NRL Thoughts - Steve Price - This is the end.

This time it's my club that's pulled the pin on a coach and fired him. After 6 losses in 7 games, with the last three being absolute thrashings characterised by shoddy ball control and feeble defence, St George Illawarra sacked head coach Steve Price this morning, effective immediately, with assistant coach Paul McGregor stepping into the head coach position for the remainder of the season.

This wasn't an unexpected decision, despite St George's history of not sacking coaches mid season - they haven't done it before. Ever. They've sacked premiership winning coaches at the end of a season, but they normally do it at the end.  It's been clear for a long time that they weren't happy with what Steve Price had to offer, having made a huge offer to Craig Bellamy last year in a bid to entice him to sign. Price was only given this season after Bellamy knocked them back. I read stories last year stating the most of the recruitment decisions for this year were made by Peter Doust and Craig Young with Price having minimal input into those decisions. Nevertheless, as is usual in professional sports, he's the one who gets the axe.

As an interested but not obsessed fan, there's hasn't been a lot to indicate that Price had the makings of a top class coach, he didn't seem to know how to use Jamie Soward and there wasn't a lot of imagination in attack over his first two seasons. Whilst we now have a Rolls Royce backline, the forwards are weak, and the overall package isn't working. Consequently I don't have any major issues with the decision, the last 3 games indicated that we were a long way off being competitive and I think that the side should be competitive with that roster. There was a lot of talk in Price's first season about maintaining our defensive culture, but it was obvious even then that it had gone and wasn't coming back.

I always feel sympathy for the fallen in these situations. By all accounts, Steve Price is a hard worker and a very good, kind, man. I have no doubt that he's poured his heart and soul into the job these last 2 and a bit years and that the lack of success has hurt him as much as anyone. Failure is always hard to deal with and being declared a failure in such a blunt manner has to hurt. I hope that he finds his way back into an assistant coaching position at another club, it may well be that he is more suited to those at this stage of his coaching career. He probably won't get another NRL position, but he's young enough to develop more skills and hope that luck comes his way.

Looking forward, I'm hoping that Saints can find an experienced coach to take them forward and that they can develop a long term recruiting plan, there's been little evidence of a plan in recruitment decisions in recent years. I'd be happy with Bennett returning or Bellamy changing his mind. I probably wouldn't be that keen on Paul McGregor getting the job as he's not experienced at head coach level, and we've tended to struggle with inexperienced coaches. That said, if results turned around, he'd have to be a chance of getting the job. Nathan Brown's record wasn't too bad actually, but he may have managed to win premierships had he possessed the experience he has subsequently acquired. If the Tigers don't want Michael Potter, I'd love to have him back.

Somewhat unusually for a sports fan, the long awaited premiership in 2010 really did sate my appetite, and the fact we've taken a big tumble hasn't particularly bothered me, it's a tough competition to win and if you have to risk subsequent seasons to get that win, well it's worth it. Steve Price was unlucky and hopefully his successors will have better opportunities to achieve NRL success!

Some NRL Thoughts

I wasn't pleased to see the Dragons humbled by the Dogs today, but not totally surprised either. Our defence is very weak this year and consequently good sides are creaming us. I didn't think the Roosters were that good in demolishing us 2 weeks ago.

The attack is very promising and while I feel Benji Marshall has quite a bit to prove after his last 2 seasons, if he gets serious that attack will have enormous potential. Unfortunately, the ability to score points matters little if your forwards can't get you upfield into scoring areas or if your defence consistently leaks 20-30 points a game! This appears to be our problem currently.

I was happy to see Steve Price retained for this year as I felt he hadn't been given much of a chance with a team on the slide after winning the premiership in 2010. Unfortunately the claims about maintaining the culture established before he took over have not eventuated. The only pride in defence they are showing is pride in their ability to get set under the goalposts in a hurry so the kicker can convert!  I don't think his position is solid and will be surprised if he's still coaching the team next year. Possibly he can join Ricky Stuart in looking for a job. Canberra must already be regretting that decision, they were a team that was considered to have potential! It's one thing to get thumped by Manly, but to have the Warriors put 50 on you?!! Please!