Re: harris out : Thu May 29, 2014 5:58 pm
theredshed wrote:
I believe the season was jeopardised the moment Noble was informed about Harris being appointed head coach. I think the Doc naively listened to a few underperforming players and acted on impulse. It’s extremely unlikely we would be in this predicament now had Noble still been in charge. Don’t get me wrong I don’t think we would be in the top 6 but I believe Noble would have galvanised 2-3 more wins.
I'm sure Marwan will now realise the mistake and will now regret not letting Noble see out his contract this year. The problem with changing a coach during the season is obvious and we have all seen the negative impact this has had on performances. I think the Doc should have rode it out and then paid the big bucks for an Aussie coach with a proven record of success. It’s nothing personal against Harris who may still come good but it still feels like too much of a gamble for a club with money and ambition.
I'm sure Marwan will now realise the mistake and will now regret not letting Noble see out his contract this year. The problem with changing a coach during the season is obvious and we have all seen the negative impact this has had on performances. I think the Doc should have rode it out and then paid the big bucks for an Aussie coach with a proven record of success. It’s nothing personal against Harris who may still come good but it still feels like too much of a gamble for a club with money and ambition.
We don't know for sure this was the work of a few under-performing players. Maybe Marwan saw something in Iestyn that he didn't see in Nobby. We'll never know. And while it probably was an impulsive decision, it doesn't mean it was the wrong one. He spent a lot of time courting Nobby - to the point where it was like an RL bromance - but it still seems to have been the wrong choice. Only time will tell whether Iestyn is the right man.
There's no doubt the timing was poor and it was handled very badly, but I'm not sure things would have been any better had Nobby stayed. Where would the extra two or three wins have come from? He'd have been as hampered by our (self-inflicted) lack of pace as Iestyn is. I can see one advantage in acting quickly, and that is that it gives the new coach time to assemble the staff and squad he wants prior to next season. Again this is something we'll never know, but would we have gone for Kevin Locke and BJB had Nobby still been around? And had we waited until the end of the season to appoint a 'big name Aussie', would those two players still be available?