Sydney Roosters are the NRL benchmark, but why?

Fact is there is no junior base and who are 15 of 21 playing now in NRL have never played 1st grade for another club?

"The Roosters and the Storm are on average a few seconds faster than the rest of the clubs, and to me, that is huge." They are also a few seconds longer in the tackle which is an even bigger reason for their success!

Well. the Roosters are the benchmark yet the Rabbitohs accounted with them with ease! The rabbitohs also have players out GI, Doueihi and G Burgess for the first 3 rounds yet replacements slotted in with ease. It is the Rorters defence that is the real difference but the referees always allow the Rorts and the Storm to lay all over other teams in the play the ball to set their defences whilst other teams are told to release early and are always on the back peddle. The Storm V Cows game was disgusting one-sided refereeing. The Rorts get the rub of the green in every game they play.

Speed trumps size in the forwards these days. Power comes from mass and speed and someone 5kgs lighter whose twice as fast will do more damage. Cordner and Tariq Sims are fast are perfect prototypes of the modern day forward. Everything starts from Hooker and a good one has a bigger say on your teams go forward than anyone. Smith is a legend and Friend’s crisp delivery so underrated. Fittler chose a lightning fast blues pack last year with a sprinkling of hard men and toillers. Tough men like Klemmer and Taumalolo still have a place as they hurt and tire the opposition whilst making effective metres. The past Broncos pack containing Webke, Thorn, Carroll, Petero etc would dominate oppositions of their time but in today’s game would struggle to bend defensive lines. Cook lacks Smiths finesse but posseses explosive dummy half speed which keeps markers and A and B defenders honest. The Raiders with Hodgson back and healthy look a completely different team and it shouldn’t come as a surprise. I remember A Johns ranting many years ago that the game would become 17 2nd rowers on each team list and he was bang on in many ways. He saw the effectiveness of fast 95-100kg men hitting holes over bigger, slower forwards and small haves creating holes off this. Small halves haven’t and probably won’t disappear but the 9 has now replaced the 7 as the most influential player on the field for most sides.

Yeah understand and agree with everything you said. I'm so glad you added the last paragraph though.

Cap Management is the biggest factor in running a club. When ever the roosters have signed a marquee player they have shed 1 or, or 2 or more players the prior season. The problem for the poorer clubs is obviously paying overs but also not managing contracts so players are constantly being moved on when they don't perform as expected and they have back ended the deals. ALA the Bulldogs current situation.

The best run club is likely to be best run for a number of reasons that could be replicated in a different location. If being best run, means you can engage the business community competently to source a good deal of sponsors and TPAs then it stands to reason that this can be replicated elsewhere. If being best run means you can identify and develop talent despite having a smaller catchment of juniors, then it also stands to reason that location shouldn't be a barrier for on field success. The quickest way to win over fans, is on field success, so a successful club should in theory gain fans more rapidly. If we throw in a badly run club up for relocation, being relocated won't magically correct it's failings in administration and on field performance, those bad things will just follow and will likely become an even bigger burden to the NRL if they have to prop that club up. That's just the theoretical part, now whether it actually works in practice is another thing.

I think 2016 is the year that made Robbo a better coach, a blessing in disguise. He is one who can learn from mistakes and takes things on board. I believe Robbo is forever adapting and in 5 years time he and Bellyache will be mentioned in the same breath. Cronk is just exceptional.

True but the Storm had their worst run of injuries in 2016 as well and still made the GF. Worst was Slater in round 1 gone for the season. Lost Curtis Scott for the season and Chambers for 3 months. Used 27 players in that season the 3rd most on any side in NRL history. There was much more and you can read all about it here. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-27/nrl-grand-final-melbourne-storm-injury-woes-in-2016-season/7880624 As I said Robinson lost Pearce for extended time and a few injuries and his side came 15th. Bellamy loses Slater for the season in the first game and had the worst injury run in his tenure and still made the GF.

Who says no one wanted to give Keary a decent contract in 2016? From memory I can remember at least one club St George willing to get him and they were pretty much outgunned by the Roosters for his signature. I also didn't say Munster was a busted donkey but he was in his 3rd year of NRL and only his 2nd playing in the number 6 which he hadn't played since his juniors. So Bellamy had a Rookie in Croft and a second year 6 in Munster proving my point that he didn't need to go out and buy spine replacements and used the juniors coming through the Storm system.

Clubs have to find a way of assessing coaches because they either have to keep the one they'e got or find one they think is better. Do you think Robinson would do any better than Pay? Based on the history of highly regarded coaches moving clubs I would guess he would make little difference but I have zero proof. Hasler had every thing in his favor to win a title at the Dogs but ultimately did he do any better than previous coaches?

It’s a good point but I think you can start that assessment process once a coach has had to turn over a large part of their roster. He is replacing good players with good players but there’s an art to it y tactics need to evolve. The Roosters finished 13th and 11th in the two years before Robinson started so it’s not like they were flying high.

You're right! So only Ferguson

I think Carney went to fullback under Brian Smith.

Can someone explain to me why there would be Any reason for the best run club in the NRL to be relocated as has been suggested?

Hold on so keary was this obvious vaunted talent in 2016 (but for some reason no one wanted to give him a decent contract) but Munster was a busted donkey prior to last year (depiste having played origin already)?

To be fair didn't Robbo do that with Carney and Ferguson

It's hard to assess coaches like Robinson who have only been at one strong club. Ricky Stuart looked just as good for most of his time at Chook land but it appears that his success had much more to do with his players and his timing than his superior ability as a coach. Tim Sheens was the same, world beater when he had the right team but pretty pedestrian without the stars. Green and Seibold were the flavor of the year recently but will both have plenty of time to play golf if they can't live up to their potential super coach label in the next year or two. The Chooks are doing a lot right but would they have won any titles without recruiting players like Fittler, SBW , Tedesco and Cronk? I would argue that recruitment is the key to their success. Often the turn around in players like Keary is credited to the coaches but anyone who has played team sports knows that you tend to play a lot better with key players in your team and you tend not to overplay your role if you are confident in your team mates. Haslers first spell at Manly resulted in heaps of players hitting a peak and others exceeding expectations but he couldn't repeat this at the Dogs. I put it down largely to players like the Stewart brothers and others dragging the rest along with them. The Turbo brothers and others could do the same.

The only reason storm are so good is because the refs give them more latitude than any other club gets when it comes to lying over or holding on to players in tackles and they are allowed to stand offside and rush up all game. BLIND Freddy can see that.

he is also 4 years more experienced