Re: Old man Royce : Fri Oct 15, 2010 6:50 am  

SaintsFan wrote:

It's obvious why Daniel Anderson copped all the silverware really because he took an obviously well coached attacking team consisting of some talented players and gave it steel in defence and clinical finishing, which is all that was needed to turn it into a champion team.

I think there's often a case of that when a coach changes, there's a period at the start of their reign were all the plus points of the former coach are still there, but often the weaknesses are addressed, giving them a real boost during their early years -
Hanley reinvigourated a stagnent McCrae built squad - Millward benifitted from the steel Hanley had put in the team and Anderson was given a team with and attacking edge. I guess in sport the real test of a coach is to do it year after year without dropping standards a la Alex ferguson. Millward and McCrae couldn't do it, Hanley was a bit too nuts and DA left for other resons.

Re: Old man Royce : Fri Oct 15, 2010 6:52 am  

Two Wheeled Saint wrote:

Royce is the man to bring back a very strong defence.

And apparently the Tigers are an excellent attacking side, too...

Re: Old man Royce : Fri Oct 15, 2010 7:13 am  

Rogues Gallery wrote:

Well maybe he could if he had some?

Rogues you belittle your achievements in the Grand Final with these sarcastic remarks and add fuel to the theory that Wigan were just the best of a bad bunch!

Re: Old man Royce : Fri Oct 15, 2010 10:12 am  

Millward inherited a remarkable group of players and come the end of his reign had "improved" us to the point where we finished 4th then 5th in the table and never looked like reaching the GF, let alone winning it.

No thanks.

Re: Old man Royce : Fri Oct 15, 2010 10:27 am  

FearTheVee wrote:

Millward inherited a remarkable group of players.

Kevin Iro & Paul Newlove in the centres. Jeezy Creasy.
Chris Joynt, Paul Sculthorpe, Freddie & Apollo, the quality went right through the squad.
The Bryn Hargreaves equivelent in that Squad was Sonny Nickle, which shows the difference.
We even had Vila for when the poop hit the fan. I remeber him having a dust up with Darren Fleary and cracking him right on the end of the nose. We when ref was discussing it with the lines men, all you could hear on the mike was Vila giving it "C'mon D'k'ed, what's up d'k'ed"
Not a squad you could get under a salary cap, though and how long we could have feasibly paid a squad with that many stars, I'm not sure.

We did also have Tommy Martyn, who's guile is sorely missed.

Re: Old man Royce : Fri Oct 15, 2010 11:54 am  

Offside Monkey wrote:

We did also have Tommy Martyn, who's guile is sorely missed.

Guile of any description we sorely miss. We don't have a single player now who has shown any kind of guile at all. That, a leader and wingers who can fly are our needs.

Re: Old man Royce : Fri Oct 15, 2010 11:56 am  

SaintsFan wrote:

Guile of any description we sorely miss. We don't have a single player now who has shown any kind of guile at all. That, a leader and wingers who can fly are our needs.

There was a rumour about Karl Pryce not so long ago - exactly the wrong type of player for us. We're never going to start winning the big finals again with players who lack heart.

Re: Old man Royce : Fri Oct 15, 2010 11:58 am  

Offside Monkey wrote:

Kevin Iro & Paul Newlove in the centres. Jeezy Creasy.
Chris Joynt, Paul Sculthorpe, Freddie & Apollo, the quality went right through the squad.
The Bryn Hargreaves equivelent in that Squad was Sonny Nickle, which shows the difference.
We even had Vila for when the poop hit the fan. I remeber him having a dust up with Darren Fleary and cracking him right on the end of the nose. We when ref was discussing it with the lines men, all you could hear on the mike was Vila giving it "C'mon D'k'ed, what's up d'k'ed"
Not a squad you could get under a salary cap, though and how long we could have feasibly paid a squad with that many stars, I'm not sure.

We did also have Tommy Martyn, who's guile is sorely missed.

Throw in Sullivan, a young Wellens and KC at his peak and you realise what a ridiculous team that was. I think we were always short of a prop in those days though.

The Millward approach was great when it worked, dreadful when it didn't. We did some amazing things, and really believed in ourselves (something we seem to have lost these days), but our discipline with the ball was horrendous at times and our defence was erratic. His last two seasons fizzled out in a manner which would have had our current breed of supporters wielding pitchforks and frothing at the mouth.

Re: Old man Royce : Fri Oct 15, 2010 12:01 pm  

Offside Monkey wrote:

There was a rumour about Karl Pryce not so long ago - exactly the wrong type of player for us. We're never going to start winning the big finals again with players who lack heart.

Karl Pryce at his best is a battering ram in the 3/4 and would be devestating in the centre's for us . The problem is he hasnt been at his best for a long time and he looks like he cant be bothered half the time.

Re: Old man Royce : Fri Oct 15, 2010 12:07 pm  

Dux wrote:

I think we were always short of a prop in those days though.

Yeah,we'd have Apollo, Sonny & Juilian O'Neil, with Vila as back up, in 2000, but that was as strong as it got there.
Despite the fantastic signings of Fairleigh and Britt, as the guys above left, we didn't replacethem well and ended up forcing players like Stankevich, Jonkers & Sheils into the front row, which was rubbish.