Honest Assessment of Richard Graham's Coaching Ability

[Hawko]

The more Graham loses, the more tirades like this will start to stick. It's a great shame because he's brought a huge amount of effort and passion from this team in all of its games.

But the win-loss ratio is god. I can only suggest that maybe the Hurricanes are a better side than most people thought - their support play looked outstanding.

They only had the ball for a tiny proportion of the match. You can take that two ways: Either they are a great attacking team as yet unrecognised by the critics or their opponents did not know what to do with the ball when they had it. My money is on the latter. We (and a lot of our Saffer brothers) savagely criticised the SA team for losing the quarter final with similar possession statistics. If you get that much possession and lose you are doing something majorly wrong. I think the performance slide is terminal and the only question that arises is how soon RG gets the DCM.

 

[Gnostic]

One thing proves his ability beyond doubt - the skills execution whilst he was the Wallabies coach and now that same execution as Force coach. It is woefull. The side has been on the slide since last year but I had high hopes the basic quality of the very high class players they have would shine through. That hjas not happened.

If you doubt this count the number of kicks from hand that actually made the touch line. It was obvious that the Force wanted to play a field position game and make use of their supreme lineout technicians. No a bad tactic IMO. It does however rely on a kicker, any kicker actually being able to find the touch line. They couldn't even kick it out from a penalty. This is just the most obvious skills shortage, there is a total lack of support runners, attack depth ..................................

 

[Moono75]

The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over and over and expecting a different result. Every team can have a slow start to the season but it's the style of play, poor execution and lack of imagination in attack that baffles all Force supporters. Maybe they can make some corrections and we can still pull out a decent year, who knows. What I hate though is to see teams who were expected to be worse off than us going by us because they have been able to get their rugby program going in the right direction whilst the Force seem to be sitting in the mud spinning their wheels year after year.

 

[Gagger]

Could it be timely to invite Richard back to the podcast for another edition? His previous session was very enlightening, and he's very articulate. He could shed some light.

Timsy, the hard questions please.

Check it out - just published

 

[Garry Owen]

Check it out - just published

Thanks Gaggr, and it was up to his (and your grade)

 

[Ruggo]

It might be a bit late but I know one objective he has acheived. He made the Tahs fans boo.

 

[Gagger]

Surely there should be a few red faces in this thread after saturday?....

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Early days Gags, but his move of Cummins to 13 was a master stroke and picking three opensides against the Reds as well.

 

[Newter]

The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over and over and expecting a different result. Every team can have a slow start to the season but it's the style of play, poor execution and lack of imagination in attack that baffles all Force supporters. Maybe they can make some corrections and we can still pull out a decent year, who knows. What I hate though is to see teams who were expected to be worse off than us going by us because they have been able to get their rugby program going in the right direction whilst the Force seem to be sitting in the mud spinning their wheels year after year.

The Force have now scored 11 tries in their last three matches.

Poor execution? Lack of imagination in attack? Gee there are some hard people to please out there.

 

[ChargerWA]

Surely there should be a few red faces in this thread after saturday?....

The measure of this won't be until after next week.

The Force have two weaknesses. Backing up week after week and beating a team with a backline.

That result shouldn't really come as a surprise. The Force have taken the Reds pack apart twice in recent years but lost due to the brilliance of the Reds backs or let themselves down with lack of discipline, eg. S Faingaas try last year to a throw to the front of the line and pop back to go over in the corner when the game was in the balance.

But credit to Woody, the attacking balance was spot on for a team like the Force last night.

 

[RedsHappy]

Surely there should be a few red faces in this thread after saturday?....

You surely must be just trying to stimulate the fray here. This is like inferring that Rea was really a terrific coach 'cause he beat the Reds at Suncorp last year. The Brumbies played well that night, and the Reds were lazy, it really proved nothing in the end.

Now we posit that RG is truly, really, yes, a very good coach after, so far this season, winning all of 2 games where these were, case Tahs, by 1 point against a team that is notorious for its wild swings of inconsistency and, Case Reds, at home against a team that is manifestly playing very poorly and is a shadow of its 2011 self and without a passable 10. (It's not at all hard to look good against the Reds at present.)

RG inherited his forwards capability. His challenge was to rebuild the team totality, recruit (and/or develop) a superior backline, develop a cohesive and powerful total game, and gain at least a Finals position vs 7 years where that has totally eluded the Force in one Australia's most wealth-laden demographies.

The proper test of a relatively newly installed S15 coach is in his second year to get his team into at least the top 6 at the end, or better. Until the end of this season, no proper assessment can be made of White at the Brumbies, or Graham at the Force (although White is thus far making significant improvements with the Bs in just the beginning of his Year 1). Now, if the Force beat the Chiefs (or lose with a BP) and re-defeat the Tahs and gain a losing BP v the Stormers (or better) (really, the Force needs to beat two of these three, all home games), then I will start to (provisionally) revise an assessment of RG in 2012. The acid S15 test is always away games against the best teams, that is yet to come for the 2012 Force.

But to start 'regrading' RG for that one home win v the Reds is more an 'excited fan' comment than an objective one at this juncture of comp and with only 2 wins from 6 games in 2012.

 

[Brisbok]

Haha RH - I don't think Gagger's one liner in which he made a light-hearted joke about red faces was in any way an endorsement of Graham's coaching ability. It seems, from the outside, that it was merely a response to (or reminder of) the previous comment by Ruggo (which you 'liked'). I'm sure it was also an objective of Graham's to beat the Reds at home...

 

[Newter]

RG inherited his forwards capability. His challenge was to rebuild the team totality, recruit (and/or develop) a superior backline, develop a cohesive and powerful total game, and gain at least a Finals position vs 7 years where that has totally eluded the Force in one Australia's most wealth-laden demographies.
.

NRL coach Jack Gibson used to say that a coach was successful if he hadn't made his players any worse than when he got them. Graham passes that test with flying colours. And Pek Cowan and Nathan Charles have improved markedly under him. A good forward pack doesn't just "happen" because you've inherited a team list. They're playing well because the coach is good.

The four losses are an indicator of poor defence, and this is a major flaw in Graham's coaching. But everything else he's doing is spot on. And with only one win separating the Force from the Aussie conference leaders, he's well placed to make the finals.

 

[Brisbok]

NRL coach Jack Gibson used to say that a coach was successful if he hadn't made his players any worse than when he got them. Graham passes that test with flying colours. And Pek Cowan and Nathan Charles have improved markedly under him. A good forward pack doesn't just "happen" because you've inherited a team list. They're playing well because the coach is good.

The four losses are an indicator of poor defence, and this is a major flaw in Graham's coaching. But everything else he's doing is spot on. And with only one win separating the Force from the Aussie conference leaders, he's well placed to make the finals.

Agree with most of what you've said Newter, but that last comment....you can't actually believe that the Force are well placed to make the finals can you?! Let's not forget that they lost to the Rebels last weekend and in their previous home game they were thumped 46-19 by the Hurricanes...

 

[Newter]

Agree with most of what you've said Newter, but that last comment....you can't actually believe that the Force are well placed to make the finals can you?! Let's not forget that they lost to the Rebels last weekend and in their previous home game they were thumped 46-19 by the Hurricanes...

Based on their standings in the Aussie conference and their performances I give them a very strong chance. They scored 4 tries against the Rebels. And they controlled large chunks of that game against the Hurricanes. Fix the defence out wide and they are the total package. But I admit it's not easy to do this during the competition proper.

 

[Brisbok]

The Force will be the the total package if they fix their defence?? Now I've heard it all. They lost to a Rebels team without Beale and JOC (James O'Connor). Scoring 4 tries against them is not exactly an achievement - they just conceded 7 tries on Friday night. Controlling "large chunks" of a game but losing by 27 points is not much to write home about either. You can't actually believe that the Force, with their backline, are close to the total package can you?

In looking at the Aussie conference as it stands, the Reds and Waratahs have far more scope for improvement than the Force do, particularly if you consider the injury toll for each of these teams and the players due to return in the coming weeks. The Force will be fighting the Rebels to avoid 5th place in the Aussie conference IMO.

 

[Gagger]

My point is that as armchair critics (I count myself in that group) we can be a very absolute in our judgements.

The reds were until 3 games ago the paragon of coaching and management. What are they now? Have all those systems failed? Is a total clean out required? I'd say it's more complicated than that.

Which I'd also say about the Force and RGs performance. You might have to concede that there are elements in the Force backline beyond RGs control - if you've got so many Wallabies on predating long term contracts in the fwds, you can only recruit so many in the backs. And then there are injuries etc.

Absolute judgements can paint you into tricky corners

 

[Ruggo]

Was it Woody that recruited Nick Styles? Under Styles's tenure the Force pack has come ahead in leaps and bounds, especially the set piece.

In all fairness to Woody in regards to his backs, there have been some unfortunate circumstances that have hurt the Force which are out of his control. Injury last year impeaded any attempt to get settled combinations and the Ripia incident so close to the begining of the season has been a shitfest for the bloke.

Anybody with legit questions over Woody's coaching phylosiphies should just PM one of the blokes that do the podcasts and ask if they can put the question to him. Woody is sensational in sharing his time and as much as possible his intelectual property to rugby fans.

 

[ChargerWA]

I have been critical of Woody, but I will say at least he appears fully invested in taking the Force forward into the future. His heart and soul appears to be in it, which as a fan I appreciate compared to the sort of coach who views their job as an exercise in analysis (eg: Hickey).

Now if he can just sort the recruiting balance......

 

[RedsHappy]

My point is that as armchair critics (I count myself in that group) we can be a very absolute in our judgements.

The reds were until 3 games ago the paragon of coaching and management. What are they now? Have all those systems failed? Is a total clean out required? I'd say it's more complicated than that.

Which I'd also say about the Force and RGs performance. You might have to concede that there are elements in the Force backline beyond RGs control - if you've got so many Wallabies on predating long term contracts in the fwds, you can only recruit so many in the backs. And then there are injuries etc.

Absolute judgements can paint you into tricky corners

What other useful critics are there, but armchair ones? ...the rest are insiders who just over-sympathise and make excuses for poor performance....and the Aus rugby mainstream media, their standard of critique is, shall we say, far from world-class .

One of the problems I have have always found in the heartlands of Aussie rugby is that in fact we are not demanding enough of sound, demonstrable performance from the leaders and managers of the the code, coaches and business-wise. The expectation of fans and observers in, say, Aus AFL and Euro soccer, are typically far higher and expressed more forcibly and success is expected, not the 'I have good reasons for years of mediocrity and relative failure' that I find is more typical than not in Aus rugby. Then the fans tend to say '...OK then, let's keep trying. one day we might win something...'.

I proudly praise Link, McCall and Carmichael purely and simply as they have achieved what no other management-coaching troika has in Aus rugby for many a long year: the winning of a major international rugby trophy, and, even more importantly, the economic and size-wise revitalisation of rugby in one of its founding heartlands. I am going to cut them a lot of slack for that, until support for them is clearly undeserved on objective grounds.

There will aways be good excuses and poignant explanations for underperformance but, like it or not, modern State rugby is a business and a business that, ultimately, has to succeed in terms of fan base growth, trophy-ware or finals-ware, and general cash flow health.

Be assured, if RG and the Force top the Aus table this year, or better, I will be genuinely pleased and be amongst the first to congratulate them. Aus rugby will be the winner in that case.

(BTW, I find the notion that 'pre-dated Wallaby' contracts is a big hold back on WA Rugby recruiting the best 30 players something of a convenient cop-out. The way around this is for WA Rugby to arrange third-party and sponsorship deals that 'subsidise' new players. There is absolutely enough wealth and latent rugby love in the great State of WA to do this, if the business marketing and networking nous is good enough at Board level, as it needs to be.)