Ian Watson turning things round at Huddersfield

[The Daddy]

Done a fantastic job at Salford now you can clearly see his positive impact at Huddersfield. They look a much more resilient outfit. 

It's no accident, this bloke is doing something right. 

Can we expect to see a top club come in for him, maybe Leeds? 

[Jughead]

If he gets Huddersfield to a cup final after two final appearances at also unfancied Salford, he’ll be favourite for many top jobs that appear. 

[Scubby]

7 minutes ago, The Daddy said:

Done a fantastic job at Salford now you can clearly see his positive impact at Huddersfield. They look a much more resilient outfit. 

It's no accident, this bloke is doing something right. 

Can we expect to see a top club come in for him, maybe Leeds? 

He is just fine where he is.

Huddersfield need to ensure they are paying him well and giving him free reign to build up the club. If they do they will enjoy a very successful next few years.

After that he gets the pick of any job going.

[WN83]

Whilst Davy is around he can do something special with Huddersfield. There is no reason why they can’t become that 5th club to win a Grand Final. They might not be quite ready yet but they’ve got a top coach, a really good playing group and a good academy to call on. If they keep building under him and keep signing the players they need, in the areas that need more quality they could be a real shout. 

[Saint Toppy]

11 minutes ago, The Daddy said:

Can we expect to see a top club come in for him, maybe Leeds? 

Why would Hudds even contemplate releasing him from his contract to join a rival SL club ?

and probably more importantly why would he even want to go there ? He's under contract at Hudds and is slowly building a decent team there. Leeds aren't that much of a draw to tempt him away from what he's got and is doing at Hudds.

Never mind Rhino's i'm sure Powell will become free by the end of the year 

[Damien]

I've always liked Watson, he's a top coach whose side play good rugby. He seems like a great communicator who comes across really well on TV too.

[Agbrigg]

Well lets see what he can do against Leeds. The bookies have it evens. If Hiddersfield are to kick on and build a really top team this is a game they should be winning.

[Southerner]

32 minutes ago, The Daddy said:

Done a fantastic job at Salford now you can clearly see his positive impact at Huddersfield. They look a much more resilient outfit. 

It's no accident, this bloke is doing something right. 

Can we expect to see a top club come in for him, maybe Leeds? 

Future England coach the way he’s going. 

[paulwalker71]

I don't understand why people think that he would want to go to Leeds

If he went there he'd have Hetherington trying to keep his fingers in the pie. as well as an entitled, ungrateful fanbase who would be all over him if the team didn't immediately start winning trophies.

He's better off staying where he is. As people have said, a good owner, excellent Academy, great facilities - the only thing lacking right now is the fanbase.

The only job that would be a significant step up right now would be St Helens, and possibly Wigan. Unless either of those two jobs became free, he's better where he is.

[Jughead]

I think most Saints fans are probably expecting Woolf to leave at the end of the year if an NRL job comes up. He was linked briefly with Wests before they decided to keep Maguire on last year and there was a rumour a month or so ago with Woolf taking the Dolphins assistant job under Wayne Bennett. 

Whether Saints would go Australian again, would go for Watson or employ from in Wellens within, is unknown should this happen.

[ATLANTISMAN]

I think Chris Hill was an excellent signing i can see why he went for a 2 year contract to prob finish off his playing days however do Warrington miss him IMHO a major mistake letting him go.

 

Paul

[The Daddy]

2 hours ago, Southerner said:

Future England coach the way he’s going. 

Or Wales 

[WN83]

2 hours ago, Jughead said:

I think most Saints fans are probably expecting Woolf to leave at the end of the year if an NRL job comes up. He was linked briefly with Wests before they decided to keep Maguire on last year and there was a rumour a month or so ago with Woolf taking the Dolphins assistant job under Wayne Bennett. 

Whether Saints would go Australian again, would go for Watson or employ from in Wellens within, is unknown should this happen.

Saints next coach will be an intriguing decision. The job Woolf has done has been pretty incredible, especially the last 12-18 months. I thought some cracks were appearing in the first 12 months and Saints had gone a bit backwards from under Holbrook but last season and this season have just blown that out of the water. He’s changed how they play a bit and made them nigh on impossible to beat at the level we find ourselves at in this country. How he keeps them so motivated to compete for every inch, in almost every minute, of almost every game is beyond me. 
 

He’ll take some replacing as and when he does go. 

[WN83]

3 hours ago, Agbrigg said:

Well lets see what he can do against Leeds. The bookies have it evens. If Hiddersfield are to kick on and build a really top team this is a game they should be winning.

I’ve gone Huddersfield with a 2 start. No way should they be getting a start and no way they should be getting beat in this fixture on current form but it is a mental hurdle to get over. These sorts of fixtures against big teams who are struggling, like Leeds and Warrington, are the games they need to take out to build confidence for the form teams. 

[daz39]

Some of us said to give him time then judge him as some of our kneejerkers were calling for him to be sacked midway through last season as we weren't challenging, Ian himself said last season wasn't about competititon points but getting the club, staff and players to buy in t what him and Greg Brown wanted to do, needless to say those who didn't want to were shipped out straight away, our 2 supposed 'big name halfbacks' were the 1st two out of the door and even in the 2nd half of last season it was clear to see the improvement without those 2 involved in the squad, that was another thing he did - he basically froze out those who didn't want to do the hard work and banished them from the squad completely regardless of reputation.

I am delighted with the progress he's made so far, he's got a great work ethic and has his staff and players in the same mindset, everyone seems to be enjoying themselves.

I'm very excited at the prospect of him leading my club. i thought he was a great coach at Salford and now he's stepped up a level he looks as though he can do the same here, time will tell though, he cost Ken Davy a lot of money so hopefully we reap the benefits of it.

[fighting irish]

4 hours ago, WN83 said:

Saints next coach will be an intriguing decision. The job Woolf has done has been pretty incredible, especially the last 12-18 months. I thought some cracks were appearing in the first 12 months and Saints had gone a bit backwards from under Holbrook but last season and this season have just blown that out of the water. He’s changed how they play a bit and made them nigh on impossible to beat at the level we find ourselves at in this country. How he keeps them so motivated to compete for every inch, in almost every minute, of almost every game is beyond me. 
 

He’ll take some replacing as and when he does go. 

I think it's time to test them against Australia's best.

I hope they (the Aussies) pick up the gauntlet of the World Club Championship challenge. 

[WN83]

4 minutes ago, fighting irish said:

I think it's time to test them against Australia's best.

I hope they (the Aussies) pick up the gauntlet of the World Club Championship challenge. 

I’d like to see it. I think Saints would go pretty well but ultimately teams like Penrith and Melbourne would be too much I think. Saints main strength that teams here can’t live with us their intensity and how they can keep that up over 80 minutes. Those two wouldn’t find it a problem and have better players realistically. The poor quality of the sides Saints face week to week isn’t their fault but it would hurt them in a game like that. 

[Eddie]

Hopefully Huddersfield can somehow build up their crowds, to give Watson and his  team the support that they deserve. 

[yipyee]

5 hours ago, WN83 said:

Saints next coach will be an intriguing decision. The job Woolf has done has been pretty incredible, especially the last 12-18 months. I thought some cracks were appearing in the first 12 months and Saints had gone a bit backwards from under Holbrook but last season and this season have just blown that out of the water. He’s changed how they play a bit and made them nigh on impossible to beat at the level we find ourselves at in this country. How he keeps them so motivated to compete for every inch, in almost every minute, of almost every game is beyond me. 
 

He’ll take some replacing as and when he does go. 

Let's hope Tonga are dumped out of the world cup early and puts off Australian interest! 

Watson is doing a grand job.. he got rid of sezer who went to Leeds, Leeds are full of sezers ...

The Leeds job is a poisen chalice aka man U head coach job

[meast]

He turned things around last year, not this,  by getting shut of people who didn't want to work hard or buy into his processes or ethics and moving forward with players who wanted to be part of an Ian Watson team.

 

When he came in he told the HGSA he had been given a 5 year plan to change the entire culture of the playing side of the club, he said in another chat I had with him that he didn't really expect the opposition towards him and his methods from some of the players at the club, needless to say these players are all gone and we now have a team, rather than individuals, a team who Watson himself made sure they learnt about the history of the club and of players like Harold Wagstaff, Rosenfeld, Doug Clark etc and what the name, the colours, the badge etc should mean.

He wants Huddersfield to be a Huddersfield team, a team the players, no matter where they're from can feel proud to be a part of, not just a bunch of blokes doing what they get paid for.

Some people don't have patience, and believe success should be instant, our own fans and people on forums were suggesting Watto was a failure and under pressure because we didn't win anything last year.

He's also a thoroughly nice bloke and last week, attended the scholarship, academy and reserve games with his family!

[meast]

9 hours ago, The Daddy said:

Done a fantastic job at Salford now you can clearly see his positive impact at Huddersfield. They look a much more resilient outfit. 

It's no accident, this bloke is doing something right. 

Can we expect to see a top club come in for him, maybe Leeds? 

He's at a top club already

[meast]

8 hours ago, Agbrigg said:

Well lets see what he can do against Leeds. The bookies have it evens. If Hiddersfield are to kick on and build a really top team this is a game they should be winning.

Why?

Thursday's result won't define our season or Watson's coaching credentials.

[meast]

7 hours ago, ATLANTISMAN said:

I think Chris Hill was an excellent signing i can see why he went for a 2 year contract to prob finish off his playing days however do Warrington miss him IMHO a major mistake letting him go.

 

Paul

One thing Watto touched on was the need for leaders within the group, Sezer was our on field captain last 2 year but Sezer was the captain of his own self worth and not the team.

We also lacked a bit of experience and graft in the pack, Chris Hill was just the person we needed, added to that, McQueen, Jones, Yates, Trout, Lawrence, Wilson, Greenwood, then there aren't many packs can match that graft and workrate.

[FearTheVee]

SL needs more coaches like Ian Watson who are talented and determined enough to do the hard work to build cultures that value hard graft and focus on the little things.

really impressed with him - I wish we could clone him and drop him into Leeds, Hull and Wire and we might actually have a proper league. 

 

[Eddie]

25/1 for the GF. I know Saints are clear favourites but all they need is one off day, and other than them I don’t see a clear favourite they’re all too inconsistent.