we can't afford another off season under Smith

[fletch]

one thing still rings in my mind about our off season, I remember hearing Pearce when asked about the focus of the off season and his response was we concentrated on "ad-lib" football and not much in the way of fitness/defence.

the off season is the only real opportunity the coach has to implement structures and get the players fit for the grinding season ahead, it has been blatantly clear Smith has lost touch with the modern game of rugby league.

it is all well and good to have a youth policy, but it simply doesn't work when the coaching staff are not improving any of the players natural talents.

the damage Smith is doing to the confidence of these players at such a young age is going to take years to reverse and to get rid of all the bad habbits they have, with every week he is in charge we are a week further away from turning the corner.

I don't care if Uncle Nick doesn't want to sack him, just pension him off to a "coaching director" capacity, piss of Rohan Smith and Matt Elliot and either bring in Trent Robinson or Jason Taylor and a whole new energenic staff to start fixing the problem.

[007]

We can't afford another season with Smith period - in any capacity.

[fletch]

We can't afford another season with Smith period - in any capacity.

the worst result for us would be he is still in charge over the off season and then is given the arse in the first couple of months of 2013, it would ruin another year of development for our youngsters.

[Guest]

Smith was signed to bring stability and structure to the club after the wooden spoon fiasco. He did that and got us to a Grand Final as a bonus. We must evolve now. The fact that we have the worst completion rate and discipline in the NRL is a direct reflection of a lack of communication between players and coaching staff. We never shook off the pre-season rust. Players are not timing their runs and passes. Too late in the year to work on the basics when the contenders are sharpening their plays and introducing new ideas into their structure. Sorry, but I agree, we need a change. I like Brian Smith but I believe that his style would be more effective in England. He will surely get a gig over there.

[The Brain]

one thing still rings in my mind about our off season, I remember hearing Pearce when asked about the focus of the off season and his response was we concentrated on "ad-lib" football and not much in the way of fitness/defence.

the off season is the only real opportunity the coach has to implement structures and get the players fit for the grinding season ahead, it has been blatantly clear Smith has lost touch with the modern game of rugby league.

it is all well and good to have a youth policy, but it simply doesn't work when the coaching staff are not improving any of the players natural talents.

the damage Smith is doing to the confidence of these players at such a young age is going to take years to reverse and to get rid of all the bad habbits they have, with every week he is in charge we are a week further away from turning the corner.

I don't care if Uncle Nick doesn't want to sack him, just pension him off to a "coaching director" capacity, piss of Rohan Smith and Matt Elliot and either bring in Trent Robinson or Jason Taylor and a whole new energenic staff to start fixing the problem.

I could live with that

[stsae]

Yeah just like 06 when the players got sick of pRicky, 07 when they couldn't take dOpes, 09 when they didn't dig Freddy.

These poor players underdeveloped and taught how to give away penalties and drop the pill from their last 4 coaches.

I feel for the poor buggers.

Or maybe the players and the club could show some Sac for once??? Wouldn't that be a forigen concept.

[stephenj]

finally i agree ad lib footy is great when needed , but tyh]ese days to win you must be structured and organised, ad lib is great when things go arse upo and you have to recover but these days league is all structure and organise like a 80 minute chess game grid iron wax once like this? union is ad lib footy at its best but even union has a lot more structure now!many years ago fairfax was our coach for a short while, all he knew was ad lib footy, great for a short while but eventually teams know how to defend againstr you, so you loose, we lost fairy lost too, its now time for smith to move on as well!

[Guest]

one thing still rings in my mind about our off season, I remember hearing Pearce when asked about the focus of the off season and his response was we concentrated on "ad-lib" football and not much in the way of fitness/defence.

the off season is the only real opportunity the coach has to implement structures and get the players fit for the grinding season ahead, it has been blatantly clear Smith has lost touch with the modern game of rugby league.

it is all well and good to have a youth policy, but it simply doesn't work when the coaching staff are not improving any of the players natural talents.

the damage Smith is doing to the confidence of these players at such a young age is going to take years to reverse and to get rid of all the bad habbits they have, with every week he is in charge we are a week further away from turning the corner.

I don't care if Uncle Nick doesn't want to sack him, just pension him off to a "coaching director" capacity, piss of Rohan Smith and Matt Elliot and either bring in Trent Robinson or Jason Taylor and a whole new energenic staff to start fixing the problem.

Mate it's our completion rate that's killing us. That's not the coach, that's the dumb farking idiots on the field who cannot hang onto the ball. Watch the Raiders/Storm game again from Saturday night. The Raiders did nothing special except hang onto the pill and complete their sets and went wide 2-3 times the whole match. The Dogs did the same thing to them.

If we improve our completions we reduce the defensive work load which will have the flow on affect of reducing our errors due to tiredness. I think we made 94 more tackles than the Sharks last night. That's what 15 more sets of six than us and they still couldn't beat us. Imagine if we'd held onto the bloody ball!

Chook.

[elo]

It's quite clear that first grade coaching is past Brian Smith in 2012, he's on the down slope and there's no coming back - this must be his last season as head coach.

[Guest]

What ad lib footy. Three scoots from dummy half. A hit up, another hit up and kick. That's not ad lib footy. The warriors play ad lib footy. Off loads, second phases, hot potato some times. The bulldogs play ad lib by little tip on pays. We do nothing. When was the last time we had a storm, dragons or broncos style shift picking up the fullback sweeping around the back of some decoys? Never a simple but effective play that we can't do because we don't have confidence to. How many times did you see Pearce throw a short ball to Aubuson running an inside line when we went to the gf?? At least twice a half. Now we're lucky to see Pearce do anything but turn a forward back on the inside. SACK THE COACH!!!!!! Time for a new direction. I don't rate JT but he has done good with the 20's so give him a crack at the top job

[The Rooster Oracle]

Spot on the money fletch, could not have said it any better myself! The off season leading into 2013 is going to be crucial if we are going to be any hope of winning the comp next year. If Smiffy is in charge of it then we will be f**ked and it will be wasted!! If Nick can't see that they he truly has lost the plot! I know that Smiffy has the gift of the gab when it comes to licking Nick's ar$e, and it looks like Nick must be loving the feel of Smiffy's tongue! Just picture that image in your head.

[Guest]

What ad lib footy. Three scoots from dummy half. A hit up, another hit up and kick. That's not ad lib footy. The warriors play ad lib footy. Off loads, second phases, hot potato some times. The bulldogs play ad lib by little tip on pays. We do nothing. When was the last time we had a storm, dragons or broncos style shift picking up the fullback sweeping around the back of some decoys? Never a simple but effective play that we can't do because we don't have confidence to. How many times did you see Pearce throw a short ball to Aubuson running an inside line when we went to the gf?? At least twice a half. Now we're lucky to see Pearce do anything but turn a forward back on the inside. SACK THE COACH!!!!!! Time for a new direction. I don't rate JT but he has done good with the 20's so give him a crack at the top job

Spot on.

Its a myth about our ad-lib footy most of the time.

All we do is run from dummy half most of the time.

Not sure if anyone noticed this, but at the 65 minute mark, while we are behind and needing a try, robson kicks it to mini who takes it on the fly and runs back to around the 30 metre mark. Every single tackle in that set of 6 involved our players running from dummy half. It was a nothing set of 6 from start to finish even though we had good field position on that set of 6 and we needed to score a try as it was getting late in the game and we were behind. But instead, we run each tackle from dummy half.

We scored a lucky try from a bomb at the end of the game to get the draw.

Ad-lib footy, yeah right.

[Guest]

one thing still rings in my mind about our off season, I remember hearing Pearce when asked about the focus of the off season and his response was we concentrated on "ad-lib" football and not much in the way of fitness/defence.

the off season is the only real opportunity the coach has to implement structures and get the players fit for the grinding season ahead, it has been blatantly clear Smith has lost touch with the modern game of rugby league.

it is all well and good to have a youth policy, but it simply doesn't work when the coaching staff are not improving any of the players natural talents.

the damage Smith is doing to the confidence of these players at such a young age is going to take years to reverse and to get rid of all the bad habbits they have, with every week he is in charge we are a week further away from turning the corner.

I don't care if Uncle Nick doesn't want to sack him, just pension him off to a "coaching director" capacity, piss of Rohan Smith and Matt Elliot and either bring in Trent Robinson or Jason Taylor and a whole new energenic staff to start fixing the problem.

coaching director only if he is locked up in a room and cant speak or see the players. Most of them can't stand him.

[Guest]

Spot on the money fletch, could not have said it any better myself! The off season leading into 2013 is going to be crucial if we are going to be any hope of winning the comp next year. If Smiffy is in charge of it then we will be f**ked and it will be wasted!! If Nick can't see that they he truly has lost the plot! I know that Smiffy has the gift of the gab when it comes to licking Nick's ar$e, and it looks like Nick must be loving the feel of Smiffy's tongue! Just picture that image in your head.

I've had to review Gay Schiesse Porn, nothing shocks me anymore.

[stsae]

Spot on.

Its a myth about our ad-lib footy most of the time.

All we do is run from dummy half most of the time.

Not sure if anyone noticed this, but at the 65 minute mark, while we are behind and needing a try, robson kicks it to mini who takes it on the fly and runs back to around the 30 metre mark. Every single tackle in that set of 6 involved our players running from dummy half. It was a nothing set of 6 from start to finish even though we had good field position on that set of 6 and we needed to score a try as it was getting late in the game and we were behind. But instead, we run each tackle from dummy half.

We scored a lucky try from a bomb at the end of the game to get the draw.

Ad-lib footy, yeah right.

You know AlFredo you are right.

I keep hearing we have no structure or game plan to fall back on from a lot of Easts fans whose opinions I respect. On this point I don't agree with them.

We have a structure to fall back on as AlFredo said it's dummy 1/2 run after dummy 1/2 run from our outside backs. I reckon it's done to try and get quick play the balls and get a roll on.

Thing is that works if you have fast FBs, 1/2s, hookers to take advantage of tired forwards retreating up the middle. We don't have such players, maybe only Mortein.

Our ad lib footy is when blokes carry the ball loose and attempt silly offloads, when held, trying to pass to blokes in worse positions, that they drop far too often.

It would be different if we were offloading while we are moving, attempting miracle attacking plays at all times of the game.

Our players are dumb. They can't execute a SIMPLE game plan well. I don't understand why many want to see us with hundreds of set moves and complicated attacking structure. These players surely would fark up anything complex. They can't execute a simple set in FG range or an attacking set in the oppositions 20.

Good call AlFredo.