Wests Tigers tonight confirmed that contract talks with coach Mick Potter will be held off till season's end. The trouble is, you have to ask "has the damage already been done?". The decision to review the operations of the football set up at Wests Tigers was always going to cause a stir, and it did. In fact it aired out all the dirty laundry!
You have to ask the question though. Why now? Why not at the end of the season?? It's just mindless! In fact, it was stupid! Mick Potter may well have agreed to let it take place but would he really have stopped it from happening if he'd said no? That's debatable. The fact is that this review was always going to cause trouble and for that reason it should have waited till the end of the season.
Coach Potter has effectively been fed to the lions. A review was always going to make him look bad. Even worse still, the club has performed better than expected this season. Tipped by many to finish last, there's a case to say that Wests have over performed this season. Yet, still the coach is under the pump.
I don't want to talk about the drama involving Potter, Robbie Farah and Gordon Tallis though. That seems murky in regards to how it actually played out. We'll save that for another time. What i do know is this. You've got to feel bad for Mick Potter. I feel awful for him. This is a guy who accepted the lowest paying coaches position in the NRL all so he could have a chance at coaching in this league
This is also a guy who coached for free, or at the very least, little money in the English Super League with Bradford. I've watched him get pillaged from post to post at Wests Tigers yet his demeanor never changes. Watching his presser this afternoon only confirmed he's the right man for the job. He does have ticker. Heck! You'd need it to survive in this game and at this club.
So back to the administration's role in all this. Well they should be thrown off the cart for their role in this. What happened today was the result of their doing. The 17 guys that played today looked to be elsewhere. Sure there were moments of quality but overall we were poor. They say that the defense is the greatest indicator of whether a side is switched on or not. Well today we were really soft defensively. Communication seemed to be an after thought.
The result today was as much about the Dragons playing well today as it was about the Wests Tigers being destabilized by their own people. The media has fed off this whole review like savage beasts. To then come out tonight and declare that they'll deal with this issue at seasons end. Are you serious???
Isn't Mick Potter a dead man walking now? How the heck does he sell himself when all we hear are that he has deficiencies in his coaching. In some respects his position is almost untenable. What makes this worse is that this is all self inflicted and it is not new for this club.
The solution is simple. Sort yourselves out!! Copy the Broncos or the Roosters if you need to, but PLEASE sort this amateurish administration out. It's embarrassing! Tonight, and not the first time, we're the laughing stock of the NRL. The only complimentary word in all this goes to Mick Potter who has handled this with unrivaled class. His answers are always honest, fair and in today's case measured. That's a guy i do want coaching my club!
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