Reds 2016

[Train Without a Station]

RH we're jumping to massive conclusions if we start talking about "decoding" and "reading between the lines".

We just have to accept that there will always be some opinions and discussions that we aren't and never will be privy to.

 

[Braveheart81]

Do we need 3 average league converts?

Nabuli, Vidot. Who's the 3rd?

Brad Thorn?

 

[RedsHappy]

RH we're jumping to massive conclusions if we start talking about "decoding" and "reading between the lines".

We just have to accept that there will always be some opinions and discussions that we aren't and never will be privy to.

Not IMO, in this case.

 

[redstragic]

I'm with RH, Gilly is a top team man and saying what he needs too to try and reassure fans that wheels haven't totally fallen off.

 

[Gnostic]

Surely everyone has learnt from the "toxic" comments that actually speaking the truth as you see it with regard to your employer's choices is only advisable if you want to be looking for a new job.

So we are left to read between the lines with any statement, and that reading will be tempered by our personal outlook to a large degree and what we already know about the situation. No player is about to repeat the mistakes so obviously made in the past and hence we will get bland politically correct statements with platitudes and cliches aplenty.

 

[Tomikin]

My email to the Reds to cancel my membership has received a reply. Apparently I need to somehow formally request cancellation of my monthly payment plan. It seems I have one of these now, where as I never had such a monthly payment plan before. So they have informed me they will now be charging me monthly for something I don't want. Number of emails sent to them now counts as 3. I wonder what I will have to do to try and no longer be a Reds member.

Ahhh the old easy to sign up impossible to cancel membership .. That old Chestnut.. They will probably throw in the Foxtel, cancellation process in there as well. Click Deactivate and Save and you get .. This service is currently unavailable, please try again later (after we have auto renewed you) or contact us on 13005HourWaitingTimes where you will be passed to 15 different countries to then finally get to someone who can help you, who then 'accidentally' hangs up on you.

 

[Braveheart81]

If you ring the Queensland Reds membership number, the on hold music is Hotel California.

Every now and again there is a break where they play an ad for Fitness First where you get your first month free.

 

[Gnostic]

I watched the Rugby Club for the first time this year. Marto actually had it right up to the point where he (and Kearns) started criticising fans for expressing that they will no longer be fans.

I understand their sentiment, they have the game in their bones, the same as I do even if I never played to any reasonable level. What they do not see, at all, is that the fans that are leaving because they are fed up may just be leaving totally. They aren't taking a year off, they are not moving to support another club. They are walking away from the professional game or perhaps the game altogether. That has been the experience at the Tahs, as we know they have not recovered their fan base, even after winning the title.

We also know that even with two titles to Australian sides over the last 4 years and finals appearances aplenty the viewership has not grown appreciably. Regardless of their processes the QRU and the Australian Rugby as a whole just could not afford this brain dead decision from the Reds. I could argue that the process is a sham and not transparent, thereby making it open to allegations of nepotism and corruption, but in the long run it really doesn't matter, the management has f&^%$% up big time in thinking they could spin their way through this and come out the other side relatively intact.

 

[Teh Other Dave]

The thing that I struggle with is that Graham seems like a decent guy. I feel like such a petulant turd for complaining about his reappointment. Maybe things might turn around dramatically - and as you look at the time stamp, remember that nothing good happens on the internet after midnight.

 

[Parse]

Thing is, everyone has been pointing out RG's deficiences for 2 years or more now. I can no longer even think of someone who still holds the belief that he is a worthwhile Super Rugby head coach. The QRU have also known this for at least 2 years and still have done nothing.

This is why I am stopping my membership because now the Reds reek of being an "old boys club", not one that gets the best talent to try and have one of the best teams.

Geez, applicants for the coaching job apparently weren't even interviewed. Remember people were calling for his sacking during his first season in charge , the QRU said they would give him the chance to improve and let him have the next year left on his contract then. They should have been looking for possible replacements back then, not waiting until a few weeks ago and opening up applications for 2 weeks until they decided.

 

[LRB]

I understand their sentiment, they have the game in their bones, the same as I do even if I never played to any reasonable level. What they do not see, at all, is that the fans that are leaving because they are fed up may just be leaving totally. They aren't taking a year off, they are not moving to support another club. They are walking away from the professional game or perhaps the game altogether. That has been the experience at the Tahs, as we know they have not recovered their fan base, even after winning the title.

I share your concern on this point as well and am worried that the current downturn in numbers will echo the Tahs experience for permanency. Sport in Queensland and the nation broadly is incredibly competitive and as the third / fourth favourite winter code we can't afford to let our competitors have a kick start on us.

 

[Tahtrajic]

I share your concern on this point as well and am worried that the current downturn in numbers will echo the Tahs experience for permanency. Sport in Queensland and the nation broadly is incredibly competitive and as the third / fourth favourite winter code we can't afford to let our competitors have a kick start on us.

I agree.
I also have to agree with what Marto said on the rugby club last night (as much as it pains me to agree with him). The QRU board lost sight of the fact that the fans are angry with the results and the way the whole situation has been handled smacks of a disconnect with the fan base expectations.
I hope it works out for the Reds as Aussie rugby can't afford for the Reds to be down much longer. The ARU will be praying RG can pull a Check and turn it around over night.
Having said that lasts nights NRC game had some great young talent on show.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

^^^ There is some great talent in QLD. Wait until you see the Qld Country side strut its wares. Look at how Big Kev has played for the Men in Gold. This tells me that the Reds recent rubbish record is not due to the lack of ability in the playing roster. If this old fool can see that, why can't the people charged with running the game in Queensland see it?

If the current incumbent had the best coaching CV of the 20 "applicants", 19 of which appear to have only been subjected to a "desktop audit" of their CV's, then the other applicants must have extremely bad credentials. We will probably never know who the other 19 were unless the Reds release the names. The applicants themselves are hardly likely to brag about around the BBQ that they were considered such poor coaches that they were rated as less capable then Richard Graham.

What is Mark Arbib doing now? Sounds like we need another Rugby Governance report, this time at State board level, and it is not just QLD that needs a good shakeup. Our lot in Gods Country are probably just as bad with almost as many committees, boards and individuals thinking that they "own" the game as there are players.

What is happening in the halls of power in Ballymore is a national rugby issue. Australian Rugby is in a very poor state when the outsiders only feel pity for the Reds/Qld Rugby. It is not the players.

 

[diomac]

Can someone help me out, when we signed Karmichael Hunt I assumed he was signed as a fullback, but I think he only had 1 run there last year before being moved to the centre and now for the NRC he is playing centre as well.

We seem to have a lot of depth in the centre / wing position and only JJ at fullback who doesn't appear to be developed enough for a starting Super Rugby fullback. Can we expect to see Hunt start at fullback next season for the Reds or am I missing something?

 

[RedRocket]

^ Sounds like we found enough scratch for Vidot.

 

[RedsHappy]

Just a btw that keeps intriguing me (if that's the word vs 'outraging' me):

The QRU has now said, over and over: 'RG is the best coach for the 2016 Reds, and he was in fact better for our purposes than all the other 19 we assessed (by desk research vs interview).'

But never once have they deigned to explain exactly why this is so. It's just a bald assertion.

There has been no articulation of rationale, hidden RG strengths, cogent reasons why he over-sighted 2 awful seasons of both losses and poor skills and that such factors have now been overcome, explanations of what he will do better in 2016, etc.

Nothing. Surely some considered explanation is the very least current paying Reds Members and general fans should expect.

It's really quite extraordinary.

The reasons why, on rational or other grounds, RG has been re-appointed are in fact a secret.

 

[Thinker]

Just a btw that keeps intriguing me (if that's the word vs 'outraging' me):

The QRU has now said, over and over: 'RG is the best coach for the 2016 Reds, and he was in fact better for our purposes than all the other 19 we assessed (by desk research vs interview).'

But never once have they deigned to explain exactly why this is so. It's just a bald assertion.

There has been no articulation of rationale, hidden RG strengths, cogent reasons why he over-sighted 2 awful seasons of both losses and poor skills and that such factors have now been overcome, explanations of what he will do better in 2016, etc.

Nothing. Surely some considered explanation is the very least current paying Reds Members and general fans should expect.

It's really quite extraordinary.

The reasons why, on rational or other grounds, RG has been re-appointed are in fact a secret.

There are no rational grounds. There never have been. He has friends in high places period. His former team mates were happy to tell all sorts of stories before he destroyed the Reds, I can only imagine what they'd say now.

Ignoring his record RG is a completely unimpressive coach. I've had the chance to work with him a few times back in 2012-13 and he had no presence like you see in top level coaches. He could have easily have been a vagrant wandering on the field. Compare that to Eddie who sank us pretty well but day in day out you would still believe in him because he was more than a marionette.

 

[neilc]

Can someone help me out, when we signed Karmichael Hunt I assumed he was signed as a fullback, but I think he only had 1 run there last year before being moved to the centre and now for the NRC he is playing centre as well.

We seem to have a lot of depth in the centre / wing position and only JJ at fullback who doesn't appear to be developed enough for a starting Super Rugby fullback. Can we expect to see Hunt start at fullback next season for the Reds or am I missing something?

What about O'Connor as a FB? Stiles definitely sees Hunt as a centre, so hopefully they let him develop in that role and improve but I take your point, and Hunt is listed on the Reds website at fullback.

 

[Teh Other Dave]

Just thought I'd mention that I was one of the 19 desk audtied. My application was hamstrung by an insistence that I at least hold a Level I coaching qualification.

 

[Scoey]

Just a btw that keeps intriguing me (if that's the word vs 'outraging' me):

The QRU has now said, over and over: 'RG is the best coach for the 2016 Reds, and he was in fact better for our purposes than all the other 19 we assessed (by desk research vs interview).'

But never once have they deigned to explain exactly why this is so. It's just a bald assertion.

There has been no articulation of rationale, hidden RG strengths, cogent reasons why he over-sighted 2 awful seasons of both losses and poor skills and that such factors have now been overcome, explanations of what he will do better in 2016, etc.

Nothing. Surely some considered explanation is the very least current paying Reds Members and general fans should expect.

It's really quite extraordinary.

The reasons why, on rational or other grounds, RG has been re-appointed are in fact a secret.

Exactly right RH. And the lack of explanation on how RG is the best man for the job flies in the face of this gem from Jim Carmichael.

"To make a decision that simply appeases them, for a moment in time, for us as an organisation is a weakness of our process. We need to deal with the fact that we've made a decision that will be seen by some as unpopular. We need them to feel we've made the right decision and that won't happen overnight."

It won't happen at all if you don't explain it to us Jim!