Pressure cranks on Titans coach Cartwright

[Titan4Life]

Pressure cranks on Titans coach Cartwright
AAP
IAN MCCULLOUGH
July 13, 2014, 5:13 pm

The last thing Gold Coast coach John Cartwright needed three days after Wayne Bennett announced he's looking for a new job next year was a big home defeat to a struggling Canberra side.

The former Test forward has been at the helm of the Titans since the club's debut season in 2007 and is believed to have one of the most secure jobs in the NRL.


Cartwright guided the club to its best-ever finish in 2010 when the Titans reached the preliminary final and was rewarded with a five-year contract.

However, that was the last time the Titans finished in the top eight and Sunday's 36-20 loss to second-last Canberra was the seventh defeat in their past eight games - and a sixth straight at Cbus Super Stadium.

Since signing his current deal, which expires at the end of 2016, Cartwright has won just 34 of 88 games.

And the availability of Bennett, who quits Newcastle at the end of this season, is certain to increase speculation about his future with the former Brisbane and St George Illawarra coach's family still based in south-east Queensland.

The seven-time premiership-winning mentor celebrated 700 games with a remarkable 31-18 win over a Cronulla side that led 18-0 two minutes before halftime.

Knights fullback Darius Boyd, in a rare interview, said Bennett, who is the only coach he has ever played under, let his players know his displeasure at halftime.

"He wasn't happy at all ... but to get a win for him in his 700th game was pretty pleasing," Boyd told Triple M radio.

The Queensland star also said he had no regrets about his behaviour towards a Network Seven journalist who approached him getting into his car after Wednesday's State of Origin clash and explained why he dislikes the media so much.

"The way they came at me without asking me if I wanted to do an interview, I didn't like it," he said.

"I felt like I did something wrong which I hadn't.

"If I'd agreed to the interview then fine, but I didn't like the way that she bombarded me.

"I've had too many run-ins, with bad stories ... I know it is part of the game, but I don't like it."

On Saturday the Warriors moved up to sixth spot on the ladder with a 48-0 win over Parramatta to make it five wins in the last six games.

Two tries from Sam Tomkins and Shaun Johnson's 20-point haul were key to the win but coach Andrew McFadden, who replaced Matt Elliott in round five, said it was too early to start thinking about a top-four finish.

"We've just got to keep working hard," McFadden said.

"Points don't always come that easy and it definitely won't next week against Brisbane so we certainly can't get too far ahead of ourselves."

For the Eels it was a disastrous result with talisman Jarryd Hayne missing the game following his State of Origin exertions.

It was the 22nd time in 26 games the Eels have lost when the superstar fullback has been unavailable.

Canterbury scored a first win in Melbourne in nine years on Saturday, holding out the Storm 6-4 in an arm wrestle of a game at AAMI Park.

The Bulldogs are second on the ladder on points differential to Manly who saw off Wests Tigers 40-8 on Friday.

[Mexican titan]

The article implies that Carty was offered a five year contract after us making the finals in 2010. He was offered the 5 year contract a few years after that, when things were already on the downward spiral.
And to think the bloke that gave him the 5 year deal was once mentioned as the future CEO of the NRL.

[TITAN PETE]

Pressure cranks on Titans coach Cartwright
AAP
IAN MCCULLOUGH
July 13, 2014, 5:13 pm

The last thing Gold Coast coach John Cartwright needed three days after Wayne Bennett announced he's looking for a new job next year was a big home defeat to a struggling Canberra side.

The former Test forward has been at the helm of the Titans since the club's debut season in 2007 and is believed to have one of the most secure jobs in the NRL.


.

It may be 3 years too late but Tick Tock

[Bayside Titan]

It may be 3 years too late but Tick Tock

Agree. In three years time all that will be left will be bones.

[DavidBouveng]

The article implies that Carty was offered a five year contract after us making the finals in 2010. He was offered the 5 year contract a few years after that, when things were already on the downward spiral.
And to think the bloke that gave him the 5 year deal was once mentioned as the future CEO of the NRL.

i think the contract was offered before 2010, when we were losing in 2009 to boost confidence, but it took effect after current contract so it started in 2011 or something?

[Titanic]

Not that it matters in the least, I thought he was offered it just prior to pre-season 2011 (hence the expiry date of 2016) as a way to keep him because his old contract was due to expire at the end of 2011 and Searle was worried about getting lonely.

[C-Whiz]

Pretty sure it was offered because the Titans didn't want to get into a bidding war for Cartwrights signature.

[Mexican titan]

Cartwright under dark cloud at Titans

Photo Source: AAP

John Cartwright's long coaching reign at the Gold Coast appears on borrowed time after the Titans board announced a comprehensive review of the cash-strapped NRL club's operations.

Cartwright has two years left to run on his current five-year contract but the Titans currently languish in 13th place and have only made two finals series in their nine-season existence.

The dearth of success has often placed the former Penrith international under pressure but he's traditionally received strong support at board level.

However an open admission from the board that team performance had been "unsatisfactory" has put a dark cloud over Cartwright's future.

With master coach Wayne Bennett now a free agent and looking for a new club, the Titans can be added to the list of potential homes for the seven-time premiership mentor.

In a club statement, the Titans said the board had on Wednesday resolved to immediately begin a complete review of operations both on and off the field.

"The board openly concedes team performance has recently been unsatisfactory despite a tough injury toll in the past three months and this has had an extensive effect on the business as a whole," the statement read.

Chief executive Graham Annesley conceded Cartwright's long tenure and this season's disappointing results had placed a spotlight on the coach.

But Annesley stressed the board needed to review every area of the club's operations to fix their problems, highlighted by a worrying drop in crowd attendance at Robina.

"I don't think anyone should focus on the coach," he told AAP. "All aspects of the business needs to be reviewed.

"The knee-jerk reaction would be just to blame the coach but they (the board) don't want to make a knee-jerk reaction."

Cartwright admitted himself after the Titans' last-start upset loss to Canberra that he was under the gun from critics calling for his head.

"No doubt they'll be out there in force," he said after the 36-20 defeat. "You've got to be numb, though. You can't listen to it.

"You can't let it affect the way your team sees you or let it affect your approach through the week."

Chairperson Rebecca Frizelle said the Titans needed to move quickly to restore confidence in the club and promised they would make the "tough decisions" required.

"Rarely are problems caused by a single factor, therefore rarely will a single response lead to long term improvement.

"The board needs to fully understand the reasons for under-performance across the entire business and act accordingly.

"Clearly, crowds and revenue are affected by team performance, so we cannot sit on our hands in the hope things will improve without an appropriate strategy in place."

©2014 AAP

[Smakked]

So all this reading and what they are saying it has me thinking that cartwright is safe. They are going to blame someone else, and probably give him another 5 years

[ozynorts]

Here is a couple of classics from the press release after the 5 yr deal was announced.
"Gold Coast founder Michael Searle compared John Cartwright to greats Wayne Bennett and Phil Gould as he extended the foundation coach's tenure at the NRL club to nine years."
Goes to show how deluded Searle is.

"Just two years after the NRL witnessed the biggest coaching merry go-round in its history, the Titans' glowing endorsement allows Cartwright the luxury to plan long-term even as he eyes an inaugural premiership that could come much sooner."

So he has had the luxury to plan long term and this is what he serves up?
That was Feb 15 2011 and his repayment to the club for their loyalty was a wooden spoon.

[Titanic]

Bird has been quoted as saying "Cartwright is the heart and soul of the club" … well we have a heart the size of a pea and the soul of a retirement village.

[TITAN PETE]

Bailey: 'It's us against the world'
By Tony Webeck, Chief Queensland Correspondent
NRL.com
7:00am Fri 18th July, 2014


Senior Titans players have vowed to adopt the siege mentality that has served other NRL clubs so well over the years in order to not only rescue their season but also save coach John Cartwright from the sack.

Since the Gold Coast board announced on Wednesday that they would be conducting a complete review of the club's operations, speculation has intensified that Cartwright's tenure as foundation coach is no longer safe despite having a further two years to run on his contract.

Titans CEO Graham Annesley reaffirmed earlier statements that the club was not vying for the services of outgoing Knights coach Wayne Bennett as senior players Luke Bailey and Greg Bird both gave their full support to Cartwright retaining his position.

Given the emotion that will surround the Titans' match against Newcastle on Sunday which will serve as the centrepiece of the Rise For Alex Round this weekend, the challenge of bouncing back from a disappointing loss to the Raiders last week seems great.

But rather than splinter into a thousand pieces, Bailey for one believes that it is time for the team that led the competition after six rounds to become a tighter unit than they have previously shown in their short history.

"It makes you stick together. It's us against the rest of the world sort of approach and that's what we need heading into a game like this," Bailey said of the internal review. "It is us against the world down there, it's all a fairytale for a Newcastle win so it's an us-against-the-world attitude and go down there and try and steal two points.

"[The loss to Canberra] was the final kick up the butt that we needed collectively as a team and the only thing we can do is go down to a grand final-like atmosphere down there and bring home two points.

"They're not great stats [qualifying for the finals twice in eight years] and I've wanted to play finals football every year that I've been here and I still think we're capable of doing it this year.

"You can't dwell too much on what's happened in the past, we've just got to worry about winning a few games in a row. We've definitely made it tough on ourselves but I think it's achievable."

Co-captain Greg Bird will miss the opportunity to run out in front of a packed Hunter Stadium on Sunday due to the suspension he incurred from Origin III and insists that those currently in leadership positions at the club are the ones who can lead them out of their current crisis.

"There's pressure on everybody, it's not just 'Carty'. There's pressure on everybody and it's everybody's responsibility to get together and fight our way out of this," Bird said.

"We've potentially got the team to do it because we have won games at the start of the season with a very similar playing roster. It's not just clicking the fingers or picking one thing we can improve on, it's going to take a combined effort from everyone to get in and fix our performances.

"Carty has been the heart and soul of this squad for a very long time now and I know all the players are going to stick by him no matter what.

"[The fans] are entitled to their opinion and like everyone else they want an answer for why we're not winning football games. I wish I could give it to them but the best people to get us out of this are here right now and that's John and Neil (Henry, assistant coach), myself, Nate (Myles) and the senior players in this squad.

"We've got to get together and get this squad back into a winning frame of mind and some confidence and I know we can make a run into the semis."

While the spotlight has been pointed directly at Cartwright in the wake of the review's announcement, Annesley highlighted the need to address all areas of the business in order to ensure the Titans have a prosperous future on the Gold Coast.

"The club is OK [financially]. Like all rugby league clubs we could be in a lot better position," Annesley said. "It's a long process, you can't wave a magic wand over things that have been created over a long period of time.

"It's common knowledge that this club is fighting its way back from some pretty difficult times and that's going to be an ongoing process and that's why the board are motivated to try and make the right decisions for the future to ensure the sustainability of this club in the long term.

"This is not a John Cartwright witch-hunt; this is about all aspects of our business. We've got a whole range of issues that we need to confront.

"On-field performance is one of them but that ebbs and flows, that's part of sport. We've got other issues around our revenue, stadium access; we've got a whole range of issues that the board wants to be armed with the right information before they make any decisions."

[Toads]

Somehow I don't think it's much good for the squad (or management) to take on the "us versus the world" approach. That's basically shutting themselves off to the remaining fans, let alone how that may be seen by sponsors etc..

[nimud]

Somehow I don't think it's much good for the squad (or management) to take on the "us versus the world" approach. That's basically shutting themselves off to the remaining fans, let alone how that may be seen by sponsors etc..

I don't think then players are suggesting that. It sounded like the video session earlier in the week was a corker, and the players are now revved up.

As for Bird's open support for Carty, he is not going to come out and say "Carty has to go". We all know very well the whole "father figure" aura Cartwright exudes with his players. Doesn't mean he's a good coach though. Just a mentor.

You'd think Knights players may have dropped their bundle with Bennett announcing his departure, but they got one with it, cause all that matters is getting paid and playing to these guys (and rightfully so).

[ozynorts]

Bailey: 'It's us against the world'
By Tony Webeck, Chief Queensland Correspondent
NRL.com
7:00am Fri 18th July, 2014


"[The loss to Canberra] was the final kick up the butt that we needed collectively as a team and the only thing we can do is go down to a grand final-like atmosphere down there and bring home two points.

WTF? The final kick up the butt?? Seriously.... Lost for words

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