The Hickey Must go thread

[rugbysmartarse]

There'll be another ingredient in the mix next year as Wisemantel's off. I rate Foley, there'd be few better pigs' coaches going around, maybe the addition of another skills/backs coach could make this coaching team.

Without doing my own research, did muggles replace wisemantle? If so, this is an excellent point.

 

[Hawko]

Without doing my own research, did muggles replace wisemantle? If so, this is an excellent point.

Scotty Bowen replaced our former backs coach. Muggleton was an extra and you'd have to say he looks like the buy of the year.

Hickey is TOTALLY pissing me off with his refusal to sub injured players but for the rest I think he's done well. He seems to be coaching in the "general manager" style, leaving the assistants to do their jobs. Its working exceptionally well so far.

 

[waratahjesus]

Scotty Bowen replaced our former backs coach. Muggleton was an extra and you'd have to say he looks like the buy of the year.

Hickey is TOTALLY pissing me off with his refusal to sub injured players but for the rest I think he's done well. He seems to be coaching in the "general manager" style, leaving the assistants to do their jobs. Its working exceptionally well so far.

with all due respect to the "refuse to sub" bandwagon that is totally ignoring the fact that hickey has fast become the best coach in australia right now. when TPN went down last night, the training called to the sideline then TPN got up and waved it off and shook his head. If hickey was waiting to be informed if he was alright or not, Taft made that decision for him.

if your going to argue subs need to come on earlier, then perhaps, but you would also have to argue after two games witht he result in the bag hickey may want to get metres in the legs of his starting players for the saders match as he probably would have against the rebels in building for a closer match with the reds.

he is doing a really good job, he reinvented the team half way through last year and has built on it over the off season and built a team capable of being a real threat to the competition, i really dont see how you offer much aginst him at all right now.

 

[matty_k]

I do hope that the last couple of years were all apart of Hickey's grand plan.

Spend two years on making sure that the team can defend the shit out of every game and then in the third year when that is all second nature I'll let the backs have some fun.

 

[waratahjesus]

I do hope that the last couple of years were all apart of Hickey's grand plan.

Spend two years on making sure that the team can defend the shit out of every game and then in the third year when that is all second nature I'll let the backs have some fun.

last year, the combinations of the backs didnt work, i thought the team came good when he got them right and played some fantastic rugby. but the forwards have always been going forward apart from against 2 or 3 teams and i feel that may have been addressed this off season. as someone that laughed when he got the job, he has certainly grown into it.

 

[Hawko]

with all due respect to the "refuse to sub" bandwagon that is totally ignoring the fact that hickey has fast become the best coach in australia right now. when TPN went down last night, the training called to the sideline then TPN got up and waved it off and shook his head. If hickey was waiting to be informed if he was alright or not, Taft made that decision for him.

if your going to argue subs need to come on earlier, then perhaps, but you would also have to argue after two games witht he result in the bag hickey may want to get metres in the legs of his starting players for the saders match as he probably would have against the rebels in building for a closer match with the reds.

he is doing a really good job, he reinvented the team half way through last year and has built on it over the off season and built a team capable of being a real threat to the competition, i really dont see how you offer much aginst him at all right now.

WJ,

You may not have seen the tape yet but at one stage, after TPN had gone down with a bad shoulder for the third time, Lawrence (that's right Dumbo Bryce) said to Sharon Flahive that TPN had to be substituted (his words I think "he has to go off"). As team medical person, Flahive shouldn't have to be told by the ref that an injured player has to be subbed. It was a very poor look from a safety point of view, especially as the match was virtually over at least 10 minutes before. It continued a trend of "playing injured" from last year.

This issue aside, I am very happy with how the team is going and the head coach has to get full credit for that.

 

[waratahjesus]

WJ,

You may not have seen the tape yet but at one stage, after TPN had gone down with a bad shoulder for the third time, Lawrence (that's right Dumbo Bryce) said to Sharon Flahive that TPN had to be substituted (his words I think "he has to go off"). As team medical person, Flahive shouldn't have to be told by the ref that an injured player has to be subbed. It was a very poor look from a safety point of view, especially as the match was virtually over at least 10 minutes before. It continued a trend of "playing injured" from last year.

This issue aside, I am very happy with how the team is going and the head coach has to get full credit for that.

i was at the game, havnt watched it, why didnt TPN go down and stay down to be subbed? not sure if its the same incident, but if a player is injured he takes a knee and recieves treatment, by getting back up TPN is saying he is fine. mayeb TPN needs an intervention?

 

[qwerty51]

TPN has too much pride to go off. How can you not like this man... gives it his all till his body can't take any more, the most uncompromising player in the rugby atm.

 

[Bowside]

I hate to be sinister but it could also have been a ploy to slow the game down. He was going down at nearly every stoppage, giving his team a rest from all that brutal defensive work.

 

[cyclopath]

TPN has too much pride to go off. How can you not like this man... gives it his all till his body can't take any more, the most uncompromising player in the rugby atm.

Yeah, it's all very admirable that he tries to be The Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but the Tahs need him ALL season, then the Wallabies need him too. TPN, and his coaches, need to manage him better and not let him get to the point of "having" to be subbed, especially when the game is mostly won. Managing the bench, and a squad for a whole season is part of the brief. Medical staff need to be pro-active also.

 

[I like to watch]

I hate to be sinister but it could also have been a ploy to slow the game down. He was going down at nearly every stoppage, giving his team a rest from all that brutal defensive work.

It looked to me that the Reds were keener for a breather than the Tahs all night. think that's a long bow you are drawing.

 

[chriss555]

Yeah, it's all very admirable that he tries to be The Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but the Tahs need him ALL season, then the Wallabies need him too. TPN, and his coaches, need to manage him better and not let him get to the point of "having" to be subbed, especially when the game is mostly won. Managing the bench, and a squad for a whole season is part of the brief. Medical staff need to be pro-active also.

Yeah Cyclopath you are right on the money.

 

[waratahjesus]

i will give a shit about the wallabies whent he international season rolls round, until then, this is the waratahs time to be the centre of attention and players should be sacrificing themselves for blue not gold.

 

[Richo]

Who cares if he thought he should keep playing? The man is a warrior, but both games this season were won when he went down hurt.

 

[cyclopath]

i will give a shit about the wallabies whent he international season rolls round, until then, this is the waratahs time to be the centre of attention and players should be sacrificing themselves for blue not gold.

Within reason, WJ. Not suggesting player rotation / management a la ABs 2007, but...if we have the game pretty much won, why allow TPN (who has a track record of NOT being the best judge of when to rein it in and look after his body) continue and potentially end up stuffed? That isn't a sacrifice we need to see. Whether through blue, or gold, eyes.

 

[Bradley]

There is no way Flahive would have allowed him to stay on the field if he was injured. The Tah's longest serving staffer is a treasure and has the players' interests before anyone else.

 

[Cutter]

There is no way Flahive would have allowed him to stay on the field if he was injured. The Tah's longest serving staffer is a treasure and has the players' interests before anyone else.

Agree entirely with that.

 

[Hawko]

There is no way Flahive would have allowed him to stay on the field if he was injured. The Tah's longest serving staffer is a treasure and has the players' interests before anyone else.

Watch the game again, taped if possible, as Fox will edit out the injuries for their replay. I know she's a treasure, but she spent the best part of 20 minutes working on him at every stoppage.

 

[Bruce Ross]

There is no way Flahive would have allowed him to stay on the field if he was injured. The Tah's longest serving staffer is a treasure and has the players' interests before anyone else.

Watch the game again, taped if possible, as Fox will edit out the injuries for their replay. I know she's a treasure, but she spent the best part of 20 minutes working on him at every stoppage.

So unless Palota-Nau was feigning injury as someone absurdly suggested above,"going down at nearly every stoppage, giving his team a rest from all that brutal defensive work," he was injured; and neither the "longest serving ... treasure" nor the referee, "he has to go off", could persuade him to leave the field.

There was just one man who could have instantly removed him, which gets us back to Hawko's original point:

Hickey is TOTALLY pissing me off with his refusal to sub injured players.

 

[Lee Grant]

I have to agree with the castigation of Hickey in regards to TPN.

It happened last year too. TPN was struggling along with some injury in the Cheetahs game (IIRR); the game was well won yet he kept him on the park. Fitzpatrick has shown that he is a good enough bench hooker and I expect him to end up being a lot more than that; so why not use him more?

Incidentally, I am strongly in favour of referees insisting that players leave the field in their best interests. In November Ashton was obviously concussed playing against the Boks (IIRR)) yet the England medicos kept him out there and even gained time for him to recover by "accidentally" leaving their medical bag on the park and having to come back to get it.

The knee jerk reaction would be that a referee is not medically qualified; so how can he decide? The answer is that he should be able to decide on the side of caution since team doctors err on the side of keeping players on the park. Ashton stayed on and had a shocker - the only one of the year probably.