I had always in the past supported Dean Pay but as of late also been scathing in my opinions of his performance as a coach. I feel sorry for his predicament and although we are all guilty of bagging him out over his lack of improvement of the players under his control, we must be honest and realise that even though the players are playing their guts out every week for him and the club, we are virtually assembling a reserve grade side to battle NRLol quality teams and the first grade players we have are old, tired and to be honest ineffective. Pay in the three years at the Dogs has not had the luxury of other first grade coaches to lead a bona fide quality first grade side and I will not complain if the board re-sign Pay to a one year extention to gauge how he will perform with a competetive side at his disposal.

Usual weekly wrap up:-

Bulldogs lose ☑️

I'm losing faith that we will sign any big name coach anytime soon so I tend to agree with you.

If it were to happen, i reckon the board should immediately be on the hunt for the next big coach. You dont tell Barrett of course.

Does it sound like we are using him? 
Indeed.
But we are a football club in the business of trying to win premierships. 

I was hoping Pay would be the 2-3 year stop-gap but it looks like we are more of a rabble now than when Pay took over. SC mess looks like will be rectified next season but the on-field performance is no better and wecare further from the pack.

Our board looks like they only had a short term plan but no long term. Time to set some goals.

Hawks lose without a hope of winning their game.
Bulldogs lose without a hope of winning their game.
QPR lose without a hope of winning their game.

What is wrong with sport teams these days?

They arent even prepared to give it a go.
It's not good enough to try and play your guts out on game day. You have to be mentally prepared to win the bloody game or at least compete.

I know Dman loves a good EPL score update so West Ham 4 Norwich 0.
Should we win against Watford, the lads are happy to throw the last game of the season for a new beers.

Why teams win or lose is common in all sports...

In the case of Norwich 100% talent  coach 0% 7-8 of their team are not up to this level...
I'm not sure the coach has the right tactics, but nothing he does will make any difference...

I see Villa as similar to the Dogs...they have some game but ... the problem is 80% talent, 20% coach.
Injuries really count when you start out with a side of lesser talent and depth,
With 2-3 more good players, a bit of luck and a bit of confidence, Villa and the Dogs would win more games..

West Ham gives a more valuable insight into how to set up sporting teams, because the difference between their best and worst is a chasm.
They started the season with coach similar to Wayne Bennett  and their 2 most recent high value money players where similar to Latrell. 
Looking at the team on paper and the coach, many would predict a good season, but they were woeful at times.
The problem was 70% Talent 30% coach.. mostly injuries with replacement players being pathetic, but also a lack of work rate.  

They sacked the coach and the new coach recruited 2 high work rate players who make a difference in attack and defence say similar to Adam Elliott
That shifted the balance and has the rest of the team playing with more energy...
This is why Elliott is a big out for us...

One paper, the sacked coach has a better record, there is no doubt that the star players are great, and have skills many players don't posses, but with 2-3 high work rate players the team was off the pace, with 5-6 they can score plenty of goals even with the star players not on the field.

So they key difference here is the new coach had a different formula and that formula worked best, results didn't immediately turn around, but everyone knows when it is time to sack the coach regardless of the coaches record.

For the Dogs the problem is 80% talent 20% Pay...
 
I'm not suggesting Barrett is guaranteed to be an upgrade from Pay, but it is a different formula, and it is time for a different formula.
For recruitment we need to address the 80%  talent, a new coach will help give certainty for recruitment and retention,I'm reasonably confident Barrett is an upgrade for Pay and Pay isn't that bad... Barrett with more talent should be much better than Pay with the current squad...

We are down the bottom of the ladder there a plenty of rungs to climb, let's give Barrett a similar shot to Pay and see where he can take us.
A new coach in the hand, is worth 5 in the newspapers,. and it is time to try something new.

Another deflection by the SuperCoach...

 Just to confirm (cos u always deflect from the actual question) you think watching Titans, Cowboys and Warriors plays one by one and then replicating it on a training paddock will add value...

The plan always was to sort out the SC mess and cop the pain for a few seasons, then rebuild, there is no such thing as a risk free strategy...
 
We might have over cooked it but only slightly, this season most things that can go wrong have gone wrong, we started out needing everything to go right..

Pay is only 20% of the problem, but if that was only 10% we probably have another 2 wins...

With the current squad, making the 8 was always a long shot...

In terms of the strategy, this was a perfect opportunity to test Pay out as a coach and see if he has what it takes, a lot of our players have also been tested and like Pay many of them have come up short.. So while it is painful, we have learned plenty, players who perform well  in a struggling side are like gold, they will look even better in a good side.

For us it is a short list of names, Foran, Elliott, Thompson (so far), Hoppa, Averillo, Wakeham, RFM, Renouf T and to a lesser extent Jacko and Sue.
Some players probably scrapped up a pass mark, JMK,Montoya, .DWZ,  and perhaps 1 or 2 others...
Smith might be good shifted back to the wing, and injuries have robbed some players of a shot..

The new coach has watched our games, and has videos of all of them and all of the stats, moving some players on to make way for new talent should not be a hard call... in a losing side a players true talent and character shine though...

 Now we have Thompson and Elliott, I don't think we need to keep Tolman.,,. Actually I would prefer to punt Napa and keep Tolman, I can't wait to get rid of Napa.

Rocket Silva was the only decent player we ever got from the Chooks...

Perrett???... 

Well it isn't all bad news
Hawks lose without a hope of winning their game.

Two gooduns who were told to move on when they were threatening to reveal the Rorters cheating. 

Yep Perrett not bad... maybe the forwards we get from the Roosters are the duds.

Is Thompson likely most fans favourite Dogs player after 40 mins???...

The fan we have of theirs is a dud...

Perrett was the only winger I’ve ever seen that went looking for high 5’s from team mates each time he got caught out in defence that led to a try or if he’d knocked on.... he was terrible towards the end

I need to see more but I like his attitude...

I would like 2-3 more players with energy aggression and intent...

Sadly you don't win games of NRL by smoking a joint.... otherwise, I'm sure we could scrape together a good team. :)

From what I have seen, only us and handful of other clubs play the game wrongly. The reama around us degenerate to that level at times due to fatigue or pressure or just an off day. But we do it routinely. Its purpose gameplan and its flawed. 

If you cannot see this. Just sit back, buy your yearly membership and hope for the best. 

I'm sick and tired of watching coach after coach fail to institute change and I've decided to voice my concerns. It may fall on deaf ears but more and more people are starting to notice. Commentators certainly see it and ex players (Anasta, Mason, Ennis) can hardly bite their tongues anymore. 

I think you left out a percentage there, an important percentage in the big scheme of things.

The Board.

Which flows onto the football dept, sponsorship, development, recruitment and a 1000 other things.

I've said before just because this board is better than the old bunch of crims doesn't make it a good one. And at present the only thing they've got going for them is that they're not the old board.

You don't have to read newspapers or have inside knowledge to know that they're hopelessly split by factions, at least two, probably three. There's the Anderson faction and the Dunn faction. They used to be united, maybe for a week or so, but certainly not now. Add to that Coorey and more form the Leagues club who may be behind one of the former two (and if so I'd bet behind Dunn) but they may be pulling in their own direction too. And you can add to that Heaps causing trouble form the outside and I don't know who's side he's on except it's not the Andersons... now.

That's why this board is so paralysed by indecision, they can't seem to agree on just about anything. And I'd bet Barrett is the compromise option because the Andersons want to give Pay a chance while Dunn and co and/or maybe Coorey and co want to chase Bellamy or Bennett.

Something's got to break, they'll paper over the cracks for a while but it'll only be to the next big decision they're split on.

A good asdistant

Assistant

We need to get our act together at board level political infighting just ends up with a political result and a politician like Dib having too much power.

I don't think the Andersons are perfect but they are the closest link to the past and understand more than other club officials and fans that success sometimes requires a systematic approach and patience.

Hill is a good operator.

The next 3 seasons will make or break the club, political infighting will see our demise.

In the end it is our choice but toss away the Andersons, that is probably the club permanently in the bin.

Not that the Andersons are that good, we are seeing the end results of 30 years of club infighting, which in all honesty deserves to be punished with extinction.

Members and fans should reflect on the last 30 years, who have been the political agitators?

And how well has in fighting served us?

The leagues club is part of the problem, too many well paid jobs, too little corporate governance, too many people hungry for influence.

If we want to be a professional organisation, that starts with governance, transparency, accountability and standards.

Anyone thinking we could get Bellamy or  Bennett is dreaming.

Perhaps Bennett for some big pot on money in a way which dodges NRL coaching cap rules.

This is political infighting pure and simple..... 

Parra being extended the extra .2 of a second in the ruck the Rorters are...

If I was running the game there would be some innovative rule changes 😁

Aimed at certain clubs of course 😉

It's quite hilarious that the bunker can call a player offside (even if by centimetres) yet state that they cannot adjudicate on a forward pass. A bit of a cop out really.

Does anyone know how many points we’ve had scored against us since supercoach Pay dropped Lewis?

I understand Wakeham is a little more attack minded than Lewis, but we really haven’t scored that many more points/tries with him in the side compared to having Lewis instead who defensively is much better. 

We’ve leaked so many points the past 4 games....

If Barrett is announced as head coach..... who’ll be his choice of Assistant?

I reckon Ennis. 

I understand backwards then floating forward crap but it makes it so difficult to adjudicate.  Just simplify it if it's taken in front of the passer its forward. If you want the bunker involved this would make it possible.

We leaked plenty of points rounds 3 and 5 with Lewis in the team, round 4 against the Dragons was good, but their attack was ordinary 
.
Both Wakeham and Lewis are good defenders. 

Our defensive problems are mainly up the middle and on the wings, wingers need to jamb fast or pick another alternative.

IMO picking Wakeham is one of the things Pay got right.