Re: Price : Sat Sep 25, 2021 8:26 pm  

Here’s hoping for a much more adventurous approach to team selection from Powell than Steve Price has shown in his tenure. Ratchford has only scored one try all season and I can’t recall too many assists which is just not good enough in the modern game so now is the time to start Thewlis at full back. Like also to see how both Ashton and Wrench go on the wings wings to replace brute strength with real pace.
Price’s reluctance to drop players when not playing well has been a feature too - Charnley, Lineham, Hughes and J Clark to name names. Players need to know they are not automatic choices which applies to Toby King post contract.

Re: Price : Sat Sep 25, 2021 8:39 pm  

Amen brother. Time for Ratchford to spend his time on the bench as a good cover player. Should have had that role this season but Price did love a non-threatening steady Eddy.

Re: Price : Sat Sep 25, 2021 10:13 pm  

Barbed Wire wrote:

I’ve been labelled as a bitter Smith fanatic and a doom monger re: Price since the minute his appointment was announced. I was hugely underwhelmed, given his poor record as a head coach, at him being the man who could go beyond where Smith could take us. (For clarity, there was a wide spread theory that Smith had taken us as far as he could, which I understood, but my point at the time was that we should only replace him if there is someone available who is better.)

Price couldn’t take us further, there was nothing to suggest that he could on his application. If we were looking for grand final wins as an assistant, there are plenty of those as even some with an affinity with the club (Matt King for example). But the executive appointed Price, and haven’t really been held to account by the board for that appointment, which in summary has been pathetic.

The same executive have assessed that Powell is the person to not only succeed Price, but ultimately surpass Smith. That is the task, to actually win the Grand Final. Anything less must been seen as abject failure, given the budget/facilities/squad pedigree. I can’t really understand how they have reached that opinion, given that he has missed the playoffs almost routinely, and when he has got to big games, they have been dispatched comfortably.

It’s not clear what the criteria is to be considered suitable for this role, but I would argue that it is a different person recruiting the coaches than it is convincing Johns, Morley and Matt King to join the club. There isn’t the same drive or ambition.

Bennett is going into another grand final next week, leaving the job next week. Bellamy, at the time, was off contract and was the current champion coach. Shaun Wane, for all to see, is ready to come towards a club scene again. These people, like them or not (and I don’t, on the whole) are WINNERS. You can’t buy a win, but - see Jordan Abdull’s interview re: Price - some people can demand better from a group of men.

Powell may work out, may. But whether he does or he doesn’t, the recruiters need to work as hard on getting the coach in as they did at getting Williams in and under the cap. And, more importantly, the board need to hold these people to account, and stop treating the fans with contempt.

I'd agree with some of this, but the likes of Bennett (who was awful as England coach) and Bellamy aren't going to entertain a job here and neither will players of the calibre of Johns and Morley.

We had to get the best we could and I think we did. Time will tell.

Re: Price : Sun Sep 26, 2021 2:33 am  

I can’t believe what I’m reading about Ratchford!
I value your opinions but in my book, you put your best players in a position where they can get theirs hands on the ball, and that isn’t the bench!!

Re: Price : Sun Sep 26, 2021 7:27 am  

I don't think anybody is questioning ratchfords ability RD but it is more about mental strength.
When Ratchford was penalised for an incorrect play the ball he was frustrated and during the next set of six he decides to stay in the defencive line so that he can get in the referees ear. He stays in the line and mickey Lewis spots it and goes over. World class fullbacks would just get on with their job, get back in position and do what the team needs them to do.
Straight from the restart Ratchford moves to hooker and gives away a penalty for a ball strip. OK Abdul missed that penalty but it could have been 8 points worth of mistakes in 2.mins.

The problem I have is the same as Chris Hill when a decision doesn't go their way. Instead of putting their hand up and the team pulling together to defend the next set after a mistake or being on the wrong end of a 50/50 call then it is shaking of the head and that look of disbelief at the decision. The senior players can question the ref but just get on with your job and encourage your team mates to defend your mistake.
You would never see the likes of Sinfield or Roby do that. They would just get on with it and their team mates would dig in. They don't try and solve the problem on their own. The team would solve the problem..

Some of the senior players have really let themselves down when it comes to mentality in crucial games spanning the Tony Smith and Steve Price era. We can't afford that to continue into the Powell era.

Re: Price : Sun Sep 26, 2021 7:43 am  

Best player? Ratchford 1 try 8 assists. Coote 7 tries 16 assists. It isn't good enough.

Re: Price : Sun Sep 26, 2021 9:12 am  

And Coote is being released. Says it all really

Re: Price : Sun Sep 26, 2021 9:43 am  

You might want to look at the stats of the other super league full backs it makes grim reading. He's light years behind Coote, Tomkins, Myler and others. His stats are the same as Jowitt who has played 7 games left. He's a bluff.

Re: Price : Sun Sep 26, 2021 9:56 am  

rubber duckie wrote:

I can’t believe what I’m reading about Ratchford!
I value your opinions but in my book, you put your best players in a position where they can get theirs hands on the ball, and that isn’t the bench!!

You've been repeating this ridiculous sentence for years. He IS NOT our best player!!(and the fact that you say he is kind of proves my point ). I've never rated him as most people on here probably know, but hopefully Powell will just him as cover as this should be his last season at the club.

Re: Price : Sun Sep 26, 2021 9:58 am  

ratticusfinch wrote:

Best player? Ratchford 1 try 8 assists. Coote 7 tries 16 assists. It isn't good enough.

Especially when, for some bizarre reason we actually scored more points than saints this season!