Agar linked to Cronulla Sharks

[Hela Wigmen]

Craig Fitzgibbon wants Agar on his coaching staff at the Sharks. They were at Hull FC together and have remained quite friendly. 

[Man of Kent]

Yeah yeah. April 1 was the month before last. 

[M j M]

This one has legs by all accounts. 

[Manfred Mann]

What could Craig Fitzgibbon be thinking?

[Cheshire Setter]

Agar is popular with the players and respected for his individual technical coaching skills.   If his calling isn’t as a head coach maybe that’s where his future lies. Hope it works out for him, as he seems a nice guy.

[M j M]

Every player I've seen comment on Agar has been hugely positive. His reputation in the game is very high indeed.

[The Rocket]

1 hour ago, Manfred Mann said:

What could Craig Fitzgibbon be thinking?

I`m not so sure Craig Fitzgibbon does a lot of thinking. I saw an interview with him when he got the Cronulla job and he struck me as awfully vague.

I`m starting to suspect that great coaches, Robinson, Bellamy and Bennett, three recent examples, must share characteristics with `great` dictators, in that they like to surround themselves with yes men or assistants that don`t threaten their position at the top.

If I remember correctly Adam O`Brien when he left Roibinson`s staff was going to be the next big thing in coaching, likewise Kearney out of Storm.

[Manfred Mann]

3 hours ago, The Rocket said:

I`m not so sure Craig Fitzgibbon does a lot of thinking. I saw an interview with him when he got the Cronulla job and he struck me as awfully vague.

I`m starting to suspect that great coaches, Robinson, Bellamy and Bennett, three recent examples, must share characteristics with `great` dictators, in that they like to surround themselves with yes men or assistants that don`t threaten their position at the top.

If I remember correctly Adam O`Brien when he left Roibinson`s staff was going to be the next big thing in coaching, likewise Kearney out of Storm.

Paul Green was an assistant to Trent Robinson, and left to become coach of North Queensland and NRL Grand Final winner in 2015. Green is now Queensland State of Origin coach. Justin Holbrook was an assistant to Robinson at the Roosters. But he left to become very successful at St Helens, winning Grand Finals, and quite successful at the Titans. From what I have seen of Trent Robinson in public, I can’t imagine this very intelligent and caring man ever being an insecure employer of incompetent sycophants.

There are Bellamy assistants who have been successful, most notably Michael Mcguire who won the 2010 Grand Final in his first year at Wigan, and was named Coach of the Year in the Man of Steel awards of 2010, and the next year won the Challenge Cup final over Leeds. In 2013 Mcguire began his position as coach of South Sydney, making the top four in that year, and the following year won the 2014 NRL Grand Final at South Sydney. He is now coach of West’s Tigers and New Zealand.

 

[Davo5]

1 hour ago, The Rocket said:

I`m not so sure Craig Fitzgibbon does a lot of thinking. I saw an interview with him when he got the Cronulla job and he struck me as awfully vague.

I`m starting to suspect that great coaches, Robinson, Bellamy and Bennett, three recent examples, must share characteristics with `great` dictators, in that they like to surround themselves with yes men or assistants that don`t threaten their position at the top.

If I remember correctly Adam O`Brien when he left Roibinson`s staff was going to be the next big thing in coaching, likewise Kearney out of Storm.

Didn’t Kearney coach NZ to World Cup success and wasn’t McGuire an assistant to Bellamy before winning Superleague & NRL grand finals ?

[The Rocket]

2 hours ago, Manfred Mann said:

Paul Green was an assistant to Trent Robinson, and left to become coach of North Queensland and NRL Grand Final winner in 2015. Green is now Queensland State of Origin coach. Justin Holbrook was an assistant to Robinson at the Roosters. But he left to become very successful at St Helens, winning Grand Finals, and quite successful at the Titans. From what I have seen of Trent Robinson in public, I can’t imagine this very intelligent and caring man ever being an insecure employer of incompetent sycophants.

There are Bellamy assistants who have been successful, most notably Michael Mcguire who won the 2010 Grand Final in his first year at Wigan, and was named Coach of the Year in the Man of Steel awards of 2010, and the next year won the Challenge Cup final over Leeds. In 2013 Mcguire began his position as coach of South Sydney, making the top four in that year, and the following year won the 2014 NRL Grand Final at South Sydney. He is now coach of West’s Tigers and New Zealand.

 

 

2 hours ago, Davo5 said:

Didn’t Kearney coach NZ to World Cup success and wasn’t McGuire an assistant to Bellamy before winning Superleague & NRL grand finals ?

You`re going to love this but I don`t place a lot of weight on winning the Super League or any thing over here, there ain`t a lot of competition. Some pretty average coaches, you might even say duds, have left Oz and had success in England.  But yes McGuire did win a GF over here, fair enough, been a bit patchy since but I like his manner so we`ll have to see with him as well.

Green likewise, and I think he`s got the smarts to be good coach, early days for him.

Holbrook, very early days for him, that team of his doesn`t seem to have a lot of grit though, we`ll have to wait and see.

Kearney, had Bennett as his assistant at the WC and his record since has been abominable. Was it one win in two years a Parra.

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

Richard Agar is a top coach, he’s done a top job steering Leeds through the transition period following the retirement of the golden generation, lifting the Challenge Cup in 2020, despite suffering a major injury crisis that year, which struck again at the start of the 2021 season. He has some critics, but all players and other coaching staff rate him very highly as a coach, I think they should know more than a few armchair supporters with a chip on their shoulder. 

[Saint Toppy]

10 hours ago, Hela Wigmen said:

Craig Fitzgibbon wants Agar on his coaching staff at the Sharks. They were at Hull FC together and have remained quite friendly. 

Its about time we started shipping our trash to the NRL instead of SL constantly taking it from the NRL 

[Harry Stottle]

8 hours ago, M j M said:

Every player I've seen comment on Agar has been hugely positive. His reputation in the game is very high indeed.

It is not Agars fault if Sinfield and co have given him a below average squad.

[Saint Toppy]

47 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

It is not Agars fault if Sinfield and co have given him a below average squad.

Good coaches can turn an average squad into a good team - just look at what Watson did at Salford because on paper they had one of the weakest squads in the whole of SL. Powell did similar at Cas a few years back, and neither of these had anywhere near the level of funding & resources that Agar has at Leeds.

[Davo5]

5 hours ago, The Rocket said:

 

You`re going to love this but I don`t place a lot of weight on winning the Super League or any thing over here, there ain`t a lot of competition. Some pretty average coaches, you might even say duds, have left Oz and had success in England.  But yes McGuire did win a GF over here, fair enough, been a bit patchy since but I like his manner so we`ll have to see with him as well.

Green likewise, and I think he`s got the smarts to be good coach, early days for him.

Holbrook, very early days for him, that team of his doesn`t seem to have a lot of grit though, we`ll have to wait and see.

Kearney, had Bennett as his assistant at the WC and his record since has been abominable. Was it one win in two years a Parra.

So your theory about the great coaches employing useless yes men is deeply flawed and that’s not even mentioning that Bellamy was once Bennett’s assistant and your opinion on success in Superleague is just a typical arrogant Aussie reply.

[Davo5]

7 minutes ago, Saint Toppy said:

Good coaches can turn an average squad into a good team - just look at what Watson did at Salford because on paper they had one of the weakest squads in the whole of SL. Powell did similar at Cas a few years back, and neither of these had anywhere near the level of funding & resources that Agar has at Leeds.

Unlike Agar none of them won anything though.

If he stays at Leeds it will be interesting to see how he goes without Sinfield calling the shots.

[M j M]

Some of Agar's coaching this season has been excellent. That game plan which almost beat Saints in the cup with a team on paper that should have lost by 50 was outstanding. Likewise Wigan in the cup last year.

There have been some poorer performances but the more I watch and listen to him the more I can see why he is so highly rated within Rugby League.

[redjonn]

4 hours ago, Saint Toppy said:

Good coaches can turn an average squad into a good team - just look at what Watson did at Salford because on paper they had one of the weakest squads in the whole of SL. Powell did similar at Cas a few years back, and neither of these had anywhere near the level of funding & resources that Agar has at Leeds.

Does that mean that the other coaches who's teams finished below Salford/Cas or didn't do so well in CC are poor given their squads were better on paper.  Just checking the logic.

[M j M]

Duplic 

[M j M]

6 minutes ago, redjonn said:

Does that mean that the other coaches who's teams finished below Salford/Cas or didn't do so well in CC are poor given their squads were better on paper.  Just checking the logic.

There is no logic. Just white noise.

[Sports Prophet]

10 hours ago, The Rocket said:

 

You`re going to love this but I don`t place a lot of weight on winning the Super League...

Oh dear @The Rocket, that will not endear you to the forum

Although, now I think about it... Nathan Brown won silverware in the UK as head coach didn’t he? And Ian Millward too didn’t he?

[Sports Prophet]

Looking forward to having him at the Sharks.

[Saint Toppy]

19 minutes ago, redjonn said:

Does that mean that the other coaches who's teams finished below Salford/Cas or didn't do so well in CC are poor given their squads were better on paper.  Just checking the logic.

In essence yes - Leeds have a wealthy owner, the biggest turnover in SL, probably the largest catchment area for attracting players. They're effectively the Chelsea or the Man City of SL who with their resources should be consistently at the top year after year. Not just their first team, their junior teams should also be consistently up there as title contenders year after year as there's no limit on what they can invest in at that level, but they're not. For many years those competitions like the U19's has been largely dominated by Wigan & Saints, and it follows that for the most part these are the clubs who have also been consistently at or near the top of SL, consistently bringing through their own youngsters into the 1st team to replace those who leave.

Its been a long time since Leeds 'golden generation' and save for 1 or 2 players their production line of young players has dried up.

This isn't all down to the head coach Agar, there seems to be something fundamentally wrong with the whole coaching set-up at Leeds. With what they have available they should be consistently more successful from 1st team through to the junior teams and the conveyor belt of player production.  

[redjonn]

Just now, Saint Toppy said:

In essence yes - Leeds have a wealthy owner, the biggest turnover in SL, probably the largest catchment area for attracting players. They're effectively the Chelsea or the Man City of SL who with their resources should be consistently at the top year after year. Not just their first team, their junior teams should also be consistently up there as title contenders year after year as there's no limit on what they can invest in at that level, but they're not. For many years those competitions like the U19's has been largely dominated by Wigan & Saints, and it follows that for the most part these are the clubs who have also been consistently at or near the top of SL, consistently bringing through their own youngsters into the 1st team to replace those who leave.

Its been a long time since Leeds 'golden generation' and save for 1 or 2 players their production line of young players has dried up.

This isn't all down to the head coach Agar, there seems to be something fundamentally wrong with the whole coaching set-up at Leeds. With what they have available they should be consistently more successful from 1st team through to the junior teams and the conveyor belt of player production.  

I wasn't being specific to Leeds but all the teams coaches that finished below Salford or in CC... just that logic would suggest if a good coach gets a poor team higher than another coach with a better team on paper then they are poor coaches.  Anyway that's how I read the your the logic that must follow all be it in the opposite direction.

and all be it I was being tongue in cheek but it surely follows the logic in the first place...

[Saint Toppy]

1 minute ago, redjonn said:

I wasn't being specific to Leeds but all the teams coaches that finished below Salford or in CC... just that logic would suggest if a good coach gets a poor team higher than another coach with a better team on paper then they are poor coaches.  Anyway that's how I read the your the logic that must follow all be it in the opposite direction.

and all be it I was being tongue in cheek but it surely follows the logic in the first place...

The point I was making was that very few of those other clubs have the money or resources that Leeds do. Having what they have there must be something wrong at the club if they're consistently struggling to challenge for the title most years.