Reds 2016

[LRB]

Part of me has a macabre interest in the number of Reds memberships that will be sold for next year. Judging from the anger on social media, of which I participated in, there should be a sizeable drop.

 

[Scrubber2050]

feel sorry for champions like Slips, Simmo, Gill and Holmes. The younger guys would play under ANY coach

Honestly think Carmichael would love to see the bloke be gone but the mates on the Board over-ruled him. Carmichael has no allegance to rugby let alone RG. He is a professional sports administrator .

AAAAAh, the mates, the mates.

There will be plenty of blood on the floor by round 4 if the boys don't start with a bang. Surely there would be some senior board members tip toeing on the kill floor

 

[redstragic]

Part of me has a macabre interest in the number of Reds memberships that will be sold for next year. Judging from the anger on social media, of which I participated in, there should be a sizeable drop.

They aimed for 65k this year. Given the growth trajectory over the last 4 years they have been aiming for, I would say in a week or 2 when the 2016 membership drive starts they'd be putting up a goal number like 70k on the counter.

I agree it will be a macabre dance. The only thing is many will get stung by automatic renewals until they get onto memberships and cancel, I rekon the counter will go up fast early on.

Will the counter go backwards as cancelled memberships are taken away?

 

[Train Without a Station]

feel sorry for champions like Slips, Simmo, Gill and Holmes. The younger guys would play under ANY coach

Honestly think Carmichael would love to see the bloke be gone but the mates on the Board over-ruled him. Carmichael has no allegance to rugby let alone RG. He is a professional sports administrator .

AAAAAh, the mates, the mates.

There will be plenty of blood on the floor by round 4 if the boys don't start with a bang. Surely there would be some senior board members tip toeing on the kill floor

Actually good points Scrubber. I have no sympathy for these young guys who have taken a Reds contract and would be playing club rugby otherwise. Playing even under a terrible coach in a professional environment will develop them further.

Players like Gill who perhaps re-signed on the basis that Graham was going and have been potentially mislead, now that's a different story.

I think it's a good point you make about Carmichael too. Potentially you could be completely off the mark, but what would a good leader say in public if the board had overruled him? "I don't rate this bloke and he's here despite my wishes"? Hardly. A good leader would own the decision of the board and try and push it across in a way that would best represent the organisation.

We all know there is no way to put a shine on it, but we can't begrudge Carmichael for simply attempting to make it work. Even if it is unworkable.

Scrubber may be completely wrong. But it's just as possible he may be completely right.

 

[Tangawizi]

How do you know how many posts get deleted?

I think it might only be around 700. If you just go directly to the Reds Facebook page, the comment count says 1832. But then if you actually click on the pictures re the announcement & back out again, the number of comments falls to 1131. Which must mean 701 have disappeared somehow.

Last night i thought that 700 was in addition to the 500 i noticed had gone around 5pm but now i think it's just a total of 700. But that's still a lot.

Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk

 

[RugbyReg]

Feeling sorry for RG. Are you guys insane?

He is the grossly unsuitable applicant who has vigorously pushed his case for reappointment. He only has himself to blame.

I don't consider his reappointment as the fault of Graham. He is a professional who ultimately wants the gig, so of course he pushed his case. I don't begrudge him for doing so. I think we all would. In the end I admire his fighting spirit. I don't think he should be coach and I don't think this 'spirit' will get him any success, but he wasn't the one who made the decision to appoint him.

No, it's the decision makers - lead by the Carmichael and McCall who have made the call and they should ultimately be held accountable for any lack of success. Whilst Richard will be held accountable for a lack of results, JC and RMc should be held accountable for decreased membership, crowd numbers, hospitality and sponsorship.

Btw - RG and Dan Herbert are personal friends and best buddies.

There will be no objectivity and real accountability in this 'new' organisational format. The old boys will be (again) evaluating the old boys.

I know it suits your story, but they are not "best buddies". I completely disagree with your 2nd comment as well. One thing that Herbert has (and I consider him a friend, albeit not 'best buddy') is integrity. I have no problem with his appointment to this position. They've recruited from within and its justifiable to me. Herbie has done a great job in his role and has suitable history to do the role, which I imagine is largely negations and relationship / person management. It was always going to go to a former player, and I see no concern for this.

In short, I agree with everyone, a call should have been made on Graham if for nothing else than the impact it will have on the wider organisational deliverables. Putting in a fall guy for one year (as Knuckles was for the Wallabies in 2007) would have been a better option in my eye, and I think the organisation will suffer big time for not making the change.

 

[Lance Free]

I've just added my disappointment to the 1082 comments on Facebook. Feel free to join me Reds fan or not.

Me too: https://www.facebook.com/QldReds?fref=ts

PS I'm not currently a Reds Member/season ticket holder so my little protest (not going to any games) won't have any effect on their stats. I only went to a couple this year anyway.

 

[Thinker]

Interesting comment that RG has done little to promote/grow the game like other coaches. The reality is there would be very little interest in having him deliver anywhere.

I can't recall an appearance for coach development since the 2013 National Conference where he spent his whole talk explaining how he gets everything wrong. "I thought the game would go this way, so we prepared for it, but it didn't" etc

Don't recall him at any of the 3 or so advanced seminar every year.

 

[RedsHappy]

<snip>

I know it suits your story, but they are not "best buddies". I completely disagree with your 2nd comment as well. One thing that Herbert has (and I consider him a friend, albeit not 'best buddy') is integrity. I have no problem with his appointment to this position. They've recruited from within and its justifiable to me. Herbie has done a great job in his role and has suitable history to do the role, which I imagine is largely negations and relationship / person management. It was always going to go to a former player, and I see no concern for this..

It does not 'suit my story'. I only reference such things here when I have heard them from parties I know to be reputable adults, close to the whole Reds camp and that I know to be qualified to report objectively. I have heard of this social and professional closeness between Herbert and Graham from at least two such parties neither of whom has obvious axes to grind.

Much of what I reported months ago (from such sources as above) re very serious dysfunction and resentment inside RG's squad, his very poor man management skills, etc - even though some here immediately came to his defence with the 'good bloke, nice guy, tries really hard, it's the players that are difficult' type stuff - all of that has since leaked out and been validated in numerous ways including by rugby journos who've had vast leaks from many disgruntled players and so on.

Re Herbert. Aside from being an ex-player and ex-head of commercial/merchandising operations at the Reds, he has zero qualifications and clear track record of the right kind to head up the whole rugby operations group, incl HC, HPU, coaches development, squad planning etc.

Given the appalling on-field performance of the Reds for 2 full years, senior players leaving, the KH and QC (Quade Cooper) debacles, etc, if the QRU (and 'the review' committee) was worth their salt they would have recommended a new, outside party with an established track record in rugby team systems oversight and squad and coach development excellence for the role that Herbert is now given. Clearly new, independently-minded blood that has no ties to the immediate past or immediate persons is best needed in such a situation demanding major change, improvement and reform.

The QRU has, for all these supposedly 'reorganised' positions, opted for insiders all of whom are part of the QLD rugby old boy network that pervades the place. To me, that speaks volumes. They are not about genuine change and renewed customer focus and the building of a good, results-focussed culture.

Rather, they are about a weak and reckless form of ego preservation, positional and 'prestige' self-preservation and a chronic lack of institutional responsibility to stakeholders.

The whole situation is indefensible.

 

[neilc]

I had hoped that they would have taken the search for a new coach seriously (and actually interviewed people - is it really true that none of the applicants were interviewed?). I would have liked to see at least a short term appointment if their preferred candidates were unavailable for a season - announce Stiles as interim in conjunction with a good backs coach, making it clear that these guys are holding the fort, and if they did well then possibly make it long term.

I don't know how the players were feeling, but it seems to have been more than just a coaching issue - mutterings about Cordingley and his ignoring players like Lachie Turner seem to suggest more problems, and the departure of many players also seems to suggest that the recruitment process had an agenda of getting rid of a few people, yet it appears that Cordingley has been promoted as well. Not sure how good this review was - has it just made the S&C people the fall guys for the team's failures? Not sure that it was the S&C that told a halfback 10 minutes before kick off that he was going to be playing at #10, despite no experience in the role, and then kept selecting him there.

Sometimes players can group together and overcome a problem coach, create their own game plan and do well with it, the Brumbies did this and there were suggestions the ABs did this under Laurie Mains, but this needs strong leaders in the team, and I'm not sure that the Reds have this. Slipper hasn't struck me as someone who can really rally the troops and say 'this is how we're going to do it', but maybe their are others that can. It's a pretty young team overall, but what happens if the team play for each other and get success regardless of the coach - does this mean he gets the glory and gets reappointed?

 

[Lance Free]

I wonder where all this leaves Liam Gill, who is reportedly unhappy with the current coaching arrangements? Looking for a French connection ...

 

[redstragic]

Thanks for your email. The payment plan system does rollover, however you are able to opt out of the payment plan. You will receive communication leading up to the time, with the first communication coming through direct mail on August 28th. If you do want to opt out of the payment plan, you can simply just reply to this communication. We also advise to keep your details up to date, so you are able to successfully receive this communication.
Kind Regards
Queensland Reds Membership Team.

Just got a reply from the membership guys. Membership drive starts adter next week.

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[RedsHappy]

They aimed for 65k this year. Given the growth trajectory over the last 4 years they have been aiming for, I would say in a week or 2 when the 2016 membership drive starts they'd be putting up a goal number like 70k on the counter.

I agree it will be a macabre dance. The only thing is many will get stung by automatic renewals until they get onto memberships and cancel, I rekon the counter will go up fast early on.

Will the counter go backwards as cancelled memberships are taken away?

rt, remember that these days 'Reds Members' by number is not what it used to be.

For example, in recent years the number has been massively inflated by the grant of 'You're Now a Reds Member' for school kids and junior players enrolling in various Reds programs and initiatives.

This is one of the reasons that the Reds Member counter on the main Reds website can record a number that is way, way in excess by large multiples of say the average Reds crowd numbers in any one season.

The number of Reds Members that are actively paying for, say, 3 or 8 Reds games in advance for that season is now very difficult to externally ascertain.

 

[the sabanator]

The reds membership tally is beyond a joke

 

[SuperMo44]

Many Reds fans converting as we speak...

 

[SuperMo44]

Not really 'shocking' news.
Has Carmichael not stated time and time again that he believes in RG to get the job done.
Will make for a very interesting 2016.

In the mean time, there is NRC and RWC to help us forget about it momentarily...

 

[Gnostic]

I wonder where all this leaves Liam Gill, who is reportedly unhappy with the current coaching arrangements? Looking for a French connection .

Hopefully looking at 7s. A gold Olympic medal would look nice I think and with a player of his calibre would make it a much stronger side.

 

[Red Dragon]

What scares me is we might be stuck with RG for more than 1 year. With Stiles you get a strong scrum, Brad Thorn we have a guy that just demands respect and should get the best out of the forwards and Damian Marsh one of the best fitness guys going around, these guys could just carry RG over the line for another year. just think what could of been if we had a half decent head coach.

 

[Train Without a Station]

Well reports are it will only be finals in 2016 that saves him.

If we make the finals he has clearly done his job so what does it matter?

That's a very biased statement to say it's a worry that if the team performs he will keep his job. The only reason we want him replaced in his job is because the team has not performed.

 

[TheBigDog]

Has anyone seen the movie Focus, starring Will Smith?

*Spoilers Below*

Without going into too much detail, there is a scene in the movie set at the Super Bowl where Will Smith's character (a conman and gambler) starts making ludicrous bets with another businessman. Everything seems to be going to shit and he looks about to lose a substantial amount of money... when suddenly... the entire thing is revealed to be a ruse, with Smith having effectively rigged the betting and he ends up leaving a very rich man, much to the surprise of the audience.

To cheer myself up over the last 48hrs I have begun to imagine Carmichael and Graham heading up to the Palace Barracks cinemas on a dreary Sunday afternoon, watching Focus and deciding to pull off the biggest con in Rugby Union history and we, the clueless audience have bought it hook line and sinker!

REDS TO WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP IN 2016!!!!