If there is a coach in the competition who has positioned himself as a "player's coach", it's Ricky Stuart. It has been a consistent refrain in his dialogue whenever he has talked about his plans for the club. Whenever fans have asked more of the players, he has always said "I'll always put the players interests first". It's been something he has attempted to build his reputation on - that he knows how to bring a group of players together, and get them to form the kind of tight-knit group that breeds successful Rugby League teams. We all heard how he focused a lot of his Origin efforts at bringing the passion back to NSW, and getting the team to bond so they would get down and dirty in the trenches.
So, it's pretty incomprehensible to me, that Stuart could walk out on this Parramatta team. This is a coach who stood up before members at the start of his tenure and said it was going to be tough and there would be blood along the way. This is a coach who made what he claimed were the 'hard decisions that had to be made', to supposedly get the club back on track - telling close to half the squad they weren't wanted anymore. It's impossible to reconcile that a coach who talks so emotively about team and club spirit and sticking together when things are tough, could then walk out on the men that he's led this far into battle.
This is a club official who was the centrepiece of our club's entire marketing campaign "I'm in. Are you?" Where does it leave our club, if Ricky now says "Nah, changed my mind".
How could Ricky say to his next group of players that they're in it together, when he would have demonstrated absolutely definitively that they cannot take him at his word.
Phil Rothfield's commentary infuriated me. How anybody involved in Rugby League could advocate a coaching walking out on a young group of players like that, is just beyond me.
And for all the talk of our board instability, the reality is that Ricky has had basically unfettered power - with complete control over all aspects of the running of the football side of our operations, including recruitment. And I know the board and the club have been working particularly hard in delivering upon the High Performance Centre that Ricky has wanted since he arrived.
From the digging around I've done over the past couple of days, I won't be surprised if there is an ability within Ricky's contract to walk. However, I will be surprised if he takes that option. It would run counter to everything that he has projected with his public persona. And regardless of how successful his tenure turns out to be, I think right now the club needs some stability and need to see a plan followed through to its natural end-point. Why is why I believe it is of mutual interest for club and coach for Ricky to very definitively confirm his commitment to the cause he claimed to have so fervently bought into.
Replies
The "we're in. Are you?" was just a marketing campaign. Don't look too much into it. Rumours that he is leaving is getting stronger by the minute, and he hasn't uttered anything convincing in defense yet.
Agreed. The brand R.S. would be crushed if he left - and he knows he would never be able to overcome that. Ego first for ricky sticky.
If he were to walk out on a group of young men, and new recruits he asked to sign contracts, how could any player honour and respect him in the future.
If i were a betting man ( i am ), i would put money Stuart denying all rumours tonight.
One thing is for certain. From where this club is right now, if he somehow managed to stick around and managed to deliver a premiership in 3 or 4 years from now, it might just be the greatest ever feat achieved by a rugby league coach. Even the great Jack Gibson couldn't get the Sharks that elusive premiership, and the Parra outfit that achieved the club's maiden premiership was a pretty handy side before Jack arrived.
The squad Stuart has had assembled this year is about as bad a team as you will find in any era. If his player cull and recruitment over the next 2-3 years results in a GF win... well I think it would represent a coaching miracle tbh. Going to be a tough to get them in the 8 in the next 2 years. It's a hell of a mountain to climb
Good blog.... I think Ricky knows there is a bright light at the end of the tunnel here (meaning a strong re-built club and a possible premiership) in the horizon....
If Ricky goes on to re-build this rabble of a club and deliver a premiership, he will go down as one of the greatest coaches ever, im sure he wants that.
At his disposal he has a great junior base that he can pick and choose from. He has Jarryd Hayne with him. And hopefully Hopoate for 2014.
I feel we can come from wooden spooners to top 4 next year.......
here here
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