His luck wasn't that bad though, every club gets injuries. Crusaders lost their best player for the majority of the season and still managed to make the play offs with a far worse squad on paper. Added to the fact that the players just looked completely lethargic and demoralised for the vast majority of the season to the extent where many of them have been lost to the club and two have actually been lost to the game (Fakir has returned admittedly), and also taking into account some of the shocking recruitment decisions, you have to attribute a lot of the blame in Walters direction. The injuries were not as bad as in 2007 and the team performed far better that year, again with a worse squad on paper. Even with injuries, you would expect the players coming in to look enthusiastic, and that just didn't happen. Equally you can talk about the impact BG had, but Potter managed to do well under him and he's hardly someone who would have intimidated Guash into getting his own way. I don't know if Robinson will be any better, but it's still pretty difficult to make any excuses for Walters, he has to go down as probably the worst coaching appointment in SL history. I do feel sympathy for him, but that doesn't take away from the fact that he's gone a long way to eradicating any progress made by the club over the previous few years.

well HH don't know about KW being the 'worst coach' in SL history - in the recent past Jimmy Lowes must be a strong candidate followed by John Dixon etc etc

from what I have been told by people connected with the club,the group of players were not exactly 'together',the 'alleged' drinking culture amongst a handful of the first teamers didn't help

as marv said,let's look forward,we can't get much lower...

My biggest issue with KW was the way he totally failed to bring through the next generation of young players, Bentlys left on the shelf and Bartheau/Guash/Gigot/Vaccari roughing it. I think Simon was the only academy player to make it through well under KW. Sure, it could be BG's "buying in" policy, but it was KW's job to manage the players and he's the one who played JPB at hooker instead of Kane. That wasn't even amateurish.

well belgian,maybe the players you mentioned aren't actually up to SL standard ? I beleive Kane is tho' not Andrew - Tony and Frededric very possibly,this season will confirm if they are up to snuff.William & David are not SL standard IMO - Mickel Simon for me is the most improved player of the season and will be an important member of the 2011 squad - if TR is worth his salt he will make Mickel into a top player .

Spot on San, Its all very well moaning about the lack of French players coming through but Gausch and Barthau still have a long way to go before you could consider them the finished article, IMO its the same with Gigot, he looks a classy player playing against Scotland but its not all about that. He still has a lot to learn. As for Andrew Bentley, with the sheer numbers of back rowers at the club he was never likely to get a look in. The only non-selection that puzzled me was Kane, who I liked but in all honesty lacked the distribution skills to be a quality 9, he was a bit head down up, go forward type of guy.

Your obvlously entitled to that opinion HH, If I could just pick one thing i strongly disagree with however it would be your comment about the squad being stronger on paper, I dont buy that we were a prop short all year, had about 40 back rowers and seemed like the FB position was doomed, whoever got picked there seemed to get injured at one point.

Thing i disagree with most of all about that comment is the games isnt played on paper, so its irrelevant whose squad looks stronger on paper.

double

thought Dimitri & Cyril did well at FB when asked to step in tho' obviously Clint is such a big loss,and it showed - losing Birdie,Moggy plus Thomas,Clint & David etc etc was too much - no wonder the team struggled...it's not rocket science !

Sanjunien,

I've said it all season, and even before then, the one player we lost at the end of 2009 and did not replace for 2010 was Jason Ryles. That guy was huge for us at the end of 2009. Those players you mentioned are all fine players, i don't doubt that, but even if we'd had them all season we woudn't have improved our league position significantly because the forwards didn't do the job up front and lay a platform. We could have had the Aussie backline out there for us and apart from the odd long range effort it wouldn't have made a jot of difference.

reasons for this? the loss of Ryles is a big one, but looking deeper, Potter laid his foundations with Rodney Howe (an Australian forward) in his backroom staff, Walters had Dean Pay (an Australian forward) in his backroom staff for his first year, but not his second. maybe that is a coincidence, maybe not, if i knew the answer i'd be a rich man now having sold it to BG a long time ago.

For me, the way the forwards play is the one thing TR has to get right in the off season, if he doesn't we're in for another long season.

agreed CMR Jason WAS a massive loss and it's difficult to disagree with anything else you said

be interesting to see if TR has changed radically his coaching methods/ideas since working with the mighty Brian Smith ? Pity he couldn't have brought son Rohan in as an assistant imo.....yes,I know yet another aussie in the camp etc etc

I recall Andrew being mentioned as the most promising player in the Academy a couple years ago. I don't buy the argument of "too many 2nd rowers", why are we buying in expensive foreign second rowers when we have enough good quality French second rowers and an academy full of them?
Tony and Fred are good, but how did KW make them better? Not at all is my impression. Guash and Barthau obviously needed the msot work filling in at such a key position and making such a big step up. I think they were both treated shoddily, especially Barthau who played well for France against England, so can't be that bad!

I agree that the game's not played on paper, that is the point I am making. Other coaches got a lot more out of far less talented groups of players and managed to grind out wins even with injury hit squads. With Catalans, it didn't seem to matter who was injured or not, the team just looked unenthused and demotivated all year. And if the squad was inbalanced, then that's only one person's fault. Walters inherited a well balanced squad in 2009. You can blame Guasch all you like but he's not in charge of squad management, nor many of the other aspects that were so shockingly neglected during Walters' reign.

sorry HH - 'unenthused and demotivated all year' just isn't true ! just off the top of my head the following games spring to mind - versus Saints away but also at home they matched the Saints until OE stupidly elbowed Lomax and was rightly sent off - versus Salford in the cup they showed unparalled team spirit and really wanted to win they matched Leeds for much of the game at Giral and of course the Wires victory was superb - they dominated against Quins but somehow managed to lose it so,it wasn't ALL bad as you seem to imply - KW,maybe not the right man but at times you could not question the committment of the players - injuries and lack of cover plus an inexplicative inconsistency seemed to sum up the season imo - certain home games ie Wigan & Hull they were definitely outcoached again,imo

There's no denying that there were a couple of occasions where the team looked semi-interested. There were also numerous occasions where they were a beaten side before they even took to the field. And for the games where they did look semi-interested, that's all you can really say they were. Most of those games still resulted in pretty poor overall performances and demoralising losses. It's commendable that you're trying to defend Walters but I really think he's indefensible, you can blame any number of outside factors but there's one common theme in all of them. If we say that there are three main areas in which you can judge a coach, those being squad management/recruitment, player development and matchday tactics, then sadly KW failed miserably in every one. Even his media appearances were unconvincing as he babbled his way through interviews, often getting basic facts wrong. As you've said though, it's over now and the best thing is probably to try and forget the year and move on. I do wish Walters all the best, to be fair it wasn't his fault that he was appointed when he clearly was not the right man for the job and maybe he'll improve and learn where he went wrong at the Storm.

well said HH - can't disagree with your general sentiments - but let's look positively to the future
my big problem is HOW THE HECK DO WE REPLACE DALLAS ???

Obviously TR thinks with Baitieri

I watched Baitieri at the Ireland game and on that performance he's not in the same league as Dallas ! saying that,he did ok...

we shouldn't need to, hopefully we'll manage to keep hold of the ball this year so won't need anyone to make as many tackles!

hoping to get to Albi for the Wales game so will have another chance to see him in action
good news - managed to fill up with diesel so should just be able to make it there and back on a tankful !

should be a cracking game - definitely make or break for BG methinks...

Why can't Mounis play LF anymore?

agreed belgian , he has been ok in the 2nd Row but could well go back to LF - why not indeed ?

He's better at LF and we have better choices at second row. Frankly I think that we should be going Menzies/Fakir at second row with Carlaw/Raguin to interchange.

Baitieri was poor v the welsh - not good enough to lace Dallas' boots imo

Have to agree with you there Sanj

all in all a poor performance - average standard of RL,Championship at best imo

still baffled by the appointment of Monsieur Jowitt - why didn't BG consider LF from Catalans as assistant ? answer - because it's a a case of 'jobs for the boys' - "gizza job Bob my old mate" etc etc

hope Bobby stays on tho' cos' he has brought on some good young players who will get better but he has to change his backroom mates for people who actually understand the french mentality - Jowitts' attitude after the game seemed to be 'oh well,never mind,let's have another pint Bob,thanks for the extra cash.'...........he critised the french game last season and questioned their right to even play in SL or Championship - what a hypocrite !
Let's get people in who actually CARES about the future of the french game,not hypocritical mercenries