Samoa coaching job

[Scubby]

Matt Parish's tactics at the 2017 World Cup seemed to be 'eat as many pies as you like and good luck out there!'

[Damien]

I know I commented on the previous page about not knowing how Parish seems untouchable as Samoa coach based upon his record but I do think the Johns brothers are completely out of order with what they are doing. I could understand this a little more if they had played for Samoa or shown strong links in the past but this smacks of opportunism with a World Cup coming up. Even SBW never turned out for Samoa and stuck with the Kiwis.

I do think that Parish is holding them back and needs to be replaced but are the Johns brothers and SBW going to stick around for years like Parish has done or will they jump ship at the first opportunity once the glory of a World Cup has gone? If Parish was replaced I'm fairly certain there would be better candidates than this trio too.

[The Rocket]

8 hours ago, nadera78 said:

Right, and three men who have never coached a team anywhere in the world are going to jump in and do a great job?

Yeah you are dead right there, it runs the risk of making our World Cup look like the play thing of a couple of chancers who want to have a bit of fun at the World Cup playing coach. If Samoa need a new coach, get a proper one, not a pair of show-boaters.

 

On 05/05/2021 at 06:36, Dunbar said:

Putting aside the way it is unfolding, Samoa could do worse that having Johns as coach, he is one of the finest tactical minds our sport has seen.

Oh, and Matthew could go along as well.

Week-in, week-out Andrew Johns is shown up on the channel 9 League coverage by Phil Gould. Love him or hate him Gould`s analysis of the game and his ability to dissect team tactics and plays leaves John`s in the dust who just trots out the same thing time after time, usually just repeating Gould, I don`t think the bloke has an original thought in his head. The last original thing the bloke did was the `banana` kick in Rugby League, and christ don`t we hear enough about that.

You can tell straight away when a coach opens his mouth whether he has the brains to be a top-line coach, doesn`t mean he will be, but you can usually tell if he won`t, John`s won`t, he`s a boofhead.

[Dunbar]

48 minutes ago, The Rocket said:

Week-in, week-out Andrew Johns is shown up on the channel 9 League coverage by Phil Gould. Love him or hate him Gould`s analysis of the game and his ability to dissect team tactics and plays leaves John`s in the dust who just trots out the same thing time after time, usually just repeating Gould, I don`t think the bloke has an original thought in his head. The last original thing the bloke did was the `banana` kick in Rugby League, and christ don`t we hear enough about that.

You can tell straight away when a coach opens his mouth whether he has the brains to be a top-line coach, doesn`t mean he will be, but you can usually tell if he won`t, John`s won`t, he`s a boofhead.

To be honest I was only really saying it to make fun of his brother. 

[B rad]

A Johns and SBW chatting about it.

 

 

[langpark]

This is so bittersweet. International finally getting some solid (prime-time) air time. But unfortunately, it has come in the way of campaigning for the Johns boys. 5 minutes worth of it, including the part where Andrew says he and his brother are not willing to work with the current coach. Really below the belt.

I doubt either one has even been to Samoa even for a holiday. Their first contact with the nation seems to be this coup-like campaign they are running, which sadly seems to have the media's (Channel 9 and Fox) full blessing. 

[Tex Evans Thigh]

Parish needs to go, he’s awful and the players don’t want him. If he had any self respect he’d walk. 
 

As for the others, it’s disrespectful and they should keep their mouths shut. I doubt they’re the answer. John’s was an amazing player but talks , if he was any good at coaching someone would have taken him permanently rather than letting him do 5 minutes on the side with young halves 

[UTK]

When I commented on this topic in another thread the other week I must admit I was assuming that the Johns brothers were intending to come into the fray as assistants for Samoa, rather than taking the head coaching mantle as now appears to be the case. In that context, the way this has come about does appear on the surface to be quite inappropriate, however as already stated in the thread complaints about Parish from both performance and player perspectives are well-established. 

Would a Joey/Matty/SBW coaching lineup be the silver bullet for Samoa's success? Perhaps a stretch to make that call as of yet, none of the above have had head coaching roles in the past however suggestions they aren't coaches in any capacity are fairly unfounded. Joey has pretty constantly held assistant coaching roles since retirement in both NRL clubs and NSW representative teams. Matty is generally referred to as having the better footballing brain of the two and has done similar specialist roles in the past. SBW would likely fulfill a role relating moreso to standards or professionalism/leadership within the side as he was lauded for during his time at the Roosters whilst also being a major draw for young Samoan talent in general. Does this accumulate to a top-tier coaching setup - I would suggest probably not, I feel they would definitely need further input from more experienced head coaches to make that leap. Though with their stature and connections within the game there's nothing to say they won't have access to those appropriate voices.

All in all as long as this situation is resolved appropriately long before the WC occurs I think this saga can only have positive impacts. It is good to have two of the biggest media personalities within the game openly state that the balance with respect to representative football is currently incorrect in the sense that Internationals should be held in esteem as the pinnacle of the game opposed to the current origin-centric outlook. 

[Scubby]

2 hours ago, UTK said:

When I commented on this topic in another thread the other week I must admit I was assuming that the Johns brothers were intending to come into the fray as assistants for Samoa, rather than taking the head coaching mantle as now appears to be the case. In that context, the way this has come about does appear on the surface to be quite inappropriate, however as already stated in the thread complaints about Parish from both performance and player perspectives are well-established. 

Would a Joey/Matty/SBW coaching lineup be the silver bullet for Samoa's success? Perhaps a stretch to make that call as of yet, none of the above have had head coaching roles in the past however suggestions they aren't coaches in any capacity are fairly unfounded. Joey has pretty constantly held assistant coaching roles since retirement in both NRL clubs and NSW representative teams. Matty is generally referred to as having the better footballing brain of the two and has done similar specialist roles in the past. SBW would likely fulfill a role relating moreso to standards or professionalism/leadership within the side as he was lauded for during his time at the Roosters whilst also being a major draw for young Samoan talent in general. Does this accumulate to a top-tier coaching setup - I would suggest probably not, I feel they would definitely need further input from more experienced head coaches to make that leap. Though with their stature and connections within the game there's nothing to say they won't have access to those appropriate voices.

All in all as long as this situation is resolved appropriately long before the WC occurs I think this saga can only have positive impacts. It is good to have two of the biggest media personalities within the game openly state that the balance with respect to representative football is currently incorrect in the sense that Internationals should be held in esteem as the pinnacle of the game opposed to the current origin-centric outlook. 

Andrew Johns said on C9 that he wants the current coach gone if he was to come in. It is on the Nine Network facebook page from a few days ago with Samoa in the post title.

[The Rocket]

2 hours ago, UTK said:

Matty is generally referred to as having the better footballing brain of the two and has done similar specialist roles in the past.

This whole notion of Mathew having the `brains` is a sop to him that goes back to the days of him living in the shadow of his brother and Andrew making statements like ` oh he`s the one with the brains I just play football`, in the idiotic world of Rugby League coverage that myth has now taken hold to the point it has become fact. 

As for the `Islamic Holy man` that is Sonny Bill Williams I think you will find that Sonny is a bit of a sheep, if only the Christian clerics dressed a bit cooler and where a bit more exotic (and didn`t have such a bad reputation due to ongoing scandals) he would probably be dressing up as one of them instead and professing his undying faith to one of their creeds, unfortunately they are just not exotic enough. The thing I don`t understand for a bloke who makes such a fuss about his Islander heritage is what`s wrong with the religions that served those or his people for thousands of years.

Any way as Oscar Wilde once said " the only thing worse than being talked about, is not being talked about ", so they have certainly achieved that.

[UTK]

5 hours ago, Scubby said:

Andrew Johns said on C9 that he wants the current coach gone if he was to come in. It is on the Nine Network facebook page from a few days ago with Samoa in the post title.

Yeah that was quite a quick and staggering answer he gave to that question and indeed the correspondence with SBW in that interview makes the whole thing seem much more like a half-baked idea rather than one concocted with the support of Samoa's playing group. 

5 hours ago, The Rocket said:

This whole notion of Mathew having the `brains` is a sop to him that goes back to the days of him living in the shadow of his brother and Andrew making statements like ` oh he`s the one with the brains I just play football`, in the idiotic world of Rugby League coverage that myth has now taken hold to the point it has become fact. 

As for the `Islamic Holy man` that is Sonny Bill Williams I think you will find that Sonny is a bit of a sheep, if only the Christian clerics dressed a bit cooler and where a bit more exotic (and didn`t have such a bad reputation due to ongoing scandals) he would probably be dressing up as one of them instead and professing his undying faith to one of their creeds, unfortunately they are just not exotic enough. The thing I don`t understand for a bloke who makes such a fuss about his Islander heritage is what`s wrong with the religions that served those or his people for thousands of years.

Any way as Oscar Wilde once said " the only thing worse than being talked about, is not being talked about ", so they have certainly achieved that.

That's all well and good to have that contention about his beliefs and you may well be right, but it also couldn't be less relevant to his ability to impact a team of rugby league players who share his heritage. For all his 'faults' across his career he is well renowned as the ultimate professional and is probably the most successful rugby league player of Samoan descent of all time. He doesn't give off the vibe of someone who would aspire to be a head coach but i've no doubt he would add value to a camp that has been previously criticised as having poor standards of professionalism.

In any case with the support of Samoa's board for Parish reaffirmed it appears this won't go too much further and hopefully Samoa's results can turn around of their own accord.

[The Frying Scotsman]

17 hours ago, Tex Evans Thigh said:

Parish needs to go, he’s awful and the players don’t want him. If he had any self respect he’d walk. 
 

I always smile when people say "he'd walk" or "he should walk"

The guy is in a professional coaching job. He probably believes he is doing it to the best of his ability.  He is paid by Samoa RL to do that job. If they want to remove him, they should do so. Why on earth would he walk away from it? 

Edited May 7, 2021 by The Frying Scotsman

[The Rocket]

51 minutes ago, UTK said:

That's all well and good to have that contention about his beliefs and you may well be right, but it also couldn't be less relevant to his ability to impact a team of rugby league players who share his heritage. For all his 'faults' across his career he is well renowned as the ultimate professional and is probably the most successful rugby league player of Samoan descent of all time. He doesn't give off the vibe of someone who would aspire to be a head coach but i've no doubt he would add value to a camp that has been previously criticised as having poor standards of professionalism.

I agree they are certainly valid points and it`s hard to imagine the Samoan team being worse for his involvement.

[The Frying Scotsman]

Andrew John's comes across really badly in his interview with Thurston and SBW on Nine. 

Samoa has a coach in place, and it shows a real lack of class to be talking the way he is. 

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

On 06/05/2021 at 15:37, B rad said:

A Johns and SBW chatting about it.

 

 

What coaching experience does either Johns brother or SBW have? Seems bizarre they’re throwing their hat in the ring for an International coaching job that isn’t even a vacant position.

[langpark]

7 hours ago, UTK said:

Yeah that was quite a quick and staggering answer he gave to that question and indeed the correspondence with SBW in that interview makes the whole thing seem much more like a half-baked idea rather than one concocted with the support of Samoa's playing group.

This!

From the very beginning, it felt to me like he made a throwaway comment on his show, that then escalated into something bigger, then eventually blew up like it did.  There seem to be no shortage of people around him that seem to want to inflate his ego, which hasn't helped matters either.

It reminds me of when you get on the beer with your mates, talk nonsense with each other, throw around crazy ideas etc. then the next day it's all forgotten.  Only this time, it wasn't forgotten and they are still persisting with it.

[Tex Evans Thigh]

13 hours ago, The Frying Scotsman said:

I always smile when people say "he'd walk" or "he should walk"

The guy is in a professional coaching job. He probably believes he is doing it to the best of his ability.  He is paid by Samoa RL to do that job. If they want to remove him, they should do so. Why on earth would he walk away from it? 

If I was coaching a team and all my players wrote a letter saying they didn’t want me to coach them I’d walk away. The fact he’s staying there for the money is depressing on many levels. Glad it makes you smile 

[The Frying Scotsman]

5 hours ago, Tex Evans Thigh said:

If I was coaching a team and all my players wrote a letter saying they didn’t want me to coach them I’d walk away. The fact he’s staying there for the money is depressing on many levels. Glad it makes you smile 

He probably has a mortgage to pay/family to look after.

It is up to his employer to manage the situation. This "walk away" notion is fantasy stuff. Even the classic football manager "mutual consent" is polite-speak for sacked. To be clear - it is your naivety that makes me smile, not the situation with Samoa. 

[Tex Evans Thigh]

10 hours ago, The Frying Scotsman said:

He probably has a mortgage to pay/family to look after.

It is up to his employer to manage the situation. This "walk away" notion is fantasy stuff. Even the classic football manager "mutual consent" is polite-speak for sacked. To be clear - it is your naivety that makes me smile, not the situation with Samoa. 

You call me naive but think that no one has ever resigned from a job. Outstanding. 

[The Frying Scotsman]

3 hours ago, Tex Evans Thigh said:

You call me naive but think that no one has ever resigned from a job. Outstanding. 

Where did I say that? 

From professional coaching jobs in team sports, resignations are incredibly rare. 

[Tex Evans Thigh]

On 08/05/2021 at 23:47, The Frying Scotsman said:

Where did I say that? 

From professional coaching jobs in team sports, resignations are incredibly rare. 

Let me frame it another way. If i got paid to coach a team, and my players wrote a letter to the owner saying they wanted rid (also rare), I’d leave in a second. Someone hanging around after that is deluded and narcissistic. Doesn’t surprise me given Parish’s personality.

Edited June 1, 2021 by Tex Evans Thigh

[Scubby]

I don't care whether the Johns brothers are involved or not. They just need to replace Parish - he is a joke. For years they have been underprepared, clueless and losing games they should have won comfortably. 

[ghost crayfish]

No idea if the Johns brothers/SBW idea would work or not, but I do think Parish should definitely be replaced by someone. He's been poor.

[langpark]

5 hours ago, Scubby said:

I don't care whether the Johns brothers are involved or not. They just need to replace Parish - he is a joke. For years they have been underprepared, clueless and losing games they should have won comfortably. 

Which games specifically? 

[graveyard johnny]

wouldn't sam moa be the ideal person to coach them? just saying like.