Royston Simmons - Any good? : Sun Aug 21, 2011 7:55 pm  

Season is pretty much done for us with TP and Perry out and Jammer and Robes having to bring all their bones in a bag and ask for them to be assembled before each game. So how has Royce done in his first season in charge? (Don't come back here with a 'We'll still win the final' line, it will be a Wigan/Wire final)

It all started rather horrifically with the Eastmond debacle, which the club handled appallingly. We lost the key games and were quickly out of contention for the top 2. The injury situation didn't help but it's impossible to know how much of that is the fault of the club and how much is just a continued period of bad luck. Having so many very similar injuries does raise questions about the conditioning and fitness coaching at the club. Given it's RL there will always be injuries, but over the last couple of seasons we've had a good 5 or 6 out most weeks. I can't honestly remember the last time we had a completely full strength 17.

Then when it might have tailed off into a Wigan-esque capitulation with the club playing at Widnes away from the prying eyes of the fans and the board focusing on the new stadium and the club's finances they seemed to rally. Players like Jammer, Roby and TP seemed to respond to the performances of Gaskell and Lomax and it picked up sharply. The performances of those two plus Foster and Makinson have been very positive signs. But we've still been dealt a massive dose of reality in the big games, being hammered by Wigan, comfortably beaten by Warrington and still coming out second best in the semi despite a really good performance.

How much of this is Royce's fault and how much is the playing stock he's got? The thing about Royce is he doesn't seem to have any particular theme. With Millward it was all out attack, attack, attack, with DA it was a sturdy defense and good PTB speed, Mick Potter it was five drives and a kick/knock on. Have there been any signs he's going to get us back into contention or are we set for a slide down the table post-Jammer? The signings aren't particularly exciting and if the club don't find a solution at fullback and prop and show some ambition with the signings it's hard to see us getting back amongst the trophies in the near future. Is Royce the man to do that for us? Solid yes, but I don't ever see us winning a trophy under him and I wouldn't be extending his contract when it expires next year.

Key stats:

Wins against Wigan: 0/4
Wins against Warrington: 0/2
Finals: 0
Trophies: 0

Re: Royston Simmons - Any good? : Sun Aug 21, 2011 8:32 pm  

I personally think he's done brilliant considering all the on and off field problems he's had this year. I think it would be a lot more fair to rate him after his second full season. But I would put him a close second behind Maguire(pending he goes on to win trophies).

Re: Royston Simmons - Any good? : Sun Aug 21, 2011 8:51 pm  

Barmy Salami wrote:

I personally think he's done brilliant considering all the on and off field problems he's had this year. I think it would be a lot more fair to rate him after his second full season. But I would put him a close second behind Maguire(pending he goes on to win trophies).

You'd rate him above Tony Smith?

Re: Royston Simmons - Any good? : Sun Aug 21, 2011 9:14 pm  

The salient point is that both Wigan & Warrington have stronger squads than Saints & been more fortunate with injuries. Even the best coach will struggle to overturn those odds.

Is Simmons a better coach than the men above him? In the results game I'd say not. However, I do think Simmons is an excellent mentor to the kids and I doubt whether ANY other coach in SL could have achieved what he has with them this season.

Re: Royston Simmons - Any good? : Sun Aug 21, 2011 9:17 pm  

Saddened! wrote:

You'd rate him above Tony Smith?

I can see what you mean but I've got something against Smith and I don't know what. If I had a choice who I'd rather have after Maguire between Simmons and Smith it's easily Simmons.
It probably starts with the huddling outside the tunnel before kick off which makes it cringe worthy.
I reckon if Smith was in charge of Saints this past year he wouldn't do half as good a job as Simmons.

Re: Royston Simmons - Any good? : Sun Aug 21, 2011 9:30 pm  

In reality we have over performed due to the amount of injuries we have had this season, we should be hanging around in 5th place having played more than half a season with no influential half backs and the back end of the season with half our props missing.
Royce has done very well in holding the depleted team together by not over complicating things, we have only been mullered in 2 games this season in Wigan (Home) and Huddersfield (Away). The only gripe I have with Royce is his use of substitutes in the game more so in the latter half of the season. I don,t think we have a good enough squad (lack of playmakers) to win anything this season, Wigan and Warrington would have to have a dip in form to give us a sniff of silverware.

Re: Royston Simmons - Any good? : Mon Aug 22, 2011 12:03 am  

I think he is good, but still has room for improvement.

Team rotation during a match seams to be key for me. We just don't look as efficient as other coaches, because he ties his hands with some of his strategies.

For alot of the season it was 3 props(one at loose), until we ran out.
Roby hooking 80mins every game.
back on the bench.

All the above 3 seam to inflict a regidity on our team and means our players play more game time and get more injuries.

Today was an excellent example, we where strong in the backs, weak in the pack, yet we still don't have an extra forward on the bench to make up for this and rotate LMS, soliola and Clough more.

We knew what we had, so why not pre-empt this when naming the squad?

Re: Royston Simmons - Any good? : Mon Aug 22, 2011 6:06 am  

I'm going to be totally honest with this.

Royce is a top guy, he's honest, has time for all the fans and is great to listen tO at the fans forums. He's done a good job with all the problems he's had in his first season. He had the eastmond and Graham saga, he's had terrible injuries to deal with but IMO the hardest of all he lost his dad while being half way around the world from his family, that must have been tough!

IMHO I don't think he's a great coach and his use of the bench is baffling. He's basically flogged sia, roby and jammer this year while a back has sat on the bench. I also think if we had a tactically minded coach we might have won a few of the tight games.

All in all, he's done ok, great bloke but IMO falls short as a coach for a side like saints.

Re: Royston Simmons - Any good? : Mon Aug 22, 2011 8:43 am  

In answer to the question-no.Don't renew his contract when it expires

Re: Royston Simmons - Any good? : Mon Aug 22, 2011 8:52 am  

I think Simmons has done a very good job, with the players we have had missing for large parts of the season we have done very well to stay in top 3 imo

He also seems to have a personality and isnt afraid to admit when he has got things wrong himself (Hudds away) or when we have been beaten by a better team on the day (yesterday amongst others). He has never used injuries as an excuse and big respect for him for that from me.

I think if we can get TP back for playoffs, 2 weeks off now will do Jammer good and a week's rest for Roby and the rest can only be good for us.

As for key losses, we have lost twice to Warrington (by 7 points each time and when we missed a lot of key players), drew once with Wigan and lost 2 of the other 3 by 4 and 6 points - including Good Friday where we lost Wello and Wheeler in first 30 mins so have hardly been too far away from them really. As for playoffs anything can yet happen - not saying we will get to/win the GF but it isnt totally unrealistic - but with the young players Simmons has given game time to this year have done really well and going forward into next season and the additions of Hohaia, Flanagan and Laffranchi I think we will be up there yet again this season!

Barmy Salami wrote:

I can see what you mean but I've got something against Smith and I don't know what. If I had a choice who I'd rather have after Maguire between Simmons and Smith it's easily Simmons.
It probably starts with the huddling outside the tunnel before kick off which makes it cringe worthy.
I reckon if Smith was in charge of Saints this past year he wouldn't do half as good a job as Simmons.

I would agree with this, if Smith had to deal with injuries that Simmons has had to this year and rather than dipping into his reserves for another SL player had to blood more of his youth team, would Warrington have made the top 3?? We will never know for sure but I doubt it, for me Simmons has done a very good job this year and looking forward to seeing how he progresses us in the future.