Thoughts?

Great addition and appointment to me.

Possible part of job description;

Almost an independent 2nd head to assess worth of risky signings like McGuire or who we could get in his place to assist Big Sam.

A level head to assess the interest of a fringe youngster, that previously under DP would have been just shipped out on loan or threw under a bus. Taking care of the well being and assessing the best options for that player.

I’d be interested to see his responsibilities and who he reports in to who has the most weight in the players we sign, Burgess / Chambers / Middleton / KFP.

I think he has done a decent job with the youth structure and whenever I hear him speak he comes across as open, honest and someone who would demand respect. I think it’s a good appointment and a role that’s needed, i’d just like to know more on what he will be doing and how the roles fits in to the structure of the club.

Perhaps it’s a working progression. The club may not wholly know themselves yet.

It is what we’ve needed for a long time. You want your coaching and philosophy to work throughout the club. Youth development and the First Team seemed like separate entities.

Other clubs are able to put youngsters in and it looks like they’ve been in the 1st team for years.

Solid relationships are required in the community, especially with amateur clubs. Gary has done a lot of work while Head Of Youth and I’m sure that will get even stronger.

Recruitment and retention has been all over the place so hopefully Gary is able to greatly improve that area. Players should only be brought in if they are able to make a big difference, we need to have more trust in the players we have developed ourselves.

Happy with the appointment.. However, who was doing this sort of work before? Powell? Fitzpatrick?

Who are we taking work away from here?

I believe it was Fitzpatrick and they would then speak to the board and coach.

Karl can now concentrate more on off field stuff like why is our stadium dirty, rusty and even damaged in places. Also try and get a decent kit supplier so items are actually available in the club shop.

happy days

Very happy with this, hopefully he will help keep us level rather than leaning too far one way or the other

If Burgess does want to come here as a stepping stone to an NRL job (which is fine), we need some continuity in the recruitment and planning of the squad, from bringing in overseas players to domestic recruitment and bringing players through the Academy. It can't just be a case of "replace Powell's squad and bring in Burgess' squad". So if we have a more permanent presence as DoR that should enable more continuity and let the coach focus on just coaching the first team squad and not worry so much about the overall planning of the club's future.

He's already telling Chambers things he wants doing with the youth side already so he clearly wants to change things at a base level. Never heard Price or Powell talking about the youth side development plans, so this coukd be the Golden ticket for the Future, fingers crossed