Ladies and Gentleman,
To clarify R&R decision-making that has been a recent topic on our site.
Last October, our CEO Jim Sarantinos was kind enough to give us his time when he explained our club's philosophy.
"The roster always has been, always will be and always should be the coach's roster...It's Jason's team."
"No player joins the roster without the coach’s sign off and no one leaves the roster without the coach’s sign off."
"The coach sets the strategy, then the Coach, GM Football and Head of Recruitment then work together to secure the talent. The CEO and Chair are a sounding board," Jim added.
Sure, it wouldn't be a linear process. For example, the likes of Jack Williams and Isaiah Iongi had long been on our radar, before Jason Ryles was here, but it was Ryles who approved them.
In short: if Ryles isn’t convinced, no roster changes happen. Near fits aren't enough. He's the Coach, final R&R decision-maker, selector, our culture and roster architect in one. He’s our Alex Ferguson. Let's hope he channels some of his success too.
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I was very open to Ryles at first. It was between Hannay and Ryles and i said i would rather Ryles as Hannay seems to much buddy buddy and felt BA had that in the past. So i was happy we went with Ryles over Hannay. People claimed why go rookie etc. Way i see it is every coach at some point is a rookie and coaches either winning another comp at a new club or winning their first comp at their 2nd or 3rd club is so rare. You are better off going with a rookie and building and then getting a comp.
Then i also had this doubt of "Is he overhyped?" I mean we had been here before with a glorified Melbourne assistant being the next big thing in Kearney. Arthur was a Storm assistant too but was not seen as the next big supercoach. Kearney proved very quickly he was out of his depth as an NRL head coach, i feared a little the same for Ryles. Kearney had one thing over Ryles and it was some head coaching experience with coaching NZ national team. Granted different to NRL coaching or coaching say NSW Cup and lower grades but still coached a team. Ryles hadn't, only Norths Wollongong. That was another concern, though minor.
But when i saw his first interview i saw how good he spoke and thought alright some promise. Then the balls of steel move to move on Gutho, the captain of the club. Which i felt was the right call. Look back at my posts i said it was the right thing to do. Then moved on RCG and the moves he was making was not mucking around and different for a rookie coach. I admired it and gained respect quickly as he was going about it with an approach of leaving no stone unturned in how he builds his squad. If it is not working he would continue to make the same choices til the end.
I will not declare Ryles will win a comp as nobody knows, but i can say i am very comfortable of our future with him.
He fucked off Gutho and fucked off Dylan Brown. The bloke went up very quickly with me then and there. Prior to that I'll be the first to admit I held very little hope. In the last decade he seems to have very much wised up in the brains dept.
It is still very early days , 5 minutes ago Todd Payten was being regarded as the next big thing. It's when the pressure starts to be applied and the grind of the competition sets in. The current chapter with no expectations everything is rainbows and lollipops if you're exceeding expectations , which the benchmark is zero.
I too like "mostly "where it's going , I'm still not comfortable with our lineup. Not by a long shot, but that's not something that can be attributed to Ryles completely.
Unfortunately getting our roster to where we would like it is going to take time. It's going to be near impossible to attract elite level talent to a team stuck at the bottom of the table unless you throw ridiculous money at them, even for most that won't be enough, but throwing ridiculous money at players keeps us in the same rut we have been in for way too long. We are going to have to do the bulk of the roster rebuild from within until our results improve enough to start attracting elite level talent. This means our pathways is going to be critical, we have to be better than what we have been.
I feel we will always be held back in some regard until mark O'Neil is gone.
A guy like Hiroti who can't really cement a spot in sharks side should be on eels radar, I'm not sure how clubs don't identify players like that at clubs who are gems in reserve grade. Pauga at chooks is another one I liked. They come into nrl kill it and then back to Reggie's never seen again haha
I firmly believe he will have us in the top 6 next year and consistently higher in the following years . I think he will deliver a premiership it's just whether it's in 3 years or more . If we can get the " script " from the NRL I believe it could happen in 2-3 years ... much is unfortunately dependent on that .
I love hearing him talk , I can just imagine what an impact he makes on a playing group 🤔
shusssh, don't tell randy carls!
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