Yes, the Reds’ loss last night to the Force was a particularly disappointing one for Queensland coaches, players and fans.
The Reds had the better team on paper, the home ground advantage and a season of exciting attacking play, yet they managed to throw the game away to a Force team that was better drilled in the basics. In particular the Reds displayed poor discipline, an ongoing theme this season.
Yet what was more disappointing for me was the reaction of head coach, Nick Stiles, at the post match press conference. Not for the first time this season he lashed out at his team and singled out individual players who made mistakes during the game.
After the game he bemoaned a “lack of effort”, particularly in the first half, and related how he had “given them a spray” which improved their performance in the second until yellow cards by halfback Nick Frisby and winger Eto Nabuli kicked the Red’s resurgence off the rails.
Listening to Stiles at the press conference, bemoaning Frisby’s poor decision to attempt to kick the ball from the opposition halfback’s hands as he touched down for a try, was telling. “He did the same thing last year” and “how do you coach that?” were Stiles’ observations.
It seemed that he was completely oblivious to the possibility that Frisby simply does not currently have the decision-making ability to do the job well, something that many have observed over the course of this season. It has me scratching my head why, in this critical fixture, Stiles left James Tuttle out. Tuttle has been performing well on the bench and played the out of form Frisby.
That one is on you Mr Stiles – 100 per cent.
As for Nabuli, it appear to me that his motor skills let him down to create what was one of the most uncoordinated movements I have seen on a rugby field in living memory. Nabuli jumped in the air, I think thinking that he was going to contest the high ball, realised that the player was already on the ground and tried to change the movement into a tackle, while forgetting that he was six foot five and airborne.
The result was that he hit the player in the head with his big mitt. Nabuli has given up three cards this season but his saving grace, which Frisby does not have, is that he has scored eight tries and the Reds would never have been within spitting distance of winning the conference without him.
Furthermore, Nabuli’s ill discipline, not present last year when he gave up no cards, appears to be symptomatic of a wider problem. The Reds seem to have widely adopted a tackling style of hitting their opponents in the head. It has cost them multiple penalties, cards and has resulting in unnecessary losses.
(AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
If they purged that one systematic problem they would most likely be topping the Aussie conference and heading towards the finals. And the buck for solving systematic problems falls back on the head coach, “giving the players a spray” and asking defeatist questions like “how do you coach that” doesn’t cut it.
The fact that some teams exercise discipline better than others indicates that coaching does influence tackling style and discipline. Stiles is responsible for working out how to solve the problem, be it through self-directed study, talking to other coaching experts who have succeeded or experimentation.
Accepting that it is his problem to solve, rather than blaming his players when things go wrong, is the first and necessary step.
What might help focus the coaching team on this matter is a management theory called ‘The Theory of Constraints’. This theory holds that an organisation maximises performance when management identifies its biggest constraint to achieving it, then exclusively focusses resources on addressing the constraint until it is fixed.
It then moves onto the next problem, so on and so on. In the case of the Reds, Stiles is able to solve the biggest problem relatively easily, select his in-form halfback. Then he should focus on working out how to get his team to keep their tackles legal, that should be his homework for the June Test season break.
A final word, both Stiles and Kerevi mentioned pre-game leadership by Higgenbotham in the press conference. I think Higgers should be captain of the team, mentoring Kerevi as vice-captain, as Kerevi’s own game is suffering under the burden of being captain too soon. Kerevi is a mature enough young man to take the long-term view and accept that this would be for the best, while Higgenbotham seems to thrive on leadership responsibility and is clearly respected by the group.
The change should be made this week.
Clash
Roar Pro
Crashball2: top reply my man. Eh? ?
Crash Ball2
Guest
Thanks TWAS. At face value I can understand your line of thought. Though, "turnovers won" is a single metric in a plethora of benefits within the domain of effective defensive breakdown play (many not generally measured) that bring value beyond simply a change of possession. Opposition cleaners committed, ball disruptions, slow downs, rushed or pressured halfback passes, tackle avoidance or even an accommodation in opposition game strategy (as we've seen for players like Smith and Pocock) is a result of patented breakdown mastery. I'd submit that beyond these two polar metrics, Smith's contribution to the breakdown contest this season has infinitely more positives than the negatives which come from 5 ruck infringements.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
CB I was actually looking at it on a basis of penalties conceded per turnovers won (14). He is basically getting penalized 1 in 4. Where as Hooper has 17 won for a sole ruck penalty and Latu 3 for 13 turnovers win, closer to 1 in 5. Considering it's penalties losing us games generally, and not really turnovers setting up our attack I think we'd be better off with half as many turnovers from him, and no ruck penalties.
Gonzo
Guest
I think the Reds are one mind away from returning to the glory days. I hope they do some work in the offseason to hone the skillset of the backs and forwards. Perhaps Carlos Spencer can mentor Quade on his attack. How about getting Eales and Thorn to put their minds together and teach the forwards how to hunt in packs and as we all know, good midfields can reap rewards, what's Horan doing these days? Surely he can add some insight to our centre pairing. I'm not a huge fan of Stiles but he's the best we have right now.
Gonzo
Guest
I really like Thorn. The man is a legend. But there's a difference between being a good player and a good coach. I'm just not sure Thorn is really the "brains" that they need in the forwards to start mentoring guys through. I think George Smith had more in the top two inches than Thorn despite their careers being very different.
Rebellion
Guest
I disagree that Jake McIntyre was the best they came up with - he was just unfortunately what the incompetant recruitment panel (headed by Cordingly) came up with. It's disappointing for them they let the Waratahs poach Mack Mason who had just starred for the Aus U20's. I love the way Joe Powell has taken his opportunity at the Brumbies and am hoping he will claim the test jersey by the end of this season. The Reds need to pick the right players - Eddie Jones was a failure when coaching Qld but gee he could spot talent in clubland!
Rebellion
Guest
The Reds: Because they provide all of the players along with NSW The Reds: Because they have the 'ability' at times to make finals and win championships The Reds: Because along with NSW, most of the supporters live there The Rebels: up until this season they were on the improve and had played more exciting rugby The Rebels: Melbourne is only 1 1/2 - 2 hours away (not 5 hrs) and same time (ex AEDT 1 hr) The Rebels: While the Force are operating the ARU will give them hosting rights for tests against South Africa which is like handing over home ground advantage You should also note that the Force haven't necessarily improved, the other Aus teams have just gotten worse and would be better off not propping up the Force with East Coast players
Crash Ball2
Guest
Let's not over-egg the ruck stats TWAS. I wouldn't be too concerned about George Smith's defence. As "the most penalised player at the ruck", Smith has been deemed to have infringed 5 times this season. Given we've just completed Round 14, that's about one ruck infringement every 3 games. Might be troublesome for a winger, but possibly not the best openside flanker Australia has ever produced. Stiles was - rightfully - ticked off because a glut of those penalties occurred in one game (which also blew out his stats). But even looking at that game, Smith's freakish positives vastly outweighed the negatives in the win. Meanwhile, across all teams and the entire competition: 2nd most tackles made (with the 2nd highest completion rate!), 3rd most turnovers won (with no account of the glut of ruck disruptions and slow downs he has affected) and the only bloke wearing a 7 jersey I've ever seen replace a halfback and feed a scrum.
Oblonsky‘s Other Pun
Roar Guru
Rhys, pilfering at the breakdown is a less important skill than it once was. Now it is more common to simply fan out and use a fast rush defence to force a mistake/turnover or force the opposition to kick. But you're right, all the players should be able to get in their and pilfer when appropriate. Latu does it really well, Karmichael Hunt does it well, and TK, Kerevi and Speight all do it too. It's good to see.
Rhys Bosley
Guest
Glad to hear you lagged as much reading it as I did watching it :-)
Rhys Bosley
Guest
TWAS, in my opinion Australia relies far to much on the pilfering 7 to get turnovers, something New Zealand did away with a decade or so ago. When one player has to do all the dirty work of course he will get the bad reputation. Winning ball needs to be a whole of team effort by multiple means, Australia hasn't caught onto that yet.
Harty
Roar Rookie
They tried last year. Jake McIntyre was the best they came up with...
Harty
Roar Rookie
Thanks for your article Rhys. As you correctly say Stiles must take responsibility for the performance. It is his job to fix it. Your point regarding Higginbotham for captain is well made and given his previous experience, kind of obvious (in hindsight). I'm surprised I haven't heard it earlier. I too thought Frisby's selection on the weekend was mystifying. This season his decision making is poor and service very slow. Wayne Bennett used to say coaching was knowing the difference between who needed a kick up the backside and who needed a cuddle. I'm not sure Stiles has worked this out yet.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Well Rhys it's unsurprising. Smith was the most penalized player at the ruck before the game. Even after the game and giving away no penalties he is still equal most with Meakes. When you are the most penalized you are likely to be a bit tentative about competing. The other thing is if you aren't competing in the ruck as much you can set the defensive line quicker and wider so it's not a complete negative. Consider this. Only one NZ player has conceded more than 2 ruck penalties across the season. The top player in the comp for turnovers won is 17. There are 6 Aus players in double figures (of 10 across the comp). The top NZ player is 8. It seems competing in the ruck by pushing the boundaries is not the most effective way to play. If you look at penalties conceded for offside, there are 8 players who have conceded more than 3 with 3 being NZ players. There is more NZ players who have conceded 3 across the season than anybody else. It seems targeting the offside line rather than the ruck is what the most effective teams have done.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Really? They have no problem ad-libbing on attack and completely varying what they are doing as well as taking risks that result in dropped balls. The runner must be doing a good job getting the messages out to vary the attack since they are so under duress they are afraid to do anything.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
You said that Stiles wasn't a good coach and it was apparent before his appointment that he wouldn't due to not being a good player. His playing ability has nothing to do with his coaching ability. And I guess he's just one of those cases of a guy who wasn't even good, playing for a test team that was the best in the world at the time he played. Plenty of them I guess...
Jibba Jabba
Roar Guru
Speights... uuugh ... reb & twas should be made to drink the stuff, that'll shut them up... in retrospect maybe not twassie...
Kirky
Roar Rookie
Rhys! Spot on mate, the Reds players are operating under duress and no players who are placed in an environment whereby they're scared to move in case they do it wrong and because of it will, very likely get their heads ripped off by the Coach after the game ~ they just won't play for the guy!
Kirky
Roar Rookie
Seeing as the Reds and the Rebels are the worst performing teams, why are they both not on the chopping block?
Kirky
Roar Rookie
Piru! ~ Thanks mate, you saved me the problem of a reply to the said individual! Carn the Force! and Speights forever!