We have a coaching problem : Sat Apr 20, 2013 3:43 pm
I'm not one to jump on coaches' backs. I didn't jump on Simmons, or Rush, even when results weren't working. But I think we have to start acknowledging that we have a coaching problem with Brown. Yes, for sure, we have no halfbacks, and the result is painful. But we also need to consider whose fault that is.We DID have a half-back in Gaskell, and he was shipped out. We have brought in an utterly average player in Howarth, who adds absolutely nothing to the side that isn't provided by any number of young reserves. Sure you can't blame Brown for Wheeler's balsa-bones, but a coach has to work with what he's got, and he chose not to work with Gaskell. If he's going to ship him out, then he absolutely has to have a better option. Does anyone see a better option out there ?
Leaving Gaskell aside, what do we then have ? We have Wellens being shoe-horned into the side despite the fact that he is now only the third-choice fullback behind Lomax and Makinson. There are better forwards than Wellens. A good coach would simply make the tough call which we all know has to be made. Brown is ducking it, and sacrificing the team to keep Wellens in the side.
So fine, he gets rid of our only specialist stand-off with 1st team experience, and he makes space in the side for a guy whose playing days are effectively done. Let's move on. We've uncovered, in Percival, a fast attacking centre who offers real threat. But we don't play him except off the bench. Again, we have no better options, but we're seeing Hohaia "defending" at centre, and its costing us games.
These are coach choices, but we're not finished there. I'm a fan and defender of LMS, but this season his form has been gash. He's terrible, both defensively and offensively. Players do hit bad patches. The coach's job is to get them through it, and ultimately to wield the axe until they improve. LMS is going backwards. Yet his place seems secure.
Conditioning - we look shagged, every game, after 10 minutes. This is the lowest-energy, lowest-aggression, Saints team I can recall. Oppositions must look forward to playing them. Again, Soliola and Walmsley are exceptions, but the rest play as if they're knackered from the start. What the hell is happening in the gym and on the training field ?
And finally, before anyone shouts "injuries", I accept that there have been some unlucky injuries. We were badly affected losing our best back and best forward simultaneously. But a good coach plays with what he's got, and he shapes his game plan to suit the players he does have. Saints' problem is that they don't have a sodding game plan. We look utterly clueless. Not the slightest idea what to do when in possession. We can't create an overlap to save our lives, our breaks and offloads go wasted for lack of support. Our last tackle plays are woeful and panic-stricken much of the time. That's down to coaching, not players. I refereed an U16s match this morning in which there was greater organisation on display from both sides, even if the individual skill levels were far lower. Structure and organisation are not dependent upon the halfbacks. They're dependent upon the coach.
At the moment, what we have is a team of good players who are all putting their individual skills on the field. Pretty much all of our players, individually, would be automatic choices for any side in the bottom half of the table. They're not bad. But the total is far currently less than the sum of the individual parts.
Brown needs to pull his finger out, stop making excuses, cease feeling sorry for himself that he didn't get his NRL gig, and start coaching. Our season is over. We're out of the cup, we're out of contention for the top two in the league. We have nothing to lose. Get some new players in from the reserves. Give them gametime. Make some hard decisions about old stalwarts and out-of-form regulars. And coach the feckers so they actually look like they know what they're doing for once.
