What happened to the Flanagan rumours, at least he was a proven coach.
Interestingly, Carr would’ve been coaching at Cronulla during Flanagan’s time there.
The other name in the frame was Demetriou, who whilst not having had a head coach job at NRL or SL level, does have a track record of success below that, and has now been involved successfully under Wayne Bennett for some time.
I wouldn’t be against either route there, Flanagan or Demetriou, but would prefer Carr stays and goes fulltime as part of any new setup for some stability.
Agar didn’t seem to want the role, and almost appears to have done it begrudgingly, albeit with some level of success of turning things round. Credit where it’s due there. But if he doesn’t really want the role, then let’s find someone that does. No point appointing for the sake of it. Get someone who has a point to prove, be that Flanagan rebuilding his name after the NRL ban, or someone like Demetriou who is looking to build his own career. The latter has the advantage of knowing SL at least after his time playing over here.
What I do want is a coach who has us playing a decent brand of rugby, look what Holbrook has achieved at Saints, they play with real pace and intensity which other teams are struggling to match. It’s actually great to watch the speed at which they play the game.
Invest in the right coach, add a class 6/7, plus an absolute unit of a prop, and we’re not a million miles away. Then place faith in the youngsters for the other squad gaps rather than more journeymen. We’re often told we have a generation of real talent coming through, give them the shot under the right calibre of intuitive and attacking coach, then watch us climb back up the table.
Sure I saw it on here a couple of days ago, that we may be overpaying some players, just to get them to come. Improve the coaching, play some quality rugby, and the right level of players will want to join again.
