Re: Daryl Powell : Sun May 01, 2022 12:26 pm  

Dita's Slot Meter wrote:

On a forum where over the last couple of years, nearly every player has had their abilities questioned &, in most cases, judged to not be good enough to warrant a place in the side, is this really a serious question?

Powell has to be given time. Its that simple. Barring something extremely unusual happening, we aren't going to finish bottom, and the danger of that is the only reason I'd even query Powell's role at the club.

Truth is, and I believe most sensible people realise this, our squad is a disjointed mess and has been for long before Powell turned up - That has to be sorted, that is the number one priority. Just sacking a coach and giving the players a free pass is just a pathway to more disappointment in the long term.

I've said it several times before, but defeats are going to be a common occurrence this season - Knee jerk reactions like sacking the coach are a pointless response. Fans are going to have realise that this is where we are at as a club right now. Sacking the bloke who was fetched in to solve the long term problem after just 3 months, while the problem is still endemic is absolute madness.

That’s all fine but you look a much poorer coached team with DP in than under Price……

Re: Daryl Powell : Sun May 01, 2022 12:35 pm  

Shabino wrote:

That’s all fine but you look a much poorer coached team with DP in than under Price……

I don't think the "bring back Price" chant will catch on. Mind you our defence is definitely not so good.

Re: Daryl Powell : Sun May 01, 2022 1:52 pm  

Smiffy27 wrote:

I don't think the "bring back Price" chant will catch on. Mind you our defence is definitely not so good.

Not saying that , but surely you should have been looking at a small improvement from last year, and def not backwards steps?

Re: Daryl Powell : Sun May 01, 2022 1:58 pm  

Smiffy27 wrote:

This does suggest that Wire are packed full of stars. This is a bit of a myth and it gives some of our supporters unrealistic views of how good we ought to be. It fuels the idea that some of our players are not really trying and that they are being very badly coached. Unfortunately not only are some of our so called "stars" are not that great but some of our youngsters are not quite as good as we might wish. I am not saying they are all rubbish ... just that lots of sides have players who are just as good or in some cases better. In addition the idea that all we have to do is sack almost everyone and we'll be fine isn't guaranteed either. Sporting success ain't easy.

I think it’s fair to say that there are some stars in the squad, more than most squads in the league.

Ratchford, Charnley, Widdop, Williams, Cooper, Clark, Currie, Philbin are all England internationals. Williams and Widdop in particular we’re superstars when signing for us, but haven’t replicated their success here.

Realistically, if a coach could get the best out of the above group, you could put shirts on traffic cones and they would be competitive.

The board have invested, spending the cap + marquees. There should be an expectation for them to be competitive, anything less just wouldn’t warrant the investment.

Let me be clear, again. I’m not having a pop at Powell. I am questioning the logic of the appointment. There are very few indicators that Powell could have prolonged and consistent success here. He did well at Featherstone, then into Cas where he he did ok, especially in one or two seasons, but more often than not missed the play offs. There’s no evidence of being a great leader of men, like Wane for example, who put his stamp on a group instantly. There is no real evidence that he can play knock out rugby, often failing to reach the latter stages if competitions. There is no defensive steel to be recognised from his teams, although there is an attractive brand, which I think could be the reason why he was picked.

I think he’s on a hiding to nothing. He was announced 11 months before the season, every move was analysed from then on. Out of contract players (Hill and Mamo in particular) that the fans liked were being held against him when he was still the coach of another team. There is an expectation that he delivers and delivers now. He has said he is solely responsible for signings, he has shown that by clearing house of staff and bringing his own team, and some players that he knows and trusts. He’s been lauded as a great coup for the club, someone that’s going to put smiles back on the faces after a few years of being close but not good enough. But now, we aren’t a free flowing points machine, we’re paper thin defensively and have a coach complaining public about the squad after 6 rounds of SL.

If there’s not pressure on him, and pressure on the Chief Exec, then the club is in more trouble than we realise. The ambition must match the investment.

Re: Daryl Powell : Sun May 01, 2022 2:30 pm  

Barbed Wire wrote:

I think it’s fair to say that there are some stars in the squad, more than most squads in the league.
Ratchford, Charnley, Widdop, Williams, Cooper, Clark, Currie, Philbin are all England internationals. Williams and Widdop

Stars??
Let's look at these boys.
How many of those lads do you think will play in the current England's starting team?
How good will England be anyway?
Other sides have signed useful non-English boys which we seem to have missed. Again I'm not saying we are rubbish ... but we are not packed full of the current stars of Super League as far as I can see.

Re: Daryl Powell : Sun May 01, 2022 2:39 pm  

Correct. None of those would get in the current England squad. Clark at a push but he’d be the only one.

Re: Daryl Powell : Sun May 01, 2022 3:36 pm  

Barbed Wire wrote:

Let me be clear, again. I’m not having a pop at Powell. I am questioning the logic of the appointment. There are very few indicators that Powell could have prolonged and consistent success here. He did well at Featherstone, then into Cas where he he did ok, especially in one or two seasons, but more often than not missed the play offs. There’s no evidence of being a great leader of men, like Wane for example, who put his stamp on a group instantly. There is no real evidence that he can play knock out rugby, often failing to reach the latter stages if competitions. There is no defensive steel to be recognised from his teams, although there is an attractive brand, which I think could be the reason why he was picked.

.

I've read some nonsense on here before, but this is up there with the best of it

I mean 'he did ok' at Cas??

He literally had a side consistently punching above its weight for most of his tenure - Wasn't it a League Leaders's Shield, a GF final appearance & 2 Wembley visits?

His departure was definitely at the right time - He had undoubtedly hit his ceiling there & both he and Cas were in need of a fresh start, but to call his spell there 'ok' is a joke - Like describing Tony Smith's spell with us as not bad....

Re: Daryl Powell : Sun May 01, 2022 3:52 pm  

Dita's Slot Meter wrote:

I've read some nonsense on here before, but this is up there with the best of it

I mean 'he did ok' at Cas??

He literally had a side consistently punching above its weight for most of his tenure - Wasn't it a League Leaders's Shield, a GF final appearance & 2 Wembley visits?

His departure was definitely at the right time - He had undoubtedly hit his ceiling there & both he and Cas were in need of a fresh start, but to call his spell there 'ok' is a joke - Like describing Tony Smith's spell with us as not bad....

Let's not forget the 4 players who won man of Steel under him there. And if hardaker had a brain in his head, Powell would more than likely have taken them to grand final success.

Re: Daryl Powell : Sun May 01, 2022 4:43 pm  

Powell simply needs time to get rid of the players that need moving on and bringing the right people in. You can't judge him in his first transitional year properly. Next year when he has the nucleus of the squad he wants to build will be the time to judge him properly.

Re: Daryl Powell : Sun May 01, 2022 5:13 pm  

Smiffy27 wrote:

This does suggest that Wire are packed full of stars. This is a bit of a myth and it gives some of our supporters unrealistic views of how good we ought to be. It fuels the idea that some of our players are not really trying and that they are being very badly coached. Unfortunately not only are some of our so called "stars" are not that great but some of our youngsters are not quite as good as we might wish.

This has been true for a number of years now and it is a product of mostly poor recruitment for a decade.

I've been saying this for a while and you would always get someone on here listing how many internationals we had in the starting line up or how many in our latest starting line up had come through our Academy as evidence of things going in the right direction, but really we were kidding ourselves. These guys were not as good as we made them out to be.

I don't think Price was the greatest coach in the world but in time his reputation may rise and people will say he did OK to get a Challenge Cup win and a few finals out of the squad he had.

Clearing out substandard/overrated players is part of the solution but it will only work if we bring the right players in, and on the track record of our recent recruitment I am not confident. We could get worse.

I do think Powell is a good coach though and should be kept around.