looks like he will be the first of many leaving the Eels - cash flow problems .... alledgely players not being paid.

Welcome to Wakefield Mr T - if and when this is announced

Sky Sports Team of the week has Collis and Kirmond in. Interestingly Kirmond at 13? If TT comes could we put him or Annakin at second row with Kirmond back to loose?

Awaiting visa paperwork.

Good the team and the supporters need a boost and hopefully he'll give it with some much needed firepower up front or in the centre position spoilt for choice

I would suggest that on Fridays evidence we need him asap. Without Poore we looked lightweight against the Hull pack!

Yes we were however you can't take anything away from Hulls solid defence.

No - totally agree, although I know others think differently.

The point is that Hull are strong across the park, despite missing a few. We miss a few and suddenly we have to move Mellars to the bench to cover the pack and allow Lynne back in - who looks weak at the moment.

We need cover, especially in the front row. We have been quite lucky with injuries so far, but if we got a crisis we would struggle. Our younger players are not being given a chance (why isn't Cowling considered?), and they are therefore not ready to cover en-masse. We should be trying to build in opportunities to look at our 'juniors' over the season, but Agar doesn't do that and nor did Kear - unless his hand was forced. However, none of them are big brutish players and therefore we need to find the best we can afford from wherever we can get.

I guess the point is when can/do you do that? Most of the time, it's due to injuries to the established first team players. Coaches who use the rotation principle are criticised when the team loses momentum as a result. There is something in the argument that says wait your turn and take it, but I take your point. Either way, it's hellish difficult for a coach to do good by everyone and still do what matters on the field.

It sure is! But we have a potential opportunity right now with Cowling and yet it seems we can come up with several variations before he is even considered.

I would worry that players who spend too long in the Championship will become Championship players!

First I wasn't at Hull so you have an advantage their.

Secondly I know what you mean, it's seemed that way all year.

Yet... reading the stats we are not a small or lightweight team, especially in the FR. Amor, Raleigh, Wilkes, Poore and Ali are all 17 stone or over. Whilst Kirmond, Anakin and Washbrook are average for those positions.

So it begs the question and it's one that has haunted Trinity packs since the 1970's - are we tough enough, gutsy enough, ruthless enough etc etc. In other words is the problem mentality not physicality?

You may be onto something there, it can't be fitness/conditioning as some weeks we turn up and play with belief like against Widnes other weeks we're all at sea like against Salford.

I'm not unhappy with our pack at all really. We have a few players who were injured / had operations early in the year and have taken a while to get back to their best but, when they're playing, they're very good. The problem is when one or more of them are absent, especially the props, then we have a problem because we don't have cover.

I still feel we missed a trick not retaining Matt James as back up, even if we'd dual reg'd him.

No we are not and that's because we probably don't sign that 'type' of player. You cannot coach what's not in there. In the 60's and 70's we had players with aggression and attitude which was controlled and channelled in the right direction. Our modern day players are nice guys, it seems, who try to play hard to match the opposition.

14 pages and no word yet!

Word

I would ask the question, is the lack of consistency a motivation issue , from both the coach and the captain.

I do agree with this but opportunities for the tough guy are more limited now.

Two of my favourite players were Trevor Skerret and John Burke. Both hard as nails.
Trevor tough and strong and his tackles would hurt everyone. I saw some recent vids of him playing for GB on tour in Australia and he was hammering them and the Aussie commentators love him.
He'd fit in the modern game easily

John Burke was firey and tough. He carried the ball well and hurt people in the tackle but he was also playing the game in an era where you sorted the opposition out before the ref sometimes. I think only Jim Mills was sent off more times.
He was a great advantage to us, especially when people came to mess with Topper. I like that about Poore now, as I think one day someone will go gunningfor Smith and there needs to be a response if they do.

We haven't had many big tacklers in my opinion.
When Dick Jazerwych (apologies for spelling) came, he was old and had bad knees, but you could see what a hurtful tackler he was. People did not run at him. Ellis was like that too but less mean with it

The nearest thing we have to a hurtful tackler now is Aiton but as he is the smallet in the pack we need one of the big guys to match him. A la Morley in his day.

But all this goes against the anti Poore briggade that think he is off the field too much. If you live on the edge your are likely to be picked up by ref, whether justifiable or not.

Goodness me how dare you mention the past.
We who have watched, coached etc for decades Know nothing according to many on here.
All the great players of the past would of struggled against the superfit athletes of today and the game is far more structured and complex today.
As for coaching what is not there or putting in what is not there, it is possible nowadays.
Give me a kid without the natural step off either foot, without the graceful body swerve. or the instinctive delayed pass.
I will coach it into them.

Trust me we have signed him folks this is from a bloke in the know

.............................................


If ever one sentence painted a picture.....................................a bloody abstract one!!!

You can coach technique. Just needs time. Some take longer than others.
You can't make Danny Washbrook play like Ellery Hanley though. Some things are physical and some are mental.
To extend the example, trying to change Washbrook in to Hanley would diminish his own talents.

What about the players, shouldn't they be self motivated - the rest of us manage it!

I'm not suggesting that you can't but how would you set about doing this, what would you do?

I know exactly how to do it but I'm interested in the way others might do it differently.

I don't want to distract from your question Clan, as I'd like to know the answer from the real life coaches on here (your self included), but in my opinion, with some but limited coaching expertise, you can coach improvement, you can't coach a talent. (IMHO)
Everybody has a starting point. Some will only ever get to a certain level, no matter how long you coach them.
Clearly, part of it is their own mental attitudate as well.

To guide a talent to be the best it can be is not the same as making a talent from nothing.

All correct, everyone's got a base starting point, everyone has finite potential, for example you are born with a limit on your ability to recruit fast twitch muscle type and you can not increase that you can only reach your potential. Therefore it is correct within physiological science to say that not every player can attain the same level of performance as each other.

Other factors play important roles in attaining and maintaining the required level of ability to play at any given level but especially at elite level.

Being fit isn't enough on its own, you have to be fit for purpose and that requires specificity within the regime you follow, that regime should be different for almost every player. Attention has to be paid to speed, agility, quickness, strength, power, endurance, speed endurance, energy system development X3, flexibility etc. The mix is different for each role/position and will be different for each player even when comparing a centre with a centre.

Skills need to be practiced in a controlled manner, Psycomotor learning is different for most players and while you can throw everyone under the same blanket that's not conducive to maximising the psychological embedding process of any & all skills. In its basest form, some players respond better to blocked/part training some to varied/whole training. Some or most will retain a higher level of skills if they've encountered contextual interference while practicing skills, a good cach will know his players and will apply accordingly. Some skills can be practiced together, some aren't physiologically or psychologically compatible and need to be visited at different times, there's also a sequence to learning and if you get it wrong you make the process tougher, longer and less successful than it should be.

Then there's experience, spatial awareness, situational intelligence, mentally taking pictures, reacting to development, progression. Players need to be taught how to prepare for training as well as matches, they need to learn nutrition, hydration, rehabilitation, critical reflection and self analysis. To do any of that they must understand their roles and responsibility within the team and the specifics of the position they play both in attack and defence.

The key is in unlocking and realising the mental and athletic potential within a player, within every player!
That's a job of work that's never complete because even if you peak at your best for a while, you simply cannot maintain that peak forever. That's why every successful top athlete in the world, in any sport, works to a periodised training plan which allows them to be at or close to their best when they need to be. Of course you can make improvements without being quite so structured but those improvements will not be maximised, specific or in some cases relevant to the job.

I could go on and on. . . maybe I already have but I'm passionate about it!

Coaching is not what it used to be . . . Nuff said!

Just a little edit:
When alls said and done about the sciences behind modern day athlete perpetration, if you don't KNOW the game and understand its nature, if you don't command respect from your players and if you can't communicate your ideas and knowledge then you're on the backfoot and will struggle to be really successful.