Batley are full of seasoned campaigners playing in a settled side that knows how to win. They may be having a poorer season this year in comparison to last but compared to us they're miles ahead.

As I say you can't question tooveys credentials, but sometimes having a professor teaching you is little use if you can't do basic maths so to speak

I don't know if anyone else has heard the same, but rumour has it that John Bastian will be in charge of the first team next year with Toovey going home.
It'd be a good appointment IMO. I know that people want him to continue his excellent work with the academy, but since the squad will probably be made up of a few of those lads, it seems like a natural progression for him. Plus I'm sure he has ambitions to take a head coaching role up again.

I'm a big fan of John. If this is true I hope the club doesn't expect him to do two jobs. In his favour is his ability to inspire people, and he knows the game inside out. Against him is his previous record. I remember it didn't work out for him as a head coach at Fev a few years back. I think Leigh Beattie is the hands on coach of the U19s with Mark Dunning assisting. John's always there too but I'm sure when it comes to on field matters Leigh is in charge of the team.

I'd prefer someone from outside the club really who can really start afresh with the 1st team. Let John continue to do what he's excelled at in the past - running the whole youth setup. Without knowing much more it's hard to comment. This rumour sounds like a penny pinching option to me - unless they bring in a replacement head of youth. But why replace the best in the business in that position?

Spot on Bullseye. I couldn't agree more.

So it seems to be there has been no major positive having toovey. We couldn't have done any worse with a cheaper option..

Well we did win a few games prior to Easter. So it could have been worse in that we may never have won those games, but I agree there's been no major positive. I think that it was probably unwise to think there would be given the cards stacked against us. I hope that whoever comes in and takes over is the best choice for the job and not the cheapest.

Yesterdays result was probable as soon as the squad was announced, the loss of Sironen the reason for the score line, not the result. The surprising thing was the first ten minutes, and with some of these players in the squad then it would have been a lot closer. Indeed, most of a back line.

Missing from selection:

Colton Roche
Jon Magrin

Oscar Thomas
Joe Keyes
Dane Chisholm
Ashley Gibson
Willie Tonga
Ros Oakes
Ethan Ryan
Johnny Campbell
Oscar Thomas

If the Bastian rumour is correct it fits the long term strategy. The key role will be the announced assistant coach, who I hope will have experience of our level and what it takes to get wins, to complement Bastians skills at developing talent. It would also give a good statement of intent to our home grown talent.

Lee Greenwood would be the ideal candidate IMO, but would he be happy as the number 2? Maybe if the job was full time?

If Toovey's off, then if it was up to me, Glenn Morrison would be at the top of my list.

Glenn Morrison struggled badly at Dewsbury over the last couple of years. I know a lot of lads that have played under him that don't rate him very highly and he's always appeared to have Jimmy Lowes syndrome when it came to picking his favourite players regardless of form.

I'm not convinced by Morrison as a coach. He gave 100% as a player but I think he struggled as a coach to get that out of his players.

Don't forget that we are talking about assistant coach at a Lg1 club. There can't be many people that would find this their dream job.

You are right ,I've heard from former players a very similar story.

on a positive note who at the beginning of the year expected a Toovey?? ,absolutely anything is possible at bradford

We don't need a big name or an ex player we need a tried and tested coach that will get results..ala Kear.
Buggering about with the above has cost us big time in the past and will continue to do so..

I would say kear is a big name.

He won't drop to the depths.

His inability to inspire seasoned players (and thoroughly p them off) was his downfall at Fev. Developing and bringing on youngsters is a completely different kettle of fish to coaching a first team.

Boring training sessions was one negative I heard from his time at Fev.

Apparently John is very big on the small things and would spend a long time on things like grip and carry each session. Let's be honest, that's exactly what this group of players needs (although we don't know what'll be left of the group).

Personally, I think that he's as good as anyone we'll get in League 1. As I already said, it's all well and good saying "He needs to continue the job he's doing", but he might want the opportunity to be a head coach, and if the Bulls don't offer him a chance someone else probably will.

If your squad next season really needs that level of coaching it isn't going to break many pots in L1! As for him wanting to coach at 1st team level there have been plenty of jobs come up since he left Fev but I don't recall him being linked to any of them. Also since the RL world is a pretty close community I would imagine the stories of his time at Fev are well known and might well go against him.

Nobody seems to know for sure if John actually wants to be a first team coach.

I'd sooner he stay where he's done so well up to now. Horses for courses and all that. We need to ask if we're serious about getting promoted. The coaching appointment will be key to attracting decent talent, which makes me concerned about the lackadaisical manner we seem to be treating the Toovey staying or going situation.

Indeed, but the question isn't "Is he the Sp[ecial One right now". We're gonna be a pretty ropey 3rd division outfit and won't have a queue of decent applicants. We should never have let Morrison go, I had him down as joining our coaching setup and cutting his teeth gradually.

I don't dispute he's not cracked any pots but I'm making an assessment as a bloke and as a player. Asa player he commanded respect, and as a bloke he spoke very well and seemed to have plenty of idea and front and grey matter. So I reckon he could make a decent coach.

Plus, there is no doubt he will have had the opportunity to have learned from his mistakes in coaching, granted, peoplle do not always learn from their mistakes but I think he's clever enough to have done, and would likely do things differently next time round. Which is after all prety much the same basis as most decent soccer managers stay on the merrygoround. They all get sacked, but it doesn't make them crap.

Like you say, he's not achieved coaching greatness so will come cheap. Plus, he's got Odsal history and must have some sentiment for the place and the fans. Might be a good stepping stone for him and I don't know how much better we could reasonably aim.

Well who'd have thought we'd have got Geoff Toovey with a 57.6% win ratio in the NRL? I understand we'll hardly be an attractive proposition but his appointment last year was so out of leftfield as to make me wonder.

Having said that I suspect Toovey is here partly down to a connection with Graham Lowe being a former protege. I also suspect that once Toovey is gone Chalmers will be setting his sights as low as possible in terms of cost though I still have a tiny kernel of hope he'll prove me wrong.

At the end of the day you can have an ace coach but if the squad is made up of players that nobody wants then you're going to get stuffed. So far we have Gibson, Lee Smith and Hallas under contract for next year. Over to you Chalmers, get on with it...

I don't think we should be expecting a L1 standard coach. That would be wrong.
We need to assume the club are expecting to get promotion quickly. That is a must for me.
As for not being able to attract decent coaches I think we would be surprised if we got to know if the time comes.
We need a coach who after the hoped for promotion and we then find ourselves back in a strong championship we must have a coach that can perform at that level not just at L1.
I would expect coaches to see it that way - get the Bulls back up and then they are in a different position altogether. That is why I would expect experienced coaches to apply. We do have good training facilities. The owner has stated that the youth and second team set up will be improved. The job will be full time as some players will be. yes we start the season as a L1 club but after 6 months we may be starting to build for Championship rugby so yes, we do need a coach that can do the higher league as well as get us there.
I don't expect Toovey to stay but do expect a coach who can coach next year and hopefully the next few years after that which may involve promotion and then hopefully a successful licence application.

Hi Guys, I come in peace not sure if you have seen this but on the sky sports website but if you read the peice on the NRL round up there is a comment that Toovey might be in line for the NSW blues coaching role next year. Be a bit of a move up from Championship to State of Origin.

Not trolling but do you think Toovey is up to SOO Level?