Reds 2018

[Linebreaker]

I would agree with this more if we weren't playing Lucas, Lance, and Toua 70+ minuets a game (not Lucas) when we have Hamish Stewart, Duncan Paia'aua, and James Tuttle getting minimal game time.

I'm in two minds about it, but ultimately I feel like as a coach you should be trying to find game time for guys like Stewart, Paia'aua etc.

Regarding Quade he could have easily played 10/15 with Stewart or we could have had the exact same setup as to what we have now with Lance -- except Quade is here next year if we need him. Lance is in England, I'm pretty sure however you cut it Quade makes more sense if there aren't any outside forces.




I don't see how we can not start Stewart again his defence was probably the best I've seen from a Super Rugby 10, and our backline looked competent. I'm not saying Stewart is perfect, far from it -- he kicked it too much, and could do with a little more confidence in himself, but he's at minimum no worse than Lance. And being 19/20 has gotta count for something!

Youre right he should be on the side of the scrum

 

[Linebreaker]

Stiles, McKenzie, Graham - all have young kids. Their desire to stay put for their kids doesn't, unfortunately, come into it. Brad will learn soon enough that the life of a head coach is tough and if he wants to be the head coach of a rugby team and stay in Brisbane, he only has one option. The same option Stiles and Graham envisioned having.

Family roots won't keep him hear long term, performance and job opportunities will be what dictates that.

Thorn reminds me of Trump a lot... Got the job over a winning candidate, he makes some decisions that will have you scratching your head.. some of them work out, loves to fire and dismiss people and pretty much calls it as he see's it right or wrong.. only time will tell us if they are both right for their jobs.

 

[Beer Baron]

It seems Jim Tucker is well entrenched in the Reds PR machine. Bit of a rubbish article in my view. I think it's crazy to sign a guy to a longer contract when he's only half way through his first season.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/...n/news-story/e46da7fdd0f380e8fbf7cf4644307744

The only alternative I could see would be an up and coming ITM coach who would be more qualified. Brad's Queensland Country success is on par exp. wise (admittedly less time) than the QPR coaches.

The reds have $0 to splash on a coach one would think, thanks to $700k running around Chippsy Wood and same again watching Netflix (cracking job). Adding in -'ve ticket revenue, tap must be dry. If this season goes "satisfactorily", BT's first, who are they going to replace him with?

The only chance of getting a "better" coach that the QRU could afford would be by taking a punt at someone else green; ITM head coach or Super Ruby assistant (assuming they want the job). Which given the assistants and mentoring they are surrounded by across the ditch they might not want to be surrounded by novices in their first stint a la BT.

I'm not saying BT is or isn't the man for the job, i don't see (m)any clear and better alternative.

 

[dru]

I'm not saying BT is or isn't the man for the job, i don't see (m)any clear and better alternative.

He's the bloke we have got. We need to get used to it. Of course this doesn't mean we can't use critical thinking to his appointment and decisions.

 

[Tomikin]

The only alternative I could see would be an up and coming ITM coach who would be more qualified. Brad's Queensland Country success is on par exp. wise (admittedly less time) than the QPR coaches.

The reds have $0 to splash on a coach one would think, thanks to $700k running around Chippsy Wood and same again watching Netflix (cracking job). Adding in -'ve ticket revenue, tap must be dry. If this season goes "satisfactorily", BT's first, who are they going to replace him with?

The only chance of getting a "better" coach that the QRU could afford would be by taking a punt at someone else green; ITM head coach or Super Ruby assistant (assuming they want the job). Which given the assistants and mentoring they are surrounded by across the ditch they might not want to be surrounded by novices in their first stint a la BT.

I'm not saying BT is or isn't the man for the job, i don't see (m)any clear and better alternative.

Brads doing awesome compared to the shit show that was Dick Graham (mini bus cos his half a coach).or the myth that was Nick Stiles..you know the guy who probably has the worst winning record of any coach..which is saying something if RG is in the Comp..Although his awesome at scrums

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[Jets]

I completely agree with Cooper not being selected, if we are getting that from Stewart every week; however prior to last week we were getting the Jono Lance shit show, if The Question is Lance or Cooper I think many would pick Cooper (particularly having seen Lance play for the last 5 games or so).

Also @Jets - Thorn isn't going anywhere he's got young(ish) kids, there is almost zero chance he's leaving Queensland. I recall him talking about it being taxing on his family with him just going on tour for the few weeks they were overseas for, I think that was hosing down talk of him going to New Zealand or perhaps international coaching involvement.

I'm not against signing him to a longer contract, I just think that if it happens it should be this time next year, not now. And it needs to be based on a bit more improvement in performance.

 

[Jets]

Brads doing awesome compared to the shit show that was Dick Graham (mini bus cos his half a coach).or the myth that was Nick Stiles..you know the guy who probably has the worst winning record of any coach..which is saying something if RG is in the Comp..Although his awesome at scrums

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Stiles has to be given some slack considering twice he had to take over from Graham after he royally screwed things up at the Force and the Reds.

Thorn is doing a better job than both of them but I'm still in the wait and see camp. Things went shit for the Reds when they got rid of McBain and we have had crap coaches ever since, with the exception of Link.

I actually think Thorn would have benefited with someone like Knuckles giving some advice but the QRU stuffed that up too.

 

[joeyjohnz]

Great to see the Reds win last weekend. Our scrummaging & mauling is becoming a real menace with one try a piece. On the other side of the coin our Lineout is probably one of the worst in the comp. Thor's try was off the back of our only line out win in the first half. Our tight 5 shows real promise, and perhaps Higginbotham's return can help cure our lineout woes. Does Scott-Young play 7?

Had a mate over for beers to watch the game, I remember turning to him at half time and said "that was one of the worst halves of rugby I've ever seen" (re:Lions), and he just burst out in laughter.
"3 penalties in the first 3 minutes gifts us a 5m lineout maul, then we score an intercept.
"Hamish Stewart was horrible; his core skills aren't there. Missed kicks at goal & touch and couldn't get the ball in front of our players. When he made that line break we were still laughing about how he'd just tried to throw George Smith under the bus with a hospital ball the phase before but the old fox is still too sneaky. "

After watching Stewart make most of his 13 tackles with some big hits in the 2nd half, and Toua's general ineptitude around the park; we found ourselves wishing Thorn would do the McKenzie dance and magically let Quade play 10 and Stewart at Fullback(in attack only). We'd have ourselves a pass-first orientated 2nd playmaker to utilise our speedy wingers and a beast defending in the front line. I'd never thought I'd say this about any player; but we're better off defensively with QC (Quade Cooper) over Toua.

As for the Reds this season - I honestly think this is another false dawn. We've built our 4 wins on the foundation of good defence. Whilst we've ambushed the Jaguares in a brilliant physical win in Argentina and beaten the dour brumbies, our other 2 wins are against two touring South African teams at home. Otherwise, when we're playing teams with any resemblance of a coherent attack we get pumped. We've lost 3/4 derbies for a combined total of 71 points(95 if you include the Chiefs) and our only win is against the Brumbies who look like they'll have a new coach in 2019.

I find it sad that we're paying QC (Quade Cooper) 600k a year to player-coach Souths for 6 hours a week when he could be sharing his wisdom and training ethic with a team chocka-block full of players 21years and younger.

 

[dru]

I find it sad that we're paying QC (Quade Cooper) 600k a year to player-coach Souths for 6 hours a week when he could be sharing his wisdom and training ethic with a team chocka-block full of players 21years and younger.

The Magpies are playing scintilating rugby. Creativity from 1 to 23. Enthusiasm that is simply contagious. Just gorgeous to watch. For me it is what rugby is meant to be, what we mean when we say it is the game they play in heaven.

 

[Linebreaker]

More & more heading OS, who remembers the "Ballymore Kid"? I heard there's no jobs here so he's off to NZ & ITM cup, good luck to him..

 

[Wilson]

More & more heading OS, who remembers the "Ballymore Kid"? I heard there's no jobs here so he's off to NZ & ITM cup, good luck to him..

Not too surprising, Laloifi never quite looked up to super rugby and has been surpassed by players like Perese and Daugunu, who've both showed better NRC and Super Rugby form then he ever did. Hopefully he's able to lift his game playing in the ITM cup but I always thought he was better suited to 7's

 

[Tomikin]

Yeah I don't think it was the best idea too throw Thone in.. It was here's the deep end hope you swim..

But than look who coaches other teams Dan Frigged McKellar has the Brumbies job..You know the job at one point Jake White moved country for..I just don't think the good coaches out there wanna coach us...

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[Zero_Cool]

Mmm, I'm not sure that potential coaches wouldn't have looked at the Reds and seen the potential in the Reds to be very good in the coming years. Something like 40% of all Aussie Super Rugby players come from/through Queensland. Even just looking at the current squad, so many players who aren't superstars (yet) but are doing a very good job for there age / experience.

 

[dru]

There are reasons for the Thorn appointment. Some of it was optimism, part cost, and of course Thorn wanted it.

In the 2-3 years preceding the number of "international hunts" were extrordinary - the decision was NOT made with a lack of understanding of interest in the job or the sort of people who might come forward.

And it's done. The results are sporadic but with at least two astounding results (Jaguares and Lions), plenty of promise, heaps of youngsters with possible big future. These things we should keep hold of and ride the rocky road.

Downsides have been sporadic clumsy management (limited trials with half the world at our feet, SA travel via London). Those things are poor and unnecessary but we hope one off. This and an apparant lack of rugby strategy nous. I doubt very much a Brisbane public will cope with defence only strategy for long. It''ll need to have more to offer next season.

Other history we need to let go includes the "ballsy decisions" when taking on the job, esp Quade. I'm having trouble with that and as far as I'm concerned it's something Thorn brought on himself. It's hard to go back to riding the rocky road when watching Souths each weekend. I'll get there sooner or later, for now I'm still bitter. It means Brad's smirking face in pressors following another fail - simply irritates.

<to self> Ride the rocky road. Live and move on.

 

[gel]

Mmm, I'm not sure that potential coaches wouldn't have looked at the Reds and seen the potential in the Reds to be very good in the coming years. Something like 40% of all Aussie Super Rugby players come from/through Queensland. Even just looking at the current squad, so many players who aren't superstars (yet) but are doing a very good job for there age / experience.

It's not the players/player depth that coaches would be looking at when thinking about coming to the reds.

It's the QRU.

You would have to be a complete novice, or a washed up neverwas to accept working for the QRU in a coaching role given their track record.

 

[Zero_Cool]

With the Waratahs failure against the Blues and the Rebels in disarray do we have a slight chance to top the Aussie Conference?

Looking forward we have 2 games against the Sunwolves, surely 8+ points. The Waratahs and Rebels at home, where we've been playing surprisingly well. While we have the Hurricanes and Highlanders the Blues might be a potential win too.

We could ultimately finish up on 33 points (Sunwolves x2 = 8, and two out of the three against the Blues, Waratahs and Rebels.) Would that be enough to win the honour of getting bounced by the Hurricanes (or even a home final?!)?

 

[dru]

With the Waratahs failure against the Blues and the Rebels in disarray do we have a slight chance to top the Aussie Conference?

Looking forward we have 2 games against the Sunwolves, surely 8+ points. The Waratahs and Rebels at home, where we've been playing surprisingly well. While we have the Hurricanes and Highlanders the Blues might be a potential win too.

We could ultimately finish up on 33 points (Sunwolves x2 = 8, and two out of the three against the Blues, Waratahs and Rebels.) Would that be enough to win the honour of getting bounced by the Hurricanes (or even a home final?!)?

No doubt that with the crazy Super schedule put on the Reds, they should do better coming home than we were going out.

 

[Zero_Cool]

No doubt that with the crazy Super schedule put on the Reds, they should do better coming home than we were going out.

Is there anything we can't blame the Comm Games for?!

 

[RedsHappy]

With the Waratahs failure against the Blues and the Rebels in disarray do we have a slight chance to top the Aussie Conference?

Looking forward we have 2 games against the Sunwolves, surely 8+ points. The Waratahs and Rebels at home, where we've been playing surprisingly well. While we have the Hurricanes and Highlanders the Blues might be a potential win too.

We could ultimately finish up on 33 points (Sunwolves x2 = 8, and two out of the three against the Blues, Waratahs and Rebels.) Would that be enough to win the honour of getting bounced by the Hurricanes (or even a home final?!)?

Certainly a rational possibility.

Like a cripple fight falling haphazardly through a jungle of despair. Tiny shards of light only propelling the quest forward.

 

[RedsHappy]

It's not the players/player depth that coaches would be looking at when thinking about coming to the reds.

It's the QRU.

You would have to be a complete novice, or a washed up neverwas to accept working for the QRU in a coaching role given their track record.

gel, this little bit of analysis below (buried inside news.com.au on April 29) spoke volumes where mere words may not suffice. Remarkably the lamentable figure of J Tucker used this data to prop up Brad Thorn's HC coaching credentials and wildly speculate that NZ rugby might be out to poach him away from the QRU.

But for the supposed second great State of rugby in Australia what it really shows if objectivity vs sloppy thinking is the master is that the QRU has an appalling history over 17 years no less of both HC selection and internal HC development:

First-year Reds coaches after 9 [Super] games

Name Win-Loss
Mark McBain (2001) ... 4-5
Andrew Slack (2003) ... 3-6
Jeff Miller (2004) ... 3-6
Eddie Jones (2007) ... 1-8
Phil Mooney (2008) ... 3-5 (plus 1 draw)
Ewen McKenzie (2010) ...6-3 [My edit: the sole HC starter year where Ws dominate Ls after 9 games]
Richard Graham (2014) ...3-6
Nick Stiles (2017) ... 2-7
Brad Thorn (2018) ... 4-5