You should really say what you think.



Who would you have coaching us instead? (If you say Brian Smith I win the argument btw)

Who would you have owning us?

murdock is spot on but then what he's said is obvious. The problem is if you back the wrong coach you end up being further away from where you need to be

What have people got against Brian Smith?

People see him as some kind of messiah, based on a couple of seasons with Hull in the late 80s, but he's won nothing of note in his career as far as I can tell. He's taken teams to finals and lost, and you could say the same about Peter Sharp and Peter Gentle, but people don't get misty eyed over them for some reason.

I've never met him and have nothing personal against him, but just don't see what he would offer.

Maybe so but he took our team of fairly average players and improved them (as a team) massively.

Similar to Daryll Powell and Cas to me.

If he had stuck around who knows but let's be honest there is only one trophy to win in Aus and it takes a special team to win it.

Not saying he would be the answer but it would be interesting to see if he could have the same impact as first time round.

He also built the crow's nest at the Boulevard which he's never had enough credit for.

Personally I had what I thought were pretty low expectations. Murdoch, however, thinks we all expected a 4th placed finish (seriously - that's from his tweets) and only considers this season 'disappointing' when compared to that. Apparently languishing just above two basket-case clubs shouldn't be considered a poor perfromance if we had 'realistic' expectations.

murdoch is running around trying to be everyone's mate to further his fledgling sports management business

Well when you put it like that...



I guess I was optimistic but realistic too, although I did expect better. Losing to Wigan isn't a surprise. A 50 point drubbing is though and shows that we haven't progressed much, if at all this year.

Expectations haven't been managed by the club, and that for me is one of Pearson's failings.

For me, overall Pearson has done a good job. He got rid of Rule who was often accused of being a club apologist under Auntie Kath's reign. I realise that the Gleeson thing probably had more to do with him leaving but the point is that Pearson got rid. He also got rid of Agar and I don't think many people at the time were disappointed with that decision. His investments into the facilities at the club have been brilliant and something that was long overdue.

I think his lack of rugby knowledge has cost him at times. The Mcrae appointment, in hindsight, was a mistake but it was an understandable appointment given that he needed a rugby man in place to help run things. My verdict is still out on Motu Tony.

I think his impatience has let him down too. The appointment of Gentle was generally well received at the time and he did well enough that first year to earn a contract extension only to find himself sacked a year later. I think that was a big mistake on Pearson's part. He was doing a better job than Radford and was doing so from day one.

I'd also say his ambition has let him down. He's hyped up the club and our chances a lot and ultimately we've failed to deliver. He's certainly been more quiet on that front this year but looking back on last year in particular and the whole Bel13ve campaign and I find it somewhat cringeworthy now.

Finally I'd say his naivety has cost him a bit too. Things like the promise of two world class half back signings two years ago was poor. But I have no doubt that he genuinely thought it would be easy to get them.

So in summary, for me he's done some good things and he's done some bad things. I'd rather have AP than still be lumbered with Auntie Kath.

+1

Good post

I was very pessimistic and said 7-10 and even that looks like an optimistic expectation now.

I expected 6th-4th which was clearly well out. Biggest disappointment for me this year overall has been the pack who I thought would be fairly dominant but have held their own at best. Feka, Westy and Ellis apart I've been disappointed with them in general. Early-mid season we did get in field position to score points but I probably didn't factor in a complete shortage of skill behind the forwards - you can't expect to play SL with an abject kicking game and no tactical leader on the field.

I was slightly more optimistic and had us down between 6th and 9th. Even with the squad we have that should have been achievable IMO.

Agreed. I know we lost some players in the off season but I thought that for the most part we had signed decent enough replacements that should have been able to keep us around the level we had previously been at.

My only gripe with Pearson, is that the limited coaching staff employed for the First team.

Regarding Motu Tony, he was in situ before Gentle departed, i.e probably installed on Radford's recommendation.

Comments regarding Brian Smith, I agree.

Smith has the ability to mould a group of players into a team,and improve basic core skills ,
at this moment in time, He is the type of technical coach we need. -IMO

I spoke to a kid I know playing in oz at feeder club level, he spoke about the speed of the game & the core skill level over there, he said they teach it from a very early age, the importance of core skills is massive, when Aussie players & coaches come over here they can't believe how poor ours are, I know this is something PG always commented on getting into our youth structure as early as we can, as he said it is hard to coach the older the player becomes, I believe Brian smith & co can do a lot better job in there own back yard, but wanting Aussie coaches to come here is not always the answer, IMHO it has to be a very good structure from academy to hitting the first team, Leeds & Wigan are coping just fine without an Aussie coach, they are slinging there young kids in who are doing just fine because they are been nurtured right.

It's catching on.

great post.

When Maguire & Brown took over Wigan & Huddersfield respectively, this was the first issue they addressed
- basic core skills.

Wane & Anderson are showing continuity in their methods/structures left from their predecessors

This is our failing - IMO.

Good post. Agree with a lot of what you just said there. However, whilst I agree that Leeds and Wigan are doing just fine at present, I would point out that both clubs have had Aussie coaches in the not too distant past. Just wonder if that has had any bearing on how well Wane and McDermott are currently doing? Are they reaping the benefits of their predecessors work? Would they be doing as well if they were at Hull?

Ultimately we need to get the right structure in place if we are going to achieve producing youngsters. I believe we have the facilities in place from top to bottom but I am unsure about whether we have the quality or quantity of coaching staff necessary to achieve this aim. According to the website we have seven first team members of our coaching staff (one of which is a video analyst). Is that enough and are they the right personnel? Same question for the academy sides. I can't see anyone listed there on the official website so I have no idea who is involved in those areas.

Which is why if we're putting our future in the hands of young players coming through we need to spend money on the very best proven junior coaches that money can buy. Instead we've used these roles as a way of keeping good "clubmen" employed after they've finished. Last has never been tested elsewhere or gained any experience and Horne may well now get a similar role but on what basis? He'll naturally teach them what he's been taught. It's all very well creating state of the art training centres , academies etc but we'll just continue to get the same result unless we put top proven professionals in place to deliver the education to ensure that when a talented kid is discovered he is taught the correct skills , discipline and a professional culture and has all of the tools he needs to make the best of those talents. Maybe breaking this coaching cycle will actually start to see our current culture replaced with something more professional?

I wish Adam Pearson would read and act on these posts - Superb analogy guys.

They probably could do better but we can't carry on in life like this can we? Maybe in a few years when radfords gone we could be saying he & his back room staff set the platform for the next bunch of coaching staff, the talent of players in this town is the best in the country, I have spoke to Cas,Warrington,Wigan,Leeds scouts & they speak of hull as a massive hot bed of rugby, now we are planning for the future from 14 year olds to top level it will only get better but this does not solve our current drop, ( I am no way defending ears in this post either) before I get jumped on like a trampoline.

Fans say its a lack of a quality HB, which is our failing.

When our 19's get steam-rollered 38-0 with a quality HB of Tyson-Wilson in our side,
this is a major major worry - these kids are /will be the future of Hull FC.

We need quality coaches in our set-up ASAP AP.

One of the main problems we seem to have is that when we axe a coach we also axe whatever our current club philosophy is at the time. This latest philosophy is a good one that I think we need to stick to. That doesn't mean that we should necessarily stick with the coaching staff though. If they aren't good enough then we'll never achieve our aims no matter how much time they are given. Hopefully AP is keeping a good eye on all areas of the club and will make changes wherever he feels they are needed. It can't just be more unproven coaches/ex players though.