Joined: Aug 08 2005 Posts: 5643 Location: Not saving souls, or breaking promises
Tony Smiths own creation (bar Westwood) or the team that got Cullen sacked......
Smith XIII_____Cullen XIII Gidley_________Hicks Johnson_______Riley Evans_________M. Gleeson Atkins_________King Lineham________Penny Brown_________Briers Patton_________Monaghan Cooper________Morley Clark__________Clarke Sims__________Rauhihi Hughes________L. Anderson Savelio________Westwood Westerman____V. Anderson
Joined: Feb 05 2010 Posts: 8019 Location: South Stand.....bored
Food for thought.
IMO, that Cullen side, with Smith coaching it for a couple of seasons, wins trophies. Eventually, it did. Sadly, the players were prime movers in the Cullen Out movement. We're seeing the same, now, at Leicester City.
Now, not for a second am I suggesting we're looking at player revolt, just a coach with an "I'm not listening" attitude to our clearly evident problems.
We lack "edge". We've almost become nice. We have a pack that has an "after you, Claude" instead of a "get in amongst them" attitude, and an (expensive) 3/4 line that's not doing it's job.
Smith now has a BIG problem on his hands. We're a game or two away from it being a crisis. He starts to REALLY earn his money, now.
The difference is Tony Smith finished top of the league with the team on the left and won Challenge Cups with the team on the right, whereas Cullen missed out on the playoffs with the team on the right.
At the point Cullen left our fans were laying in to him for poor recruitment bringing in players like Rauhihi, King and Monaghan who were regarded as flops.
Challenge Cup winners 2009 2010 2012 2019 League Leaders 2011 2016
Joined: Jul 06 2009 Posts: 9680 Location: Somewhere under the salary cap
There were some fantastic players and leaders in that team smith inherited... Towards the end Cullen just didn't know what to do with them and it all fell apart.
A new coach and a new approach to things freshened the place up. We got behind the team, the players responded and we enjoyed some challenge cup success.
Its just a shame that the next coach that comes in here wont have such an easy task to turn things around.
Cullen's down fall was the naughtiness of Bridge and the failure of M Monaghan to play halfback in the British style. In all Cull had 3 former hookers in succession all to play scrum half. The only 7 we had bagged let him down like Bridge did.... Andrew Johns.
Cull ran out of time...I still think had Bridge or Andrew Johns for filled their contractual agreement....Cull would have got us that Wembley visit himself instead of TS riding Cullen's surf wave.
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