Winning is the only way Queensland Reds coach Richard Graham will get the haters off his back, and he knows it.
Possibly the only coach who could be described as ’embattled’ before the season has even started, Graham is back in the Reds hotseat after the team kicked off their 2016 pre-season preparations this week.
Graham put on a stoic front on Tuesday afternoon as he faced media for the first time since his controversial re-appointment as coach back in August.
Supporters went into an apoplectic fit when he was given the job for another 12 months, having been forced to re-apply for his own job after a wide-ranging high performance review by the Queensland Rugby Union.
“My position’s been clear since August, that’s how I’ve approached these last three or four months – with a lot of certainty,” said Graham, who flanked by assistant coaches Nick Stiles and new arrival Matt O’Connor.
“But I understand sport’s about winning.”
Graham said he knows exactly what he is walking into and is ready to withstand the intense scrutiny that will come directly his way when Super Rugby returns next year.
“There’s always pressure at the start of the season,” he said.
“But I understand I’m at the head of the organisation and the pressure comes directly to me.
“We’ve made a really good start to it, we’ve got a clear direction and looking forward to the next nine or 10 weeks.”
Graham, who has just a 28 per cent winning record as a Super Rugby coach, said he could understand the frustration of Reds fans.
“I think we were all frustrated,” he said.
“When you’re sitting at the back end of the table there’s a fair bit of frustration.
“There were a lot of things last year in terms of the injuries and so forth where we just struggled to get a little bit of momentum and consistency.
“Right here and now the expectation is improvement. We don’t want to be sitting where we are at the moment, we want to be better than where we’ve been.”
Alex L
Roar Rookie
I don't think the Reds can do much worse than last year, they've actually lost a major cause of problems -- the inconsistent and disengaged players looking at the world cup and their overseas clubs that the coach was desperately trying to wring something out of instead of backing his new blood. The only real problem is 10, which is a pretty major problem but hardly one exclusive to the Reds -- there are maybe 10 top class players in that position across the 18 super rugby sides and half of them are in NZ.
Yacannahandamanagrandaspanna
Guest
A bag of clichés already.
Woodsman
Roar Rookie
I'm with you on Greene, Rob. He's quite quick, has a good pass on him and played well in a mostly beaten team. I think McIntyre's reputation has been inflated immensely playing behind a dominant pack and not needing to pass much further than 3 meters to Kerevi. A bit of a shuffler and won't be able to unlock an exciting back 3. After the near loss of Gill this year I can't help but think another failed RG campaign will see him gone and that will be an absolute travesty.
Squirrel
Guest
Just stick to your strengths
Ken
Guest
1/5 from that lot..Maybe
AJ
Guest
Ok we've got Tahs, Force, Rebels, Blues and Tahs again then bye. What does he need? If it's better than 2 from 5 I'll be very, very surprised. 2 from 5 would probably be enough for McCall to bail him out again but then its Highlanders and RSA trip for Bulls and Stormers. I look down the roster and can only see 3-5 possible wins being optimistic. Rebels will be finals contenders, they get to smash the reds twice!
AJ
Guest
Richard will throw him in at 10, he knows best. e.g. Frisby is a better 10 than OConnor.
Brady
Guest
RG doesn't have to win at all. According to the Reds, "when you play for Qld nothing else matters". And that, my friends, is how you remove results from your KPI's.
Ken
Guest
Nemani Nadolo Honey Badger Joe Tomane are also eligible for QLD
Brisbans Boys
Guest
Hi Yogi That was my point the RG and the current Reds lost me when they played the Canes at home last year. I fully understand that we were at our worst with injuries at that time however we kicked the ball the the canes back three all game and while I seriously doubt we were going to win that game the one thing we should not have done was kick it to the best back three combo in world rugby and play unstructured rubgy. We had used that tactic the previous week to good effect against worse opposition. that is my main issue we did not seem to have game specific tactics. I am sure RG is a good guy and probably a good technical coach but he certainly is not a good tactical coach.
Ken
Guest
Ta’avao, Dempsey and Holloway should be wallaby capped this year...
Hello
Roar Rookie
I agree Stiles is the one to watch, he did a great job with city. not sure if he is ready yet and that might be why RG was reappointed
Shungmao
Guest
From both my playing and coaching career one thing I learnt was the differnece between a Head coach and an Assistant coach. Spindle has absolute coaching ability but isn't a leader of men. Personally I think a very good Assistant coach and would be very successful in that role at any franchise or club globally.
Will
Guest
Under Graham, the Reds (2013-15) are 19/48 - 39.58% Under Graham, the Force (2010-12) were 12/45 - 26.67% Combined in Australis for 6 dismal years, 31/93 - 33.33% The only positive is that he develops Australian players, well, except for Goromaru...
harry
Guest
Sorry to pee on your parade but cant see the reds doing much better than last year. Its going to be a tough grind for the reds for the next few years me thinks . Zip expereince crap coach and old gameplan. Keep the panadol forte close to the couch
Redsback
Guest
State of Origin would be huge - particularly if we could get back all of the players from overseas. Unfortunately, I just don't see it happening and it is a shame. With the ever-expanding Super Rugby, Rugby Championship, June tests and EOYT, I just cannot see where it could fit in. With 18 Super Rugby teams, I really cannot understand why they didn't go for playing each other team once. That was when Super Rugby was at its best. I simply cannot fathom why the ARU has not looked into State of Origin. Instead of having 15-20,000 people to the extra Super Rugby matches, they could have 52,000 at Suncorp (it would be full for a full-strength team) and at least that amount in Sydney. It could be sold off separately to the Sanzar matches (or included in it to increase our part of the pie). I, for one, would be keen to see Folau, Pocock, Moore, Kuridrani, Toomua, Higginbotham, Mowen, Cooper, Genia etc play for Queensland against NSW. If we are being honest, there is such a small percentage of international standard players that actually come from either Perth or Melbourne, that we wouldn't be missing much there. ACT is a different story, but they would have to be excluded to maintain the integrity of it.
Bakkies
Guest
Then side to side. His teams struggle to score tries and it's turgid stuff. It only worked at Leicester where he had a strong tight 5 and an intimidating Head Coach.
riddler
Guest
yogi i think the end of season clean out will prove to be good for the team.. fresh blood, keen to improve and go for it..
riddler
Guest
yogi.. there are always young players from qld who go to other states before they get a chance.. pocock, joc just to two easy ones..
Yogi
Roar Pro
I agree Goramoru is a good signing. The reds recruitment has been passable but not great. Their retention is an issue. It is one thing to lose players to europe late in their careers, quite another thing to be losing players like Hanson to the rebels (in a year when we should have loads of money to spend on keeping him), and young guys like McMahon and Placid before they even play for the reds. Dreadful. To be honest I am not sure how much accountability RG has for recruitment. i think the talent aquisition reports direct to Herbert.