underwhelming in others.

We haven't let too many players go of our own volition and lived to regret it, Latrell was sooking and angling for the move to Souths and RTS wanted to go back to NZ but they weren't players we were going to be able to keep anyway. Maloney hurt us for 1 season until we got Keary, Ethan Strange might come back to bite us but you can't keep them all. Sitili Tupouniua has the potential to make us look silly in a good team he runs the ball great but has bad hands and can be sloppy on the defence, if Canterbury have a good year and he plays well we won't hear the end of it.

[Bates]

And we will come out of it just like we have the last two times we got in this position in 2012 and 2016 both times the club swept out some crap, some of it controversial because fans just saw the talent of players, and younger guys emerging got some much needed playing time week in week out and other guys like Jackson Hastings got to show the club that they weren't going to cut it and a replacement was needed.

Young guys need a chance, the club being ruthless isn't a new thing it's just odd the fans suddenly draw the line at Terrell May instead of a host of other players we do this to on a near yearly basis. Everyone says we underachieved so why wouldn't you move players on? It's a business and May is free to negotiate elsewhere from next November anyway so if he plays lights out in a season where we aren't going to win anyway and he goes and leaves then it was all for nothing and if we lose other young players in the process then it's even worse.

I'm also convinced the club are moving players on from that video.

I reckon that video has plenty to do with things.

[SamKerrSimp]

I reckon that video has plenty to do with things.

I don't think it's a coincidence we're seeing two of the bigger personalities and influences from that video swiftly getting shown the door (can't control Smith staying for next year) and I'd be surprised of Docker-Clay features much next year. Terrell May re-signed in April and the magic round incident was in mid May. The team conceded a try off the first set of the game when none of them were prepared for the potential of Hynes to run the ball on the last, it comes across like they were going to wait until the off season to deal with it so they didn't de-rail the season after the racism incident and have the season turn in to some 2009 shit show.

[Bondicigar]

Robbo is a basket case , he will persist with turnstile defenders, players in the wrong position, HUTCH in the centres.
Sit back a watch Angus play a full season not knowing what planet hes on.
Add that he can't get a test hooker to play at more then 70 % , 2 or 3 good games a season out of Keary over 3 years, had no control over JWH or Rads with discipline.
Got nothing out of Manu after he signed with rugby.
Teddy is his only consistent performer but everyone knows he needs no motivation at all.