The torpedo
Peter Fenwicke (45)
Sacking Mark McBain must be (one of) the stupidest decisions ever. 6-5 and a semi-final in his first year, 7-4 and 5th in his 2nd year and he gets punted.
Reds 2018
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Sacking Mark McBain must be (one of) the stupidest decisions ever. 6-5 and a semi-final in his first year, 7-4 and 5th in his 2nd year and he gets punted.
Zero_Cool
Arch Winning (36)
Steady on, the Reds have a bunch of babies -- the Brumbies and Waratahs have little excuse though. The Rebels were never going to do too well this season.
It was the turning point of Qld Rugby. The reason for the sacking is incredible. At the time Bennet was coach of the Broncos and Leigh Matthews coach of the Lions. The QRU decided we needed a coach with a higher profile to match these guys - someone who could help drive media outcomes.
So they appointed Andrew Slack (a wonderful human I might add) who had had some assistant coaching experience (I think he was a national selector at the time) but was working with Ch 9.
He lasted a year (he quit) and was followed by Jeff Miller who was CEO but appointed himself as coach so we didn’t lose Wendell Sailor who was umming and ahhing about his future at the time.
Like I said, I reckon this is where it all started to go tits up.
So they appointed Andrew Slack (a wonderful human I might add) who had had some assistant coaching experience (I think he was a national selector at the time) but was working with Ch 9.
He lasted a year (he quit) and was followed by Jeff Miller who was CEO but appointed himself as coach so we didn’t lose Wendell Sailor who was umming and ahhing about his future at the time.
Like I said, I reckon this is where it all started to go tits up.
RedsHappy
Tony Shaw (54)
So what? This is pro rugby where the very core viability of the QRU depends on ensuring that net gate $ income, TV viewership and sponsorship is high enough to every year fund the Reds (and all the rugby layers below) to a proudly competent, win-more-than-you-lose, standard.
Do the paying fans - enough of them that is - really want to turn up in big enough numbers to watch and indulge an elite pro team that every year trumps up some kind of excuse like 'we have L plates on as a team but it will all be better some (unspecified) time in the future'? Especially following all the pathetic excuses that were trotted out for Graham and then Stiles to follow on.
And what of the many 'non-babies' that have been actively procured by the QRU like QC (Quade Cooper), Higgers, Slipper, Lance, Lucas, CFS, Kerevi, Douglas, Toua, Smith, Hunt.............
If the Reds HC/QRU decide to pick a complement of very young players they have to do that in the expectation that all bar the tiny number of rusted-on fans will want good results, exciting rugby, many wins at home vs good teams, dynamic and effective players, and so on.
I'd love someone [Torp - are you out there?] to tell us the average age of Link's squad at 9 Super games into 2010, the squad that won 6 out of 9 of its first Super matches including IIRC beating a number of NZ teams. I'd reckon the average squad age then would not be much greater than 2018's Reds squad.
Brumbieman
Dick Tooth (41)
RedsHappy
Tony Shaw (54)
https://au.linkedin.com/in/mark-mcbain-887bb953
After coaching the Reds 2001-2........'Builder'
Kinda resonates with Link's post rugby life after that sad, sad walk down the Suncorp corridor in October 2014.....'Project Manager....somewhere in Christchurch'.
2010 Reds first 9 games were:
H Loss v Tahs (28-30)
H Win v Crusaders (41-20)
H Loss v Blues (18-27)
A Win v Chiefs (23-18)
H Win v Force (50-10)
A Win v Cheetahs (31-10)
A Loss v Sharks (28-30)
A Win v Lions (41-26)
H Win v Bulls (19-12)
Average age of those players who played those first 9 games is about 24.5 which is almost exactly the same average age as the players who have played the first 9 games this year.
The torpedo
Peter Fenwicke (45)
Removing Vanzati, Pickle, QC (Quade Cooper) & Hunt and it's an average age of 23.8
Remove George Smith (outlier) and it drops to 23.4
The torpedo
Peter Fenwicke (45)
And I thought nepotism was bad enough now
The torpedo
Peter Fenwicke (45)
One wonders what would have happened had Beale gone instead of Link
Zero_Cool
Arch Winning (36)
Anyone else seen Folau is 'in talks' with Queensland Reds, link here (Daily Telegraph). I personally would rather not see Folau playing in a Reds Jersey. But regardless how on earth could the QRU afford him?!
Having said that, my preference is for him to play League, then Overseas, then New Zealand. I don't mind if he sticks with the Waratahs, but I just really don't see the value over replacement at the Wallabies Level, and I think the Reds would benefit form that fullback position not being locked down - set in stone like Folau would have it (or lose one of our several talented young wingers). He's good but not so good that you'd bet your house on him.
Having said that, my preference is for him to play League, then Overseas, then New Zealand. I don't mind if he sticks with the Waratahs, but I just really don't see the value over replacement at the Wallabies Level, and I think the Reds would benefit form that fullback position not being locked down - set in stone like Folau would have it (or lose one of our several talented young wingers). He's good but not so good that you'd bet your house on him.
The torpedo
Peter Fenwicke (45)
Paywalled
The same way NSW does. RA pays the majority of his salary, he gets heaps in 3rd party payments and we would pay about $150k or whatever the balance is.
Zero_Cool
Arch Winning (36)
You know who else would put bums on seats... Quade Cooper or Karmichael Hunt. We already have those guys under contract for close to 1.5 million dollars we don't need to be spending anymore money on 'star' attractions who ultimately we aren't going to use or aren't going to provide us with value.
Inside Shoulder
Nathan Sharpe (72)
Why?
I'd rather see him in some other than a Tahs jersey.
Could you either cite or provide the link to the data that proves he puts bums on seats?
dru
David Wilson (68)
Oh for goodness sake, IS. I get that the community is split (and not an even split) right now, but he has been chased as a draw card across three codes.
This said, the difference of Folau or no Folau to the Reds seems a bit mute. If you were to take a back three player with draw qualities (and with anti draw qualities) why wouldn't you run with Hunt?
Wish Folau all the best, but if options have gotten shaky for Super Rugby stars, we can thank shrink to greatness.
SouthernX
John Thornett (49)
How old is Vanzati?
Just noticed his profile must of recently been removed from reds website because I can’t see him part of the team anymore, anybody know what happened? Wasn’t playing for Wests on weekend... assumed he was injured.
SouthernX
John Thornett (49)
You are wrong zero cool... both players you mentioned were on team last year and nothing was great about our attendance.
Folau is arguably the best back playing for Australia atm... amazing how someone wouldn’t want him.
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