wasn't one of the reasons for lowes to leave leeds because they were going to play him at second row?

Yes, he was not first choice hooker> and i deliberately missed out Carlos Hassan and Davide Longo!!!

We had a massive turnover of players in 95/96 didn't we?

Didn't Paul Anderson, Nathan Graham, Jon Scales, Jason Donohue and Gary Christie also join in that period?

Then there's poor Tommy Hodgkinson who cam from Saints IIRC got a Bulls tattoo and was then offloaded!

I think Bradford have a pack to match most. What they don't have is the individual brilliance of the Pauls, Les, Pryce, TV to get over the line in the backs. I believe there is enough in the backs however, or should be enough, for a coach to turn the possession & position into tries. Not meant as a dig at banana.

So true. For years we had the "no Plan B" mantra mindlessly regurgitated. It was funny then, and is still funny now, since if true, then what does it say about all the other SL coaches who couldn't beat us despite, apparently, knowing our whole Plan, and that we couldn't change it?

The truth is, we never had a good coach, we never had a good team, and we never had a good player. All those wins you cite were sheer flukes, and it is no surprise that, the Bulls having been utter crap since SL began, their legacy is also one of utter crap coaches, players etc.

These useless legacy people must surely be so grateful that the owners of the various other clubs are not as perspicacious and astute as some of the posters on this thread, as none should ever have had another job.

Come to think of it, why does [ianyone[/i in SL have a job? Apparently Leeds are utter crap, Saints are even worse, and nobody else is within coo-ee of them so is there any point in the continued existence of this comp?

I'm off to slit my wrists now.

I'd pretty much agree with all of that, and hopefully so it will turn out. I'm especially encouraged by Nero's fine start to the season, but Jeffries needs to frame.

When did we sign Abi Ekoku as a player?

1997 season

I'd managed to forget that

Anderson was also signed during the 97 season, like Forshaw. And I forgot Glen Tomlinson who was signed in 95-96. Christie was signed by Peter Fox at the start of the last full winter season 94-95, as well as Donohue and Ireland!

Back to topic, I don't necessarily think it's the style of play that causes the problems. There is more than one way to skin a cat. Leeds and Saints have the kind of team that is a bit lighter and quicker than those uber-successful Bulls sides of the SL era, but the Bulls had a huge pack that would steamroll downfield, and close to the line the backs, with various personnel, were all but unstoppable. I think that style could still be successful, but I you need the right players when you get into attacking areas. The likes of Lowes, the Pauls, Vainikolo, Vaikona, Hape etc have moved on, and the players that have replaced them simply aren't of the same quality. I don't rate McBanana much, but with the best coaching in the world, the playing staff just isn't what it was, in my book. I also don't think it's time to write off Lowes as a coach yet, or Noble for that matter.

Bear in mind that in pretty short order the HKR team that snatched a draw at Odsal [ibeat[/i said St. Helens away, and by all accounts should've beaten Leeds too. In the early season, KR seem to have perfected cat-skinning better than most so-called top teams. At any rate, on the evidence of 2009 so far, the theory doesn't hold any water, we did better against HKR than Saints did.

That may be. However, given the way last season turned out, I will consider my theory debunked if Bradford challenge seriously for the title this year. I don't see it though.

I think that most of the non-NT would be amazed if Bradford, who are in a rebuilding phase, were genuine title challengers this year. Building a squad capable of challenging for the title is a long process and few teams achieve it. If they do, it takes years not weeks.

But then I am not amongst those who consider anything short of world domination "failure".

[url=http://www.warringtonwolves.org/news/Wolves38582.inkSmith to Wire[/url

Jimmy to be first team coach under Tony Smith, good move by wire IMO.

The appointment to head coach clearly too soon for Jimmy?

Yes, it was too soon for him. I expect him to take a similar role to McNamara during the WC, doing some colouring in while Smith gets on with the real business

I reckon so. I still think Leeds gave Daryl Powell the head coach job too early and it did his career a lot of damage. I hope Wire are moving in time to stop the same from happening to Lowes.

I just hope jimmys ego lets him take it the right way and use the situation as an opportunity to develop his coaching.

I've been waiting for that to be trotted out it's the favorite excuse.

I thought one of the prerequisites of Smith taking up the national job was that it was his [ionly [/icoaching job????

You must be mistaken, I'm sure the RFL wouldn't move the goalposts..

The RFL never move the goalposts. That must be right, cos they tell us they don't.

So thats settled, then.






















Shame they can't resist keep moving the bloody pitch around underneath the goalposts, mind...

After a disappointing tri-nations in 2006 they decided we needed a full time coach.

Oddly, after an absolutely appalling world cup they decide this isn't necessary anymore, it will be interesting to see if the "Technical Director" role is continued and someone else appointed to it, long term it is far more important than the national coach job and I don't think the two should be combined anyway.

Also, to the absolute top echelon of coaches, the fact that the job of coaching England doesn't actually involve much at all in the way of coaching is a problem. If you want to be the coach of the national side, you probably have to be ready to give up 95% of your actual coaching, if it can't be combined with any other coaching job.

In truth, how much time does the England coach spend coaching? He gets about a fortnight a season in contact with the players. The rest of the time he basically has to watch matches and decide who to pick. The job can be done with Sky plus most of the time.

Until that situation changes, there's no real function to a full time coach.

Additionally, until the supporting structure and standard of youth development improves across the country, there's a whole universe full of pointlessness in having a full time national team coach. In the World Cup, it didn't really matter which 17 players the coach picked from those available, who said coach was or what kind of contract he had.