Dean young

[Zen]

I like what Fien has done with the Dolphins attack. It's all well and good to say "oh he has Cobbo, Farnworth, Hammer etc" and yeah all of these are able to produce magic from nothing... but to truly succeed over the season you need a consistent and, importantly, repeatable structure to your offense. What I think Fien identified (and I've heard him mention this in interviews) which really unlocked the potency of the Dolphins attack, was the importance and talents of a good ballplaying middle. Plath and Donoghoe were such underrated factors in that team. Excited to see what Fien and Young can do with Connor Watson next year and then Hamish Stewart when he eventually takes over.

 

[Dave03]

I like what Fien has done with the Dolphins attack. It's all well and good to say "oh he has Cobbo, Farnworth, Hammer etc" and yeah all of these are able to produce magic from nothing... but to truly succeed over the season you need a consistent and, importantly, repeatable structure to your offense. What I think Fien identified (and I've heard him mention this in interviews) which really unlocked the potency of the Dolphins attack, was the importance and talents of a good ballplaying middle. Plath and Donoghoe were such underrated factors in that team. Excited to see what Fien and Young can do with Connor Watson next year and then Hamish Stewart when he eventually takes over.

He's also coached Kodi, they'll already have a natural connection. It should be a bit easier to communicate & implement their ideas. It's good we've recruited coaches from successful organisations.

 

[Dave03]

It's clear he's doing it his way & has a clear mindset atm. Whether it's successful, who knows but the younger players have bought into what he's preaching. That's a good start.

 

[RufusRex]

One of the big things the Dolphins did right was bring a young halfback into 1st grade with structure/plan and turn him into an elite talent.
Katoa has to be the blueprint for Reed. If Kodi/Fien were instrumental in that then it will be great for Reeds progression.

 

[TheRev]

I think when Reed came in was our lowest point as a team also (very early deano days, anzac day etc).. we werent playing well at all.. I would have liked to have seen Kade get another few games end of season, that said his injury really limited things, took ages to come good... that said as much as Kyle gets criticised.. we did seem to do better when he was in the halves, obviously he has a pretty hard ceiling on how far he can take us... but as a stop gap he was useful.

Next year its all for Metcalf and Nikorima to run the show.. if we do cop an injury itll be interesting to see who is next up.. like all our young guys, the off-season is their time.. they get heaps of fitness and gym time, they train long periods with 1sts and will genuinely be trying to reinvent the squad.... and if the kids impress @ training, then they put themselves in as first drop for injury cover... compared to the rest of the year where they are really just trying to survive week to week NRL.. minimal training between matches.. minimal time to develop any new skills.. just playing through injury and surviving.. which does tbf get easier after a few years of that routine.

 

[jodragon40]

I like what Fien has done with the Dolphins attack. It's all well and good to say "oh he has Cobbo, Farnworth, Hammer etc" and yeah all of these are able to produce magic from nothing... but to truly succeed over the season you need a consistent and, importantly, repeatable structure to your offense. What I think Fien identified (and I've heard him mention this in interviews) which really unlocked the potency of the Dolphins attack, was the importance and talents of a good ballplaying middle. Plath and Donoghoe were such underrated factors in that team. Excited to see what Fien and Young can do with Connor Watson next year and then Hamish Stewart when he eventually takes over.

Look your right in what you say but you can have the best attacking structures and options but you need the cattle and quality of player to execute it.

What you are referring to with Plath and Donoghoe I use to call pods where you split your forwards into pods within your attacking structures. If the initial execution of your particular structure fails then that structure wont be effective.

I have no doubt our current forwards will be able to successfully execute their individual roles in our structures Im not so sure about our backs being able to do the same.

Fein will earn his stripes if he can get the same success he had with the 1 to 5 at the Dolphins with our 1 to 5. There is a big chasm between the two groups of players. Time will tell, im just speaking from my own personal experiences.