Re: Eamon McManus's to-do list for Monday : Mon May 19, 2014 7:44 am  

SaintsFan wrote:

It's very helpful that the person responsible for the team's overall performance is stating the bleeding obvious. He was just passing the buck, as he usually does.

I think it needed to be said. Nobody likes being called soft by their coach on tv. We'll get a reaction one way or the other - the players will take it on board or the coach will prove unable to motivate them. Either way will lead to change.

Re: Eamon McManus's to-do list for Monday : Mon May 19, 2014 7:54 am  

Dux wrote:

I don't think he was passing the buck. It sounded to me like he was publicly questioning the application of his forwards (despite saying that he wasn't going to do so) and challenging them to produce something worthy of the shirt. Surely that's part of his job. Whether it will work is another matter.

Agree. For all his faults he's not a stupid guy.

Re: Eamon McManus's to-do list for Monday : Mon May 19, 2014 7:58 am  

Dux wrote:

I don't think he was passing the buck. It sounded to me like he was publicly questioning the application of his forwards (despite saying that he wasn't going to do so) and challenging them to produce something worthy of the shirt. Surely that's part of his job. Whether it will work is another matter.

He has been saying similar for weeks now. I think it began with 'I warned the players ...' at some point around the time of the Hudds CC game but nothing has changed.

Re: Eamon McManus's to-do list for Monday : Mon May 19, 2014 8:26 am  

SaintsFan wrote:

He has been saying similar for weeks now. I think it began with 'I warned the players ...' at some point around the time of the Hudds CC game but nothing has changed.

He has on occassion said that 'we're not where we'd like to be' or some other coachism like that, but he's not made comments anywhere near as barbed as in his interview on Sunday. He basically implied that Huddersfield will be looking forward to playing against us because our forwards are all fannies. To me that's a new level of criticism, and if it doesn't get a new level of response then it's difficult to see where Brown can go from there. Massive game on Friday.

Re: Eamon McManus's to-do list for Monday : Mon May 19, 2014 8:28 am  

Eamon's first decision this morning will be whether to have a full fat latte or a skinny cappuccino when he meets Nathan for a "coffee".

Re: Eamon McManus's to-do list for Monday : Mon May 19, 2014 9:33 am  

St pete wrote:

:SLEEPY:


Heard all this before mate.

I know mate, we heard it throughout potter, Simmons and now brown, the same problem keeps coming ( with the same statements as you say)

If you look at the figures, saints employ twice as many people as Wigan, and manage to spend around 500k less a year. To me, that indicates to me were lacking highly specialised behind the scenes staff. The most important area being the coaching and conditioning team - fans will keep saying "we have a good team"'etc while putting performances in like yesterday while re that hasn't been resolved.

Re: Eamon McManus's to-do list for Monday : Mon May 19, 2014 10:08 am  

You are second in the league - third if Wigan win their game in hand. There is every chance you will finish top 4. Because you are out of the cup there is every chance you will be fresh come September.

A lot can happen between now and then. Leeds are running their older players into the ground for instance. Peacock and Leuleui are unlikely to last much longer playing at that intensity.

Saints have some good youngsters. This is purely a coaching thing. He needs to drop a few big name players (I would drop Wilkin) stick with a few young and hungry lads and go for it. The older players are losing him his job at the moment. Youngsters can play with no fear and if they are good enough then give them their head. Experience is overrated - especially if it is recent experience of losing big games whilst the good experience is years ago.

I could see a younger pack with the addition of Amor backed up by Walsh and the young backs going close this year.

Re: Eamon McManus's to-do list for Monday : Mon May 19, 2014 10:39 am  

Aboveusonlypie wrote:

You are second in the league - third if Wigan win their game in hand. There is every chance you will finish top 4. Because you are out of the cup there is every chance you will be fresh come September.

Irrelevant. Look at our big game results this season.

Huddersfield in the cup - Extremely lucky to get a result. On another day Brough's DG is given. We were well gone until Ferres was sent off.
Warrington away - Decent result but in a poor season for Warrington, this was arguably their worst performance
Leeds hone - Great effort with kids willing to give their all for the jersey.
Wigan home - Outenthused by a team who on paper weren't favourites to win the game. Not for the first time against Wigan and certainly not the last.
Castleford away - Didn't turn up for 50 minutes. Great effort to come back but Castleford contributed to the win by freezing as the winning line drew close.
Leeds away - Forwards didn't turn up, comfortably beaten
Warrington - As above.

Other than Warrington away early doors, we couldn't argue if we'd lost all 6 of the other games. I don't particularly blame the backs although Turner has been poor. Our senior forwards need to take a good hard look at themselves. They've been disgraceful.

Re: Eamon McManus's to-do list for Monday : Mon May 19, 2014 10:47 am  

Sthelens RLFC wrote:

Irrelevant. Look at our big game results this season.

Huddersfield in the cup - Extremely lucky to get a result. On another day Brough's DG is given. We were well gone until Ferres was sent off.
Warrington away - Decent result but in a poor season for Warrington, this was arguably their worst performance
Leeds hone - Great effort with kids willing to give their all for the jersey.
Wigan home - Outenthused by a team who on paper weren't favourites to win the game. Not for the first time against Wigan and certainly not the last.
Castleford away - Didn't turn up for 50 minutes. Great effort to come back but Castleford contributed to the win by freezing as the winning line drew close.
Leeds away - Forwards didn't turn up, comfortably beaten
Warrington - As above.

Other than Warrington away early doors, we couldn't argue if we'd lost all 6 of the other games. I don't particularly blame the backs although Turner has been poor. Our senior forwards need to take a good hard look at themselves. They've been disgraceful.

The worrying aspect for me is Amor has missed the majority of those games. He played in the 1st Warrington game, went off injured against Huddersfield and missed the rest. When he doesn't play our forwards go into hiding.

We need more players like him in the pack who are wiling to take us forward and do the hard work.

It's embarrassing to be reliant on one prop forward.

Re: Eamon McManus's to-do list for Monday : Mon May 19, 2014 10:47 am  

Sthelens RLFC wrote:

I don't particularly blame the backs although Turner has been poor. Our senior forwards need to take a good hard look at themselves. They've been disgraceful.

Of the backs, only really Turner hasn't shown up. Lomax, Jones, Swift, Makinson (and to a lesser extent Percival) have all shown up for us.

Having said that, Lomax needs some serious defence coaching. I don't doubt his commitment or bottle, but he doesn't throw himself under balls on the tryline in the way, say, Hardaker does at Leeds. His defence is likely to stop him developing inot a genuine top player unless some serious hard work is done.