Staff Andrew Webster

[snake77]

I've always felt it would be good to give a coach an opportunity to work through issues. Either a bad year or a bad run of form. It also needs to be the right coach. Some of our previous coaches I wouldn't have had much faith in doing that.

We did this with Cleary and he got to turn around some bad years and learnt from them.

Webster after last year has built up some faith/leeway.

This to me ties into some of the comments posted earlier about the teams with long term coaches and stability.

The Raiders had some pretty rough years under Stuart to begin with. They are having more consistent years now. Some of the long term coaches it might be time to move on or it will be interesting to see how they rebuild. Thinking of Arthur and Robinson here. I would rather be in the Eels position of being in the finals reasonably consistently and be debating how you go from a top 4 finish to Grand Finalist or Premiers.

Our success last year has pushed expectations up and to be honest that is great after the previous 10 years. If this form slump lasts long enough to derail our season (can mount a case now or after the next two tough weeks) and we fail to make the 8. I don't want to hear talk of premiership windows being pushed out to 2025 or 2026. We had it years ago where it was supposed to be 2021 than 2023. If this year is falls apart due to form, injury or whatever they need to learn from it and turn it around next year.

 

[Makasene]

Im confused. No team can recover from 0-2 start? Or just the Warriors are so mentally weak, we cant recover from an 0-2 start?

Neither of those is what I posted.

We started the season 0-2 and haven't recovered.

I'm not saying we can't recover but I think you probably are - which is fine. I'm pretty close to being there too.

Particularly after the Melbourne loss there was a real wtf atmosphere.

As for our mental strength, think it takes more than one home finals game every 10 years to rid all those demons.

 

[snake77]

When Webster was first announced and was making statements in the media about how his team would play, being resilient, great defence etc. Or how he would have high expectations etc I though it was all stuff we had heard before and toning it down might be a good idea.

Last year I was happy to admit he managing to deliver on those things.

If you praise those things when we are winning it is also fair to critique them when we are struggling. As much as the no excuses mantra is good as we have had too many coaches who have hid behind them. It might pay for him to tone down some of the positivity. Like being excited by the injury list or what other thing they need to work through. It is kind of like Homer Simpson chasing down that pig and more keeps happening to it and he's "It's all good".

The press conferences he was great to listen to last year. As we get more in a hole it might pay to take a less is more approach and be like the other coaches. Just say it wasn't acceptable and keep it short.

 

[Beastmode]

The press conferences he was great to listen to last year. As we get more in a hole it might pay to take a less is more approach and be like the other coaches. Just say it wasn't acceptable and keep it short.

Yeah this is good feedback for him

When you win - be an open book

When you lose - close the book, and keep your answers short.

I would respect Webby more if he has dark side to his open transparent personality. The dark side comes out when we lose.

 

[ShaunJohnson7]

The concept of sack x thread no longer exists on this forum. All discussions on player/coach whether good/bad goes directly in the persons thread. This is so we can look back and find all the naysayers when we go onto win the comp in... nah jokes.

Its just more organised this way and better to just have one thread per player than multiple ones to read the differing opinions.

What about a Montoya's residual value 1.0 thread?

 

[Cces]

View: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3A6zq7jdGwRYqENNYhdbeR?si=_BtMG4aWRXGsFbEtiRH1jg

 

[Christchurch_Warrior]

View: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3A6zq7jdGwRYqENNYhdbeR?si=_BtMG4aWRXGsFbEtiRH1jg

He knows what needs to be done and it sounds like we may have more attack on the left which would be good. I am still worried about how he uses the bench. Pompey was used incase of injury to an outside back.... Why not carry a back rower on the bench and push a starting back rower to centre like most clubs. If Pompey could cover the halves or hooker it would be a no brainer to carry him on the bench.

All I can say is he has a way smarter football brain than me and bench use aside I think he will eventually deliver us a GF. His bench use is still going to do my head in though.

 

[Inruin]

He knows what needs to be done and it sounds like we may have more attack on the left which would be good. I am still worried about how he uses the bench. Pompey was used incase of injury to an outside back.... Why not carry a back rower on the bench and push a starting back rower to centre like most clubs. If Pompey could cover the halves or hooker it would be a no brainer to carry him on the bench.

All I can say is he has a way smarter football brain than me and bench use aside I think he will eventually deliver us a GF. His bench use is still going to do my head in though.

The bench we have named gives us Walker who can cover centre or halves, Jazz can cover hooker. RTS can cover fullback or wing. Ale and Zyon Maiu’u for some size. Pompey is essentially redundant as a bench option. Seems like a bizarre choice, especially after the talk preseason about reducing certain players GameDay workloads through the year.

 

[#robbiemears]

I think with Webby we need to view everything he does through an extreme 'risk averse' filter. He seems to have a genuine phobia of leaving anything to chance. We're all different: that's just the way he's wired. Which is why offloads are so rare in his system (it could lead to turnovers); why he carries Pompey on the bench (just in case there's an injury to an outside back); why the team rarely contests kicks (there's a decent chance it could go wrong); why they rely so heavily on right edge set plays (if they execute them well, there's a good probability they could lead to points); why he only reluctantly makes changes to his 17 each week (there's always an unknown when changing combinations); and why he leaves his key players on the field for so long (the team is theoretically stronger when the best 13 are all playing). Every decision and action seems to be taken with the deliberate intent of reducing the impact of chance or luck and conversely increasing the likelihood of a successful outcome. This approach makes it challenging to pivot - at least quickly. But the flipside is that when it's executed to near perfection, it can swing the pendulum of momentum very swiftly in your direction. Which is what we saw during 2023.

 

[BangBro's (still banging)]

I think with Webby we need to view everything he does through an extreme 'risk averse' filter. He seems to have a genuine phobia of leaving anything to chance. We're all different: that's just the way he's wired. Which is why offloads are so rare in his system (it could lead to turnovers); why he carries Pompey on the bench (just in case there's an injury to an outside back); why the team rarely contests kicks (there's a decent chance it could go wrong); why they rely so heavily on right edge set plays (if they execute them well, there's a good probability they could lead to points); why he only reluctantly makes changes to his 17 each week (there's always an unknown when changing combinations); and why he leaves his key players on the field for so long (the team is theoretically stronger when the best 13 are all playing). Every decision and action seems to be taken with the deliberate intent of reducing the impact of chance or luck and conversely increasing the likelihood of a successful outcome. This approach makes it challenging to pivot - at least quickly. But the flipside is that when it's executed to near perfection, it can swing the pendulum of momentum very swiftly in your direction. Which is what we saw during 2023.

A blessing and a curse!

 

[Stalefish540]

I think with Webby we need to view everything he does through an extreme 'risk averse' filter. He seems to have a genuine phobia of leaving anything to chance. We're all different: that's just the way he's wired. Which is why offloads are so rare in his system (it could lead to turnovers); why he carries Pompey on the bench (just in case there's an injury to an outside back); why the team rarely contests kicks (there's a decent chance it could go wrong); why they rely so heavily on right edge set plays (if they execute them well, there's a good probability they could lead to points); why he only reluctantly makes changes to his 17 each week (there's always an unknown when changing combinations); and why he leaves his key players on the field for so long (the team is theoretically stronger when the best 13 are all playing). Every decision and action seems to be taken with the deliberate intent of reducing the impact of chance or luck and conversely increasing the likelihood of a successful outcome. This approach makes it challenging to pivot - at least quickly. But the flipside is that when it's executed to near perfection, it can swing the pendulum of momentum very swiftly in your direction. Which is what we saw during 2023.

I see Webby here long term, so hopefully at least some of this is down to being a new first grade coach and it softens as he becomes more experienced in the head coach role.

 

[Wrighty]

Webster dared to dream that the 2022 15th placed warriors could win the premiership in 2023. And he gave it a fair shake.
Only someone with an extreme amount of positive thinking would aim for that goal.
To #robbiemears point about him having a conversative lens. He also has a positivity lens on everything.

 

[Lets Eat (YeahNah)]

I think with Webby we need to view everything he does through an extreme 'risk averse' filter. He seems to have a genuine phobia of leaving anything to chance. We're all different: that's just the way he's wired. Which is why offloads are so rare in his system (it could lead to turnovers); why he carries Pompey on the bench (just in case there's an injury to an outside back); why the team rarely contests kicks (there's a decent chance it could go wrong); why they rely so heavily on right edge set plays (if they execute them well, there's a good probability they could lead to points); why he only reluctantly makes changes to his 17 each week (there's always an unknown when changing combinations); and why he leaves his key players on the field for so long (the team is theoretically stronger when the best 13 are all playing). Every decision and action seems to be taken with the deliberate intent of reducing the impact of chance or luck and conversely increasing the likelihood of a successful outcome. This approach makes it challenging to pivot - at least quickly. But the flipside is that when it's executed to near perfection, it can swing the pendulum of momentum very swiftly in your direction. Which is what we saw during 2023.

Can a coach with this skill set adapt and change or will await until all the pieces fall in place like 2023

2024 and the opposition is ready and waiting for us

Feels a little “trust the process”, why no line up changes and blooding in young’s legs with moderate minutes and we really need to score points, webby seems like a thinker or is he tangled in his own thoughts

 

[Dlenai]

View: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3A6zq7jdGwRYqENNYhdbeR?si=_BtMG4aWRXGsFbEtiRH1jg%5B/URL}

He said everything I wanted to hear. Just hope we have the right cattle, because he is the right coach for us

 

[wizard of Tauranga]

I think with Webby we need to view everything he does through an extreme 'risk averse' filter. He seems to have a genuine phobia of leaving anything to chance. We're all different: that's just the way he's wired. Which is why offloads are so rare in his system (it could lead to turnovers); why he carries Pompey on the bench (just in case there's an injury to an outside back); why the team rarely contests kicks (there's a decent chance it could go wrong); why they rely so heavily on right edge set plays (if they execute them well, there's a good probability they could lead to points); why he only reluctantly makes changes to his 17 each week (there's always an unknown when changing combinations); and why he leaves his key players on the field for so long (the team is theoretically stronger when the best 13 are all playing). Every decision and action seems to be taken with the deliberate intent of reducing the impact of chance or luck and conversely increasing the likelihood of a successful outcome. This approach makes it challenging to pivot - at least quickly. But the flipside is that when it's executed to near perfection, it can swing the pendulum of momentum very swiftly in your direction. Which is what we saw during 2023.

Is it ‘risk averse’ or making moneyball decisions that are statistically the best chance (safest?).

And if he’s based his whole coaching philosophy on statistically better options, where does his data set come from if trends or variables change?

 

[MrFrankWhite]

He knows what needs to be done and it sounds like we may have more attack on the left which would be good. I am still worried about how he uses the bench. Pompey was used incase of injury to an outside back.... Why not carry a back rower on the bench and push a starting back rower to centre like most clubs. If Pompey could cover the halves or hooker it would be a no brainer to carry him on the bench.

All I can say is he has a way smarter football brain than me and bench use aside I think he will eventually deliver us a GF. His bench use is still going to do my head in though.

He said he knew what was going wrong before the Knights game...

 

[Damo]

He said he knew what was going wrong before the Knights game...

Just because he knows what is wrong doesn't mean the players WILL fix it instantly, there's 17 other blokes trying to stop you doing exactly that.

 

[MrFrankWhite]

I think with Webby we need to view everything he does through an extreme 'risk averse' filter. He seems to have a genuine phobia of leaving anything to chance. We're all different: that's just the way he's wired. Which is why offloads are so rare in his system (it could lead to turnovers); why he carries Pompey on the bench (just in case there's an injury to an outside back); why the team rarely contests kicks (there's a decent chance it could go wrong); why they rely so heavily on right edge set plays (if they execute them well, there's a good probability they could lead to points); why he only reluctantly makes changes to his 17 each week (there's always an unknown when changing combinations); and why he leaves his key players on the field for so long (the team is theoretically stronger when the best 13 are all playing). Every decision and action seems to be taken with the deliberate intent of reducing the impact of chance or luck and conversely increasing the likelihood of a successful outcome. This approach makes it challenging to pivot - at least quickly. But the flipside is that when it's executed to near perfection, it can swing the pendulum of momentum very swiftly in your direction. Which is what we saw during 2023.

That sounds like micro management... As well as just wrong. 6 of the top 8 lead the offload count. We saw in the heat map analysis the Warriors are the most one dimensional. Guess who leads the league in one pass hitups?


Everybody has a plan until they are punched in the face. And its starting to look like Webby cant take a punch...

 

[run_it_str8_again]

He said he knew what was going wrong before the Knights game...

Knowing what's wrong and being able to coach it in or out of the team isn't happening so far. I think this bloke can but it's a question of how long I can wait for us to keep not winning the comp

 

[Makasene]

Knowing what's wrong and being able to coach it in or out of the team isn't happening so far. I think this bloke can but it's a question of how long I can wait for us to keep not winning the comp

I can wait forever to win the comp. Obviously don't want to but making deep finals runs each year should be the goal. Winning the comp is the icing.

Sadly at the moment, irrational selections and rotations is going to cost us the 8.

Selecting a centre on the bench in case a back gets an injury all the while letting the opposition get on top through the middle was SK 1.0