Regarding the players RS is thinking of offloading. Surely if he is a quality coach, then he should be able to bring these players back up to and even improve on their previous standard. They were good enough when we signed them, and RS training regime and processes should bring them back better than they were.

That is the real skill in Coaching though Isn't it, Huby is the perfect example, Luke Gale is another, along with most of the Cas players. Hopefully RS will have what it takes. One thing is certain, the club can not afford another 2 years like the last few. Oh for the palmy days of 4/5 years ago when we had a few England standard players.

Coaching aside, if hubys attitude isn't right which would be understandable given whats gone on this year. A change of scenery and a fresh start is something which can't necessarily be coached.

That's a fair point I agree, maybe he does need a fresh club and a fresh start, But my points is that there has been no lack of effort from him, It's just that he has never played the same game for us as he did for Cas, more or less from when he joined us.

Yes very true. This season he has been riddled with injury, he came back and looked awful one game then brilliant the next so it's difficult to say. He was our only prop against KR and we just about scraped through.

I'd imagine that he will be a good earner so with injuries and patchy form won't be offering great value.

I'd like to keep him ideally if he wants to play for us and the squad is a happy one.

Id get rid of Huby and bring in someone who Stone rates. At the time I thought Huby was a good signing and would go the way of Ferres when he came from Cas but that wasn't to be and he hasn't kicked on at all which is a shame. We have an ideal opportunity to rebuild over the winter months with a newish coach in place with plenty of Australian contacts and Davy wanting us challenging again. This season just gone could be a blip in readiness for our rise up SL again. Go have full faith in the coaching staff and the men behind the scenes to bring success to the club again.

I am happy to keep him, In fact we have one or two more i would like to keep, but their game needs to change. It may well be they are doing what they have been coached to do. I believe we have " and have had " players who's talents have just been squandered, We also have players who are just a level below what we require, but that's just my opinion, Others will have different ones I'm sure, and that's fair enough.

The thing is that the club as a whole seems to be just dug into a rut, There are plenty of opinions as to why, but myself i feel we had it right when N Browns was here, I know it all went belly up for whatever reason ( I neither know or care what they were ) but until it did go wrong there was a real feel good factor about the club that has not been there since, Not even in the season when we won the Hubcap ( born out by the crowd numbers ).

So my opinion is that despite something not being just right within the club, That feel good factor starts on the field and grows with the team, People have not liked what they have been seeing " despite a little success " or Crowds would not have been falling " not even counting this season ". I hope R Stone is the man to get things right on the field Whoever his squad is. We have some half decent young players, we don't have to buy Aussies who can't get a game over there, Thought most of them are good enough for S league, are they worth the big money we spend on them. Once again it comes down to the right coach. all will be revealed in the fullness of time.

the club/team needs a culture and attitude change, glad he has come in with a fresh approach as it was rotten.

stone said they have bad habits and will take a while to change

failing in play offs / cups is a better alternative to being in the middle 8's but we as fans still end up disappointed

expectations for 2017??? a return to the super 8's would be a start dont we agree?? step in the right direction

Aim for top spot as always
Happy with top 8 lol

And damn right they have bad habits

Absolutely.

Having listened to people such as Luke Robinson, Chris Thorman, Andy Kelly, various players and Rick Stone himself i am quietly confident that things will be different.
These people have all alluded to where the problems lie/laid and what needs to be done to improve things and i've no reason to disbelieve them and they have been totally honest and open and not afraid to give their personal thoughts and from what i've heard and seen things are already getting better.

I have the utmost confidence that Rick and his team will make this squad of players challengers again, they have the motivation, the confidence and the desire and the players have already said there is a lot more positivity since Rick came and the players are taking onboard his directions.

Daz, you can't be positive, the world is ending soon, or so you'd think!

I'd love to know what they said

a lot of it is from HGSA's meetings, that's why we get these guys so we can ask them stuff and hear their thoughts, they also ask that a lot of what is said isn't just put out as gossip...obviously we respect that !
Others have been in private conversations with people.

I don't see the logic in that tbh but hey ho.

Identifying the issues and problems is only the first stage... Hopefully sufficient action will be taken to solving those problems.

I think we all know were not too far off from being where we need to be... Hopefully this disappointing season can be used as an advantage for next year.

andy kelly said that anderson wanted big players then lean players then back to big the last 3 seasons and the bodies dont respond like that in such a short space of time, when questioned about the fitness of players, in the hgsa column today

Just for the Ears of the HGSA members then, That's the way forward, no doubt about it.

Why do we have to be happy with 8th out of 12, Can we not aim for top spot and regard anything less as disappointing. That's the mentality at some clubs.

The irony of your post is obviously lost on you. Dad points out that people in the club stone Kelly Thor man etc saying there were bad things going on in the club.

We hear that Anderson messed around with players training regimes wanting big players rather than fast players etc. All suggestive of what some of us were saying at the time that there was something wrong at the club and that it needed changing. Yet you and jools consistently argued insulted an dpatronised those supporters on here who were saying a year ago or more what the insiders in the club are now telling us were issues at the time.

You could not make it up

It was said tongue in cheek - or did you miss the "lol"

Top 8 would be a vast improvement over this season

Top 8 would do me providing we go on to win the Grand Final.

I'm not sure i have ever argued or insulted anyone on here, i've disagreed with people over things and i have had my opinion questioned by other posters, so i'd appreciate if you took that back.

As for the irony, you obviously don't get the irony of my response.

Nope, our meetings are open to the public at £1 for non members

The irony of your posts are you consistently put words in my mouth. You assign my to saying things I did not. I note meast has also said similar. I have strong opinions that I put forward- you call it argument, I suspect you don't mean it in the sense of putting forward evidence or reasoning to back up an opinion but in the sense of an angry disagreement. I call it debate. You may get angry when people disagree with you, I don't- I have a very strong belief in free speech and I will fight for the right for someone to put forward their opinions even if I don't agree with them. I was one of the first to question the conditioning of the players after just a couple of weeks- brearley was the first I believe- what we said was poo-pooed -by you- at the time if I remember correctly.