Ronnie Palmer Gone

[Guest]

Dont be surprised to see Craig Walker come back.

[Guest]

Ronnies had a great run, ffs we kept him and let Tony Ayoub go the Bulldogs,wtf was Freddy thinking?

[Guest]

Going to miss the mullet but it is a move in the right direction. Let's hope the boys can now play for more then 1 half of football in 2010.

[roostwin]

Well it looks like we can thank Freddy for One Thing.
The place will get good spring cleaning.:

[supermario]

Dont be surprised to see Craig Walker come back.

I hope so, he was a big loss when he left thanks to ricky stupid !

[Vasco]

I hope so, he was a big loss when he left thanks to ricky stupid !

Mate I'm not sure that's entirely the case. He was about to take up an offer as head trainer for the Canadian rugby team but received a very good offer from the Warriors at the last minute.

[supermario]

Mate I'm not sure that's entirely the case. He was about to take up an offer as head trainer for the Canadian rugby team but received a very good offer from the Warriors at the last minute.

The reason he was going to canadian rugby was because of stuart.

[Guest]

Thanks Ronnie!
But it's time we moved on.

[Guest]

A gym instructor where I go went to a fitness course a few weeks ago and Mina and Fitzy where there. Some of the stuff they were shown had Mini and Fitzy saying they don't do anywhere near the intensity being taught at the course. So on that note it does sound like that Ronnie may have been past it somewhat.

Best of Luck Ronnie....

[Kingbilly]

The interesting thing I found out was that Ronnie left on his own behalf, infact he was going to go last year but because Ayoub etc left he decided to stay and help Fitler

[Guest]

Nice article on Ronnie by our Premiership winning coach.

The Roosters trainer who became a dead-set legend
By Ricky Stuart From: The Sunday Telegraph August 23, 2009

SO, the man in the tight shorts has been handed his marching orders?

Some fans will say it's about bloody time, because Ronnie Palmer has been allowed to get away with spending too much time on the field for way too long.

Let me tell you, if they had a grand final for the world's best bloke, Ronnie would make your run-on side.

If you had a football team full of individuals with the same characteristics as Ronnie, you would have a team made up of loyalty, toughness and resilience.

And that's before you even get started on the qualities that make Ronnie so bloody special.

I was initially upset for Ronnie during the week when he told me his time at the Roosters would be coming to an end. But then I started thinking about how lucky we've been to have had him around as long as we have.

I can vouch for that.

For starters, Ronnie's got nicknames as long as your arm.

There's the Cougar, for his resemblance to the actor in the popular Cougar bourbon commercials.

There's Sixty-twenty, because he's got a 60-year-old head on a 20-year-old body. There's Cheezle, too ... which I won't go into here.

And perhaps the best of the lot, Ronnie Palmer the Balmain charmer. I love that one.

He still cops that, which harks back to his days when he played for the Tigers in the 1970s.

And he even taught at that wonderful rugby league school, Holy Cross at Ryde.

But the trust the Roosters had in Ronnie to allow him to look after their players for the past 20 years probably says most about the bloke.

In that time he has survived nine first-grade coaches. He started with Russell Fairfax and outlasted us all.

It's probably because for Ronnie, the player always came first.

When I was at the Roosters, every day without fail Brad Fittler would ring Ronnie and ask what time was training.

I know very well that Freddy knew the answer to his question most days. But that wouldn't stop him making the call. He just wanted to hear Ronnie's reassuring voice.

I remember one time we were in an Australian team camp and the players and staff had gone out for a beer. Laurie Daley went down in a screaming heap with serious pain in his stomach.

But ever the optimist, Ronnie just said: "Mate, it's OK. Breathe deeply and maybe you should try to sit on the toilet.''
Laurie was laying there screaming in excruciating pain and he told Ronnie in no uncertain terms that the bathroom wasn't the answer.

But Ronnie said: "Look mate, it's probably just the kebab, it's going to be all OK tomorrow.''

And even when Laurie was being carried out of the room on a stretcher, Ronnie was down the hall screaming: "It will be all good tomorrow, Loz, you'll be fine.''

It wasn't until the next morning we found out Laurie had had a serious attack of pancreatitis.

There are a million stories just like it because Ronnie always found a positive in every situation.

And he never had a bad word to say about anyone.

I remember when I went to coach the Roosters in 2002, I initially asked club chairman Nick Politis if I could bring Billy Johnstone along with me from Canterbury.

It's only now that I realise how fortunate I was because, lucky for me, Billy had already signed to join the Cowboys.
And on the advice of Phil Gould, I kept Ronnie at the Roosters.

I believe now it turned out to be one of the luckiest breaks of my life.

Ronnie's not only a true professional and wonderful company, but I'm happy to say that he's also one of my best mates.

Over the past 20 years he has done more for the Roosters than anyone will ever realise. I dearly hope the club gives him the send-off he deserves.

He truly is a legend of our game. A man who always found the best out of every situation. And a bloody great bloke to boot.

Good luck, Ronnie. I know you won't need it.