Re: Mike Rush good or not.... : Mon Oct 01, 2012 7:04 pm  

Some of the weekly mags have noted the performance of Rush, and they have even mentioned he could have been on the short list for coach of the year if the got the team to the Grand Final.

The question is if he did which hat would he be wearing. The "acting head coach one" or the "chief executive one".

Re: Mike Rush good or not.... : Mon Oct 01, 2012 7:35 pm  

Judder Man wrote:

Some of the weekly mags have noted the performance of Rush, and they have even mentioned he could have been on the short list for coach of the year if the got the team to the Grand Final.

Aye, along with The Ape, Tony Smith, Mick Potter, Richard Agar and Brian McDermott! I've never read a single criticism of any coach in either of the weekly RL papers and so it really isn't of any significance that they were suggesting Rush for coach of the year (although it was pending us winning the Grand Final of course).

Re: Mike Rush good or not.... : Mon Oct 01, 2012 8:16 pm  

SaintsFan wrote:

Aye, along with The Ape, Tony Smith, Mick Potter, Richard Agar and Brian McDermott! I've never read a single criticism of any coach in either of the weekly RL papers and so it really isn't of any significance that they were suggesting Rush for coach of the year (although it was pending us winning the Grand Final of course).

Seems that most agree, he did a good job.

Re: Mike Rush good or not.... : Mon Oct 01, 2012 8:21 pm  

Ninja saint wrote:

Seems that most agree, he did a good job.

The weekly papers suggested all of those coaches could be coach of the year candidates.

Re: Mike Rush good or not.... : Mon Oct 01, 2012 8:46 pm  

He did what he was asked to do, steady the ship. Asking him to win the grand final from the position he took over is a bit harsh.
However i still have issues with him not using Gaskell. The boy is an obvious talent and one we were in desperate need of

Re: Mike Rush good or not.... : Tue Oct 02, 2012 12:20 am  

To me the season was over, dead and buried the instant that Royce was forced out a quarter of the way in. We never stood a realistic chance of winning anything without a proper coach in situ. To me we then either needed to a) get a short-term appointment in a la Anderson or Noble (painful as that may have been) or find a bundle of cash to spring Brown early or b) accept our season was fatally compromised and use the last 20 games to prepare for next year, give some kids a run out and try out some different tactics and attacking schemes to see how they went. Instead we did the worst possible thing of plodding on, expecting a non-coach to give us a shot at the title, with the exact same 17 senior players playing the exact same 6 man rugby every week, leaving most of our youngsters to rot in the stands and the ones that were on the pitch shivering on the touchlines waiting for a rare sight of the ball. There is no escaping the fact that this season has been a complete and utter waste of time, talent, potential and resources at all levels of the club.

Re: Mike Rush good or not.... : Tue Oct 02, 2012 10:19 am  

There are a lot of interesting views on this post. However a couple of things are clear
1. When Mike Rush took over, the club were rudderless, motivation was low and the majority of fans were in full 'whinge' mode.
2. A lot of the young players seemed unsure of their ability, status in the club and role on the pitch.
3. There was no one coming to the fore as a natural leader on the pitch, some good mature players but no dominant leader.
4. The club perspective seemed to be let's get this season out of the way and concentrate on the next one.

In view of that Mike did a decent job, but he isn't a coach, neither is Keiron, yet!
We acheived third, and, I believe if we had carried on with the expansive football we played in the first half of the semi, would have been looking for tickets for the Grand Final. However there in lies the problem, the game plan was changed by an inexperienced coach and it failed. Mike has never stated his need to be a coach and whatever role he now goes back too, he will give 110% for St Helens (although I'm not sure about Chief Exec!).

Re: Mike Rush good or not.... : Tue Oct 02, 2012 10:31 am  

Agree with most of whats been said but nobodys mentioned bringing in Josh Jones this season and what a find he is?
Don't think he'd have got his chance under Royce

Re: Mike Rush good or not.... : Tue Oct 02, 2012 11:00 am  

Rommel wrote:

Agree with most of whats been said but nobodys mentioned bringing in Josh Jones this season and what a find he is?
Don't think he'd have got his chance under Royce

Of course he'dve come in under Royce - Royce would have been just as short of 3/4 options at the time as Rush was and he showed far more willingness to give youngsters a chance over the course of his tenure than Rush ever did... The only way Jones wouldn't have played under Royce is if Wheeler had come on by leaps and bounds and I very much doubt that could have happened this season except under a far more accomplished coach than either of the one we had in the post.

Re: Mike Rush good or not.... : Tue Oct 02, 2012 11:50 am  

Jones probably would have got splinters in his @rse being the 17th man if Royce had stayed.