bagging a coach and not even got here yet



more nrl experience than brennan who i thought we was going to get in terms of being a head coach

remember fiji playing well in the world cup under him too

anyway not confirmed yet

the knights are going to do ok, all browny has done is played the teams youngsters to give them experience, any player who is leaving at the end of the season has been dropped to reserve grade, he isn't getting any grief because people know he is doing the right thing for the club and it will take till next season to ge a half descent team

Confirmed new head coach is Rick stone signed a 2 and a half year deal

2 and a half years is realistic I recon, It is effectively 2 full seasons after what remains of this one. Time enough to find out if we are going anywhere or not.

The middle 8's can be a positive for us , just as well as a negative, We have the players to do well and secure SL for next year again. Just hope this guy doesn't let them get the idea it's going to be a cake walk. Onward and upward .

I wonder if his boys, Ben and Sam Stone, will go with him.
As a Knights fan, I wouldn't mind losing Ben, who is a 20 year old who struggles to hold down a spot in the Knights reserve grade, but 18 year old Sam is looking like he could be a really good player. He is currently a second row forward in the Knights under 20s, but he has played 5/8 and hooker in the past. Big kid too - 6'4" and growing.
A couple of players Stone really liked, Akuila Uate and Jack Stockwell, are out of favour and playing reserve grade at the Knights. Stoney would love to take Akuila the thriller with him, and the Knights would swap him for Joe Wardle in a minute. Not sure how Aku would like England though.
Stone has had a great apprenticeship under Brian Smith and Wayne Bennett, and his first time as a head coach with Newcastle was pretty good as well.
His second chance as firstgrade coach (after Bennett) was really no reflection on him. He was left with a squad who had all signed to play under Bennett and were totally gutted to have Stone take over. Guys like BJ Luilea, Darius Boyd and Beau Scott all played like dogs till they got a release, and killed Stone's career in the process.

He is a really nice guy who has a great football brain, but he does come across as a baby deer in the headlights in media interviews. His broad Australian accent makes him sound like he's a bit slow to Australians. God knows how you guys will take him. Craig Sandercock is his best mate and former assistant, and Craig looks like Mr personality next to Stoney.

Great insight into him. Thanks for this mate.

happy with this!

comes with alot of nrl experience, worked with some of the best in bennett and still been close to the nrl recently working at sydney city roosters. ok newcastle havent been great but even bennett and brown cant fix that broken club.

sounds like he is refreshed and ready for a new challenge! thorman and robbo helping out, will be here in time for saints game.

remember him coaching fiji who did well in the world cup over here and he came across well, looks like the type of guy you dont mess with.

reading his comments about how he likes his players to work hard and show commitment is a good recipe, this is for me how we wont the lls in 2013, we dotn have the star players but if you work hard for each other you get results

rick stone's barmy army







(give it till after sundays game till he starts getting it in the neck from some fans)

An unknown to me. His coaching history doesn't look really impressive but probably good enough to turn our fortunes around for next season and make us a top 4 team again. Hopefully it isn't too late for this season!
Will be interesting to see what players he can attract and how his motivational skills are. Hopefully he'll pick teams on pure merit and sticks with bringing young players in often.
Anybody any idea of what type of play he's promotes?
Expansive? Defensive?

Smith and Brown had hardly anything at all on their CVs, if he is as good or better we will be doing ok, get him aclimatised for Leeds, Saints, or maybe Cods.
Fans should get behind him from the off, if he,s good for us he may want to stay.

Smith and Brown had hardly anything at all on their CVs, if he is as good or better we will be doing ok, get him aclimatised for Leeds, Saints, or maybe Cods.
Fans should get behind him from the off, if he,s good for us he may want to stay.

spoke to radio leeds today

[urlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0414131[/url

sounds like his two sons are coming over too, 18 and 20 yr old , might fit in here!

not sure how much space on the cap he will have left to play with

maybe connor and grix free abit up

If rumours are true Connor frees up about 50k with grixs money enough to get in one really really good signing.

Hopefully he knows one really good tough as teak Fijian prop or second row he can bring over with him.
Someone who can batter some holes in the other teams defence and help us get on to the front foot. Or maybe a flying winger who can latch on to some Brough kicks and get us some tries.

His CV seems ok and will hopefully be the fresh boost that the coaching needs.

Welcome on board.

Lets hope he's a success and stays the full term of his contract.

His strength is working with the players he has and getting the best out of them.
In his first stint as Newcastle head coach he had a pretty poor squad and was able to get them playing a style that made use of their strengths and got them into the top 8.
When Bennett came to Newcastle Rick was given the reserve grade side, and was given a very young squad to work with. He did a great job with that squad, getting them into a grandfinal after a slow start to the year.
As a coach he tends to try to keep a very stable side and works with them on a style of play that suits their strengths. Over time his teams get better as they learn to play to their strengths, and as he tweaks the game plans and positions. He over achieves with the squads he has worked with.

One player he has worked with a lot at both the Knights and currently in the Roosters reserve grade squad is 25 year old Cook Islands international Zane Tetevano. Stone brought Zane through the grades at Newcastle. Zane was cut by the NRL after some domestic violence issues, but he is clearly a very good NRL standard prop, and has been playing great football for Wyong in the NSW cup (feeder side for the Roosters). I don't know what the legal issues would be (I think he is on a good behaviour bond), but he is a top quality player - NRL standard - and has a long history with Stone.

He won't get in with a conviction any props who have not Been bad boys ?

Sounds like stone has te attributes we need to get us out of the mess . Just hope there is enough time to do what is needed

The Knights are trying to give away Jack Stockwell, free to a good home. He is a prop Stone brought to the Knights, but I suspect he'll eventually get NRL offers. There was talk that north qld and Penrith were interested in him before the june 30 deadline, but they came to nothing. Jack was a very good prop before a badly broken arm last year. He hasn't looked much good since coming back, and Brown is keen to unload him.

www.theherald.com.au/story/40246 ... ts/?cs=306 Article in the online version of the Newcastle Herald. Rick "cut and paste" Stone, promising to be as boring as ever. He drove Knights fans crazy with his tactic of picking his best 17 and sticking with it. I liked his plan of staying with his best squad and trying to build them into a cohesive team, but some fans were literally pulling their hair out when he wouldn't drop a player for poor form.

www.theherald.com.au/story/40246 ... ts/?cs=306 Article in the online version of the Newcastle Herald. Rick "cut and paste" Stone, promising to be as boring as ever. He drove Knights fans crazy with his tactic of picking his best 17 and sticking with it. I liked his plan of staying with his best squad and trying to build them into a cohesive team, but some fans were literally pulling their hair out when he wouldn't drop a player for poor form.

That tack won't go down with many over here either. It's pretty much what Anderson and brown did too.
Would have preferred Brennan or toovey myself, but stone is who we've got so I'm willing to see what he can do.

Orly?

tariq sims is quality but he has left newcastle now, but played under stone for fiji

uate?? he's a fiji/newcastle winger who is their record try scorer

Brennan, toovey and Furner didn't apply

fair enough, wonder whos going to hull kr, still think its macnamara

did sean long and brett hodgson apply?!

Cant see it matters who applied -even if it was Bennett or Brian Mc !

The deals done and MR Stone is the man -In at the deep end with all the piranhas waiting to see how he performs THIS SEASON ! - NEVER MIND NEXT!

We can only wait and see - but everythings crossed for K d`s sake --and ours!!

Best o luck Rick!