Both where/are decent for Rovers, Hodgson improved massively with good NRL coaching.

Would we have won two challenge cups with Hodgson instead of Houghton, probably not, we would have got 3 years out of him, as he had NRL ambitions, whilst we have had years of good service from Houghton, including playing a huge part in the cup wins.

Always said we should have kept Litten, but he has a long way to go to match what Houghtom has achieved and in reality this won't be achieved at Rovers, same as Lewis, if he wants to win things in his career he will need a move away from Rovers.

Pretty happy with our recruitment we have signed 4 good players, all of whom are signed on the back if good seasons at their previous club, changes off the field with coaching and training will also help. Still need a couple more signings, but feeling alot better about the season than I did with Hogdson I'm charge.

You have made a few solid signings, but I don't see any players you have signed to take you to the next level.

Add to this a massive gamble with a rookie coach and a few key players who are aging, I'm not sure I get your optimistic view.

In a salary cap sport, the quality of coaching is often the difference between success and failure.

Maybe KTR is nervous because we finally have a proven head coach, and they have an unproven assistant, from a struggling NRL club, that you can’t take on a works night out.

What makes you think I am nervous. I can assure you I’m not.

Yes TS is a proven coach but when taking over a failing club like FC has never achieved much in the first season. Hudds relegated, Rovers just managing to escape relegation. It’s only in the second or third year that he has managed to start turning things around. You may be lucky with him in 2023 but history would suggest you are in for another miserable season. Jam tomorrow in 2024?

Might get us up to 8th, which for some clubs is seen as a success.

We see what we want to see to keep up the interest as hope flickers and dies. Same as about two thirds of the league. Tbf, when I bought my 2007 Rovers SL shirt it was partly in expectation that’d be my one chance so I maybe shouldn’t complain too much.



The move-to-win thing is a real and undeniable problem. I mean, if one of the clubs outside the evil empire elite times a peak just right… well, Hull showed it is possible. But it was off the back of some heavy and sustained investment. Radford and Motu Tony did really, really well too. Cas had too little to show for what a good team they were too.

Given what has happened, I think you will likely be better off under Smith, whereas we reached a point where his departure became a cause for optimism. Both things can be true.



In this particular salary capped sport the difference between success and failure is still almost invariably money.

I suppose that is an oblique reference to Rovers.

I can assure you 8th was seen as a failure. TS was solely responsible for that. Up until his unfortunate announcement we were doing well. After Danny M managed to steady the ship we did quite well as you witnessed in the last match. It was only the poor results TS presided over between his announcement and departure that spoiled our season. The big mistake we made was not terminating his contract immediately.

If you think Hull are in the same position at Rovers and Huddersfield, you are even more clueless, we have a basis of a good squad and a established academy with some good players coming through, Huddersfield or Rovers have neither when he took over.

He also got you to two semi finals you where gloating about previously in this thread, you can't have it both ways. Smith is a good coach who all Rovers wanted to keep up to the point of that press conference.

You might see it as a failure, but others seem happy, I'm sure someone has even written a book about your season, why would some write a book about such a mediocre season.

Given it was published about 3 weeks after the end of the season, I imagine the book was planned before and written during the season.

There are loads of interesting sports books and documentaries that cover fascinating stories of mediocrity, struggle and failure. Graham Taylor: The Impossible Job, Another Bloody Sunday, the Miracle of Castel Di Sangro (with its change of tone twist), Domestique, Ball Four. Rovers’ own trouble at the top documentary.

Would anybody outside of St Helens and in possession of a soul prefer their end of season review?

No one is denying that he is a good coach and yes we were chuffed when he got us to two semifinals.

However the way he announced his departure took the gloss off his achievements. He had every right to make the decision he did and no one coukd have a problem with that. However whatever went on behind the scenes the way he made the announcement showed another side to his character.

I can comment on the good things he did at our club with great pleasure but I can also comment on the dark side of his actions. That is not having things both ways it is talking about two different issues.

How he deals with the deep seated problems at FC will be interesting to watch.

Strange that he only had problems at Rovers. I'm not aware of any "dark side" to his actions at Huddersfield, Leeds or Warrington.

If the majority of clubs are at full cap, then coaching has to be the difference between success or failure. Unless you have a brilliant recruitment window, like we did in 2016.

Just feels like the Dobbins projecting their perceived TS faults on here is an indication of their worry, as they know as well as us that we haven’t had a proven head coach in years.

It’s also notable that TS specifically mentions upon his appointment what a big club FC is. Can’t recall him making the same comments when McGuire persuaded him to take the Dobbins job.

As I said earlier, time will tell.

Every new manager and every new player says good things about the club they have signed for. You would not expect anything else. It does not mean that in their heart of hearts they actually believe what they are saying. There is no reason to believe that TS is any more realistic than anyone else.

FC fans continually claiming to be a big club is only to reinforce their own delusions. If FC really were a big club the fans would have no nead to continually make the claim. Wigan, Saints, Rhinos’ fans are not continually making the claim. They just know they are.

That’s because they’ve fulfilled their potential, which we never have. Hence the phrase “sleeping giant”

So you are not just a big club but also a sleeping giant.

More comatose if the last derby is anything to go by.

All the above is conjecture. What is fact is that for the last two seasons Rovers have been the better side in the City. Not much of an achievement I admit when you consider the present state of the opposition but but nevertheless enough to bring a tiny smile to the face.

Got to thank Rovers for that, beating us last game, has done us a massive favour, could be our best result in the last two years.

and leeds and st helens cas the list goes on

No.

I kept it brief as I know you don’t read if too long.





Stuff like ‘dark side’ is melodramatic in my opinion, and I believe he worked very hard on Rovers behalf. Some problems were addressed during his time in charge. The collapse in form after his announcement was probably just a bit of regression to the mean. However, in the same way losing that last derby can be reframed as saving you from another season of BH, us going cack at the end of TS’s reign spares us any potential regrets and risk of splitting into Team Paul and Team Tony, even if it is irrational. Every cloud.

You only won one more game that us and that's because Wigan played an academy team against you, not sure why you are getting so excited, your list goes on for years and even this season managed to get easily beat by Toulouse.

Really don't understand the Rovers fans coming on here like they have won the grand final last season, rather than finishing 8th.

The future's bright, it’s black and white and they’re trying to bask in the glow

Not too mention the only reason they finished above us 2 years ago was because it was based on the stupid % points rule.

A season where they beat Leigh 3 times

which boosted their % and when it came to playing us they cried off with covid knowing the positions in the table could be reversed

Oh dear, so many excuses. We are a big club, we are a big club, we are a sleeping giant, we are a comatose giant. We are……. What in earth are we?

:keiththegreen:

We are a club were our fan base under the age of 40 has seen us win a major trophy. One of only a few that has won any sort of silverware in the last 30 years, a club that has just moved into a brand new world class training facility, playing in one of the best grounds in SL. Why does it bother you so much?