harigeorgeson wrote:Yes thats the same Cullen ! The Top 6 is not good enough for a club like the Wolves. My main problem with Cullen is his Boots N All comments - he needs to concentrate on his own club instead of trying to tell other Superleague Coaches where they went wrong.
If Widnes get back into SL under him, then I will be the first to congratulate him & I hope Widnes do get back where they deserve to be.
I just think Cullen would be out of his depth in Superleague again - the Championship is his level for me.
Come on the Wolves for the semi !!
Ermmm.. isn't that what is he paid to do on the show? Have an opinion?
JWP wrote:he left the club in a very healthy state for his future replacements. You look at other clubs, the rebuilding that needs to be done, we haven't got that, he put together a good squad, it just needed fine tuning.
I disagree with the part in bold, every Wire fan respects what Paul Cullen did as a player and the passion he showed for the club, its his ability as a coach in SL that people questioned.
He was given far longer in the job than the majority of SL coaches get to turn us into a successful club on the pitch, he failed to do that.
He left us without a youth structure of any note, he wasted a fair amount of money and time on signing hookers to play scrum half. He built a squad and team that was too heavily reliant on Lee Briers and wasn`t balanced.
Given the money that was available to him especially in the 2nd half of his time as coach we should have at least threatened to make a final, we got nowhere near one, the players constantly looked like they were not enjoying their rugby, morale looked poor and team spirit didn`t appear to exist.
I wish him well at Widnes, i think he`s found his level as a coach where he can feel more comfortable and relaxed. Nobody is questioning Paul Cullen the person, it was about his ability as a SL coach to take a club like ours forward to be realistic challengers for silverware and he failed to do that.
Rob Wire wrote:I disagree with the part in bold, every Wire fan respects what Paul Cullen did as a player and the passion he showed for the club, its his ability as a coach in SL that people questioned.
He was given far longer in the job than the majority of SL coaches get to turn us into a successful club on the pitch, he failed to do that.
He left us without a youth structure of any note, he wasted a fair amount of money and time on signing hookers to play scrum half. He built a squad and team that was too heavily reliant on Lee Briers and wasn`t balanced.
Are you taking the "mickey" about the youth structure Rob?
Tony Smith has specifically stated that he hasn't paid any attention to it yet. So is the current Academy team and the development of Cooper, Harrison, Mitchell and Riley the result of James Lowes' brief tenure?
Paul Youane wrote:Are you taking the "mickey" about the youth structure Rob?
Tony Smith has specifically stated that he hasn't paid any attention to it yet. So is the current Academy team and the development of Cooper, Harrison, Mitchell and Riley the result of James Lowes' brief tenure?
So from the 6 years he was in charge of the first team how many players have broken through from our youth set up to cement a regular first team place ? A regular first team place means someone that starts in the 13 on a regular basis and has made that shirt their own.
How many pivot players have we produced in that time frame ? We havn`t produced a full back, a stand off, a scrum half, a hooker or a loose forward in that time, Ben Harrison has played at 13 for a brief time but in my opinion he will eventually be a 2nd rower or prop. I wouldn`t call that a successful youth system that he left us with.
Rob Wire wrote:So from the 6 years he was in charge of the first team how many players have broken through from our youth set up to cement a regular first team place ? By regular first team place that is someone that has made a jersey in our starting 13 their own.
How many pivot players have we produced in that time frame ? We havn`t produced a full back, a stand off, a scrum half, a hooker or a loose forward in that time, Ben Harrison has played at 13 for a brief time but in my opinion he will eventually be a 2nd rower or prop. I wouldn`t call that a successful youth system.
You are blaming Paul Cullen there for a problem that starts far before the players even arrive at the club. You may be surprised to also hear that recent changes to Service Area rugby will mean that players will now not play representtaiuve rugby in competitive games until U16s. For various reasons I am not going to comment on whether I think that will help the situation or not.
mark_m wrote:You are blaming Paul Cullen there for a problem that starts far before the players even arrive at the club.
No, i`m blaming the development of the youth players whilst they were here.
Mark, surely you must question the ability of the coaching staff that Paul Cullen assembled in its failure to produce a single pivot player in 6 years to put pressure on first team players. Anyone in our first team that had either 1,6.7,9 or 13 on their jersey was not threatened at all by anyone in the reserves other than through an injury crisis, Harrison has had a run at 13 but that was originally down to injuries and like i said above i think he will be a 2nd rower or prop eventually.
As well as the pivot players we havn`t produced a single centre in 6 years either.
He left us with a squad that's 80 minutes away from getting to Wembley, that'll do for me.
The young players that he dripped into the first team, that have become regulars, are now becoming stars in the own right, Cooper & Harrison in particular. He was more than willing to give youth a go, so I'll just deem that during his tenure we had no pivots of a suitable standard. I'm sure he could have thrown another Gary Hulse at us, but what would that have proved.
We've had a centre Rob, Varkulis. We've had a fullback Rob, Riley.
If there were blokes in SL, that Cull had refused to play, in these positions that had left and gone elsewhere and were killing us, I'd accept your oint Rob, their isn't, so that'll be the reason why we've seen none in our side.
I just think he's easy to have a pop at, ultimately, he failed, sure. But for me, he left us in a good state.
Rob Wire wrote:No, i`m blaming the development of the youth players whilst they were here.
Mark, surely you must question the ability of the coaching staff that Paul Cullen assembled in its failure to produce a single pivot player in 6 years to put pressure on first team players. Anyone in our first team that had either 1,6.7,9 or 13 on their jersey was not threatened at all by anyone in the reserves other than through an injury crisis, Harrison has had a run at 13 but that was originally down to injuries and like i said above i think he will be a 2nd rower or prop eventually.
As well as the pivot players we havn`t produced a single centre in 6 years either.
I'm at a loss as to how the lack of halves or loose forwards is a damning indictment on the Reserve/Academy setup. Saints have done well to find one halback to (hopefully) come thorough in ten years. Leeds have been incredibly lucky to have McGuire and Burrow be in the same age bracket in the same time frame. One thing Paul Cullen should be commended for is getting the club to re-focus it's efforts on the junior setup.
Didn't William Webb Ellis pick up the ball and run, someone should really tell Rugby Union.
getdownmonkeyman wrote:I'm at a loss as to how the lack of halves or loose forwards is a damning indictment on the Reserve/Academy setup. Saints have done well to find one halback to (hopefully) come thorough in ten years. Leeds have been incredibly lucky to have McGuire and Burrow be in the same age bracket in the same time frame. One thing Paul Cullen should be commended for is getting the club to re-focus it's efforts on the junior setup.
That is my point, the problems run far deeper throughout schools, youth and junior rugby (and not just in this area).
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