QLD Reds 2010

[Sully]

I think we needed a bigger broom!

 

[Biffo]

I think we needed a bigger broom!

Mods: can we have an award each year for best post from each state? this is a shoo-in for Queensland award.

 

[TOCC]

i wonder how mooney feels about connolly returning

 

[Lee Grant]

so who do we get to replace Bell?

A current club coach?
Perhaps we should be looking at John McKee from is he Eastwood?? He'd be a great catch. Not sure who the other coaches are down there other than Phil Blake, but he's not the forward coach we need. Who coaches Uni and Easts?

Er no - McKee, former coach of the mighty Rays, winners of the ARC, is the head coach of the mighty Rats. He's an ex forward but I can't warrant how good he is as a forwards specialist. I know the coaches of the other teams you mentioned but can't give an opinion of how they are at coaching forwards in a professional environment.

Frankly, if you want a good forwards coach who won't cost a bomb, I would look on the other side of the ditch. There are heaps of Kiwis who would be looking for a gig as a S14 assistant coach who can't get one at home - maybe players that have retired not too long ago.

 

[Cutter]

I dont know that Fisher is the answer as a forwards coach. How about Andrew Blades?

If you could get him to move, bingo.

 

[RugbyReg]

Article in the paper today suggesting a couple of things.

1) Digby is likely to stay.

2) Dan Herbert may fill one of the roles emptied this week. Either team manager or the player negotiation role Whitaker had.

 

[fatprop]

I think they need to go outside Qld or at least someone who has been away for quite a while.

 

[Scotty]

I think he had some issues getting paid when he was injured in France, so you are probably right as far as not being suited to HP man.

 

[formeropenside]

Apparently Qld have decided to throw their hat into ring for Rabbit at this late stage.

 

[RugbyReg]

Apparently Qld have decided to throw their hat into ring for Rabbit at this late stage.

yeah?

 

[formeropenside]

Apparently Qld have decided to throw their hat into ring for Rabbit at this late stage.

yeah?

Queensland Reds in shock bid for whiz kid James O'Connor
By Wayne Smith
June 19, 2009 THE turmoil-ridden Queensland Reds have launched a dramatic 11th-hour bid to snatch teenage Australia hero James O'Connor back from the Western Force.

In the same week as forwards coach Mark Bell and team manager Brendan Morris were sacked, the Reds belatedly entered the contest for O'Connor, 18, just when it seemed he was working through the final details before re-signing with the Force.

Reds chief executive Ken Freer confirmed that he had spoken a number of times this week to O'Connor's agent, Anthony Piccone.

"I know it's a fair way down the track with the Force and I respect that, but if there is an interest from O'Connor, we'd be very keen to talk to him," Freer said.

It's not surprising that the Reds should make a pitch for O'Connor. He was, after all, a student of Brisbane's Nudgee College and his parents still live on the Gold Coast. But what is staggering is that the Reds should have left it so late to show interest in O'Connor after all the other Australian Super 14 clubs had fallen over themselves in the scramble to get his signature.

Whether this late surge of interest is any way related to the uncertainty over the future of the Reds' primary recruiter Ben Whitaker is unclear as Whitaker was not able to be contacted on Thursday for comment.

But it is understood he resigned in protest at the manner in which Bell and Morris had been treated. Freer, however, insisted Whitaker remained on staff - for the moment.

"He had some reservations about what happened (to Bell and Morris) but at this point in time he hasn't resigned," Freer said.

Whitaker has, by virtually any measure, the hardest job in Australian rugby, of trying to attract players to a team that has finished in the bottom three on the Super rugby ladder for six seasons.

Far from being able to lure new talent to Brisbane, Whitaker has struggled to retain the players he has, with Hugh McMeniman having announced he is heading overseas and Digby Ioane threatening to leave.

Ironically, Ioane is being touted as a possible Force recruit, barely 18 months after he broke his contract with the Perth team to return to Queensland because he felt homesick.

While Wallabies five-eighth Berrick Barnes desperately wants to stay with the Reds, he has decided to defer his decision until he sees the outcome of the review process.

And on Thursday, another Peter Rogers-managed player, former Test hooker Sean Hardman, followed suit, saying he would not make up his mind whether to continue his career until he had some idea in what direction the Reds were heading.

When pressed on who it was conducting the review process, Freer offered up only one name - head coach Phil Mooney.

That in itself is indicative of the state of Queensland rugby because, after two seasons at the helm of a team that has won only six of 26 Super 14 matches, Mooney should be the primary focus of the review, not the man conducting it.

However, indications are that the players themselves have swayed the review. Immediately after the Super 14 season ended, the Reds players went through a two-week process in which they documented everything they felt had had an impact on their performance. Their input was collated and summarised and studied this week by senior staff.

"They (the players) have certainly had a voice," Freer said.

Bell's sacking has thrown open the question of who the Reds will recruit as their new forwards coach. It's a particularly exasperating question since former Wallabies set-piece coach Michael Foley could have been secured but was allowed to slip through Queensland's fingers for the Waratahs to snap him up.

Freer insists the Reds are not targeting anyone and specifically have made no approach to World Cup coach John Connolly, even though he was one of a number of key Queensland rugby identities - along with Mooney, Jeff Miller, Alec Evans, Dick Marks, Andrew Slack, Roger Gould, Julian Gardner, Daniel Herbert and QRU chairman Peter Lewis - who took part in a round-table discussion on Wednesday night on the parlous state of the game in the state.

But if Queensland hopes to retain Hardman, it might need to find a replacement for Bell sooner rather than later.

"That would be one of the first questions I'd be finding an answer to," said Hardman, whose career will hinge on his planned meeting with Mooney.

Doesn't look terribly likely though. He'd make a good 15 for Queensland, and a backline of

9 Genia
10 Barnes/Cooper
11 Hynes
12 Cooper/Barnes
13 Ioane
14 McLinden
15 O'Connor

Would look nice, with bench cover of Lucas, Turinui and Morahan.

 

[the gambler]

Doesn't look terribly likely though. He'd make a good 15 for Queensland, and a backline of

9 Genia
10 Barnes/Cooper
11 Hynes
12 Cooper/Barnes
13 Ioane
14 McLinden
15 O'Connor

Would look nice, with bench cover of Lucas, Turinui and Morahan.

So that would be the Qld side for week one. But by week 3 you would be back to (excuse spelling)

McKibbon
Lucas
Finger A
Feotoi
Va'alu
Davies
McLinden

 

[formeropenside]

Doesn't look terribly likely though. He'd make a good 15 for Queensland, and a backline of

9 Genia
10 Barnes/Cooper
11 Hynes
12 Cooper/Barnes
13 Ioane
14 McLinden
15 O'Connor

Would look nice, with bench cover of Lucas, Turinui and Morahan.

So that would be the Qld side for week one. But by week 3 you would be back to (excuse spelling)

McKibbon
Lucas
Finger A
Feotoi
Va'alu
Davies
McLinden

Makes the point nicely that really its all about depth, and Australia does not have enough depth for a 5th team once you scratch the surface and realise you will have injuries during the season.

 

[RugbyReg]

9 Genia10 Barnes/Cooper11 Hynes12 Cooper/Barnes13 Ioane14 McLinden15 O'ConnorWould look nice, with bench cover of Lucas, Turinui and Morahan

Looks good. I'd consider swapping Mac and Morahan though.

That with a decent forwards coach (not Hardman) and its looking a tiny bit better.

 

[formeropenside]

Is it proposed that Hardman becomes forward coach? Crowley might have been a good choice, if he had tried his hand in coaching over the last few years.

 

[RugbyReg]

Ahhh no. I misread one of the articles.
My apologies.

 

[fatprop]

Is it proposed that Hardman becomes forward coach? Crowley might have been a good choice, if he had tried his hand in coaching over the last few years.

You need someone to change the culture and get the ruthless back into the Reds forwards.

 

[Biffo]

Is it proposed that Hardman becomes forward coach? Crowley might have been a good choice, if he had tried his hand in coaching over the last few years.

You need someone to change the culture and get the ruthless back into the Reds forwards.

Agreed totally. Ruthless trumps names every time.

 

[TOCC]

i wish John Eales was a coach of some sort, i would love to see him back as a player mentor/manager type figure...

QLD need someone in there midst who makes really appreciate the position they are in, Eales was a great captain not because of his ruthlessness but because of his modesty and work ethic.

 

[RugbyReg]

Connolly not heading to Reds: Mooney
Jim Morton
June 19, 2009 - 6:39PM

Wallabies three-quarter Digby Ioane will stay with embattled Queensland but former Test coach John Connolly will not lead the Reds out of their current mire.

Queensland coach Phil Mooney, who axed his forwards coach Mark Bell and manager Brendan Morris in a turbulent week at Ballymore, confirmed Ioane was set to re-sign in the coming days in a major boost to his hopes of a Super 14 resurrection.

But Mooney rubbished reports Connolly would be appointed as the Reds' director of coaching in the wake of high-performance manager Ben Whitaker quitting his post due to personal reasons.

The under-pressure coach insisted he did not need a coaching mentor or overseer, be they Connolly or anyone else.

Former Wallabies and Reds centre Daniel Herbert has also been mentioned as a candidate to turn the battling franchise, which has finished in the bottom three for the last six years, around.

"I certainly haven't spoken to John Connolly and haven't thought about bringing John Connolly in as I know (QRU chairman) Peter Lewis has also said the same to me," Mooney told AAP from Brisbane on Friday night.

"Daniel Herbert is a good style of guy but he's busy with the Ballymore redevelopment."

Mooney didn't back down from his decisions to cut Bell, also his forwards coach with the triumphant Australian under-19s team in 2006, and Morris.

"It was a tough call but I have to make the tough calls, I have to take the Reds to a better place," he said.

The coach, who has taken the Reds to just six wins and a draw from 26 matches in charge since 2007, hasn't shirked away from making hard decisions in the past, sacking close friend John Roe as captain after just four matches.

Mooney has just one year remaining in his three-season contract but has been backed strongly by Lewis and the QRU board.

Whitaker, effectively the Reds recruitment officer, resigned on Friday after failing to recruit high-profile targets Rocky Elsom, Drew Mitchell and Richard Brown, while losing Wallabies forward Hugh McMeniman.

QRU chief executive Ken Freer said no decisions on replacements would be made until the end of a organisational review, but would take over contract negotiations in the interim.

"The Reds team player leadership group has performed a valuable role in the review process thus far and will continue to do so," Freer said in a statement.

"Queensland Rugby recently restructured other areas of its business to reflect the tougher commercial environment that professional sport now finds itself in and the financial constraints we face.

"The current Reds' review is a separate process aimed at breaking the cycle of disappointment that continued in 2009. Change is painful but inevitable in professional sport when teams do not succeed."