i am a youth coach and im also johny's Dad. i played RL at a decent amateur level for 20 odd years. ive been on every coaching course i can. im not saying that im the best by any means, but just who do you expect is going to coach the youngsters for nothing ? morgan, tony smith ect?
we do do our best and you question weather that is good enough. probably not good enough to beat the aussies in the next few years, but i doubt any other system would get different results with the small pool of players that we have to work with. as i said in a previous post, when we are dealing with a minority sport as RL is in this country, we are always going to struggle against the aussies when RL is there national sport. also as a nation the aussies are very sport consious across the board, were as we as a nation have a big obesity problem compared to them. then there is the issue of our school children being taught that competing is more important than winning. from what i know in aussie they are taught to be winners from an early age.

Have been there for many years myself so i include myself and its not ment to be disrepectfull to the army of people who give time freely.

No its not good enough i'm afraid and despite the best efforts (of people like you and me) we fall down at the first stage of development and the skill levels are lost.

I would guess that they are taught that way and thats partly down to the schools ideals.

I don't have the answers to these problems but NO coach at Senior level can work with sub standard players and expect to be the best.

Have tried several times to get a answer from local schools about why this happens and drawn a blank, i can only conclude its the none contact or at least less contact side of it that attracts the schools to it.


Thats fair comment and i have struggled at various clubs to get the "bodies" to help out, but we need the quallity to go with it.

And that is why we will always be second fiddle. Over here RL is 3rd or 4th in the sporting stakes (if that) in Aus it's up there as a national sport. The junior set up is second to none (which lays the foundations for years to come) ours? some schools in RL hotbed areas don't play RL!!!

It is all a little depressing.

been thinking why we could compete and beat the aussies 30 odd years ago. was it because they have changed there methods since then, or was it a change here. i think probably a bit of both. 30 years ago kids were taught to look after thmselves from an early age and most developed a street wise mentality that gave them a certain toughness. look at the last GB team that beat the aussies and ill gaurantee that all the squad was as hard as nails and as tough as old boot. im not saying todays players arnt tough, but perhaps they dont have that 'nasty toughness' of days gone by.
in the hull area, ill bet the vast majority of players that go on and play pro are from the inner city estates and not the 'posh' areas of the city. in my experience coaching youngsters, the kids from the councel estates and the like have an inbuilt toughness and are far more street wise. unfortunatly these type of kids are getting fewer.
my wife is a primary school teacher and the school policy is to go to a teacher if you are bullied. fighting back is a big no.
maybe im barking up the wrong tree, but i think that these kind of values go on to mould people for life.
just my thoughts

hanley coach with radlinski and sculthorpe assistant's

Half tongue-in-cheek this answer but... the Aussies have changed the rules in the areas where we used to beat them - particularly competitive scrums. We always had the best hookers and they often could not win the ball off us and you can't win without the ball. Now you don't even have to be a forward to pack down.... etc... etc.... etc...

The other thing that changed their fortunes was taking advantage of the kick chase. It took the Brits about 8 years to figure out what the Aussies were doing. Before then, if a full back kicked a long kick you would often end up with a full-back kicking duel. If the rule was that you could not be in advance of the kicker (which is kind of how we used to interpret the rule) then the game would be a lot different.

ooh ooh yes and then there's the handing over the ball after x plays. Again, the Aussies could never get the ball off our pack once we had it...

I'm having this discussion with myself lol. I don't know which game was better the old or new but there were definitely some very dour encounters in the game before the current 5 drives and a kick version that we watch at all levels of the game - which includes the Aussie NZ game that many were raving about being the best they'd seen on British soil btw.

Think you are spot on with that Andy

Personally I'd love them to find a foreign coach with no previous/current coaching links to any SL club, nor a past playing history with one. Might be an impossibility, but it's the only way I can think of to eradicate the boys club selection policy without bringing in a selection panel like the Aussies do (which I've given up hope on). There's still far too much familiarity and/or using the England coaching position for their own ends that goes on IMO.

They are talking to one right now.

only wayne bennett stands any chance of making us into winners imo other then that we can wait another 37 years.

I dont really see how any international coach can teach our players the basic core skills they should already be able to do by now. Its possible he could come up with a gameplan to win the one-off games here and there but until we start to focus on the core skills we will never be a match for the aussies.

Didn't tim sheens mention something along them lines regards ellis when he first went to west's.

True but I think that was more a dig at the British game in general

Think its more of a dig thou its FACT

www.leaguehq.com.au/news/lhqnews ... 82707.html Whoever the new coach is going to be has this to contend with!!

www.leaguehq.com.au/news/lhqnews ... 82707.html Whoever the new coach is going to be has this to contend with!!

I actually do coach an under 11s side my friend,

Lets put this correct, apart from a few well organised sides / clubs along the lines of Thatto etc the majority of childrens teams are still living in the dark ages with volunteer coaches who wash their kit themselves, I recently had my boys play at a ground in a cup match that didnt even have sheds to change in and they had to get their kit on under a canopy of a pub


In oz the youth academy set ups are all over with all weather facilites and payed coaches that do the job,
They do not play tag rugby but teach the kids to bang their opposition from day one, anyone with speed is singled out for central academy attention and is fed into the feeder clubs like Balmain etc wether they can play a bit or not..
I visited Brisbane for the world cup last time and asked in a pre letter if i could visit an academy whilst there which was more than met with help in OZ, whilst there I saw a coach sat with a bunch of teenagers peeling the roof off to them, in his statement of half time intent he said " 2nd place is another way of saying your a loser, there is only one team anyone gives a S**T about and thats who wins the title so in this 2nd half I will drag anyone off who does not give 200%"
He finished the match with 13 players and no subs as he stuck to his words..
thats the difference in Oz they do not do the taking part crap its about winning and nothing else, what ever sport the Oz lads play they dont know how to loose....

Am I right in thinking that kids in Aus don't play competative RL until the age of 16, and up until that age all coaching is focused on core skills?

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I remember hearing Wayne Parker on the radio a few years back. Think he had some coaching position with at Halifax at the time? He said he'd be given a video of NSW under 11s / 12s training & they were running through drills that he was having to teach to our 18 / 19 year olds.

so did he change the drills?

i just cant see bennet coming over not with his familys needs and his farm.

He could bring his family needs but a whole farm? Seems like a lot to pack.

[url=http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,26373369-5019264,00.htmlWayne Bennett[/url