Coach has full support

[travelling_gerry]

Coach has full support



29th September 2008, 8:15 WST

Coach John Mitchell has the full support of Western Force administrators who consider his uncompromising manner necessary to accelerate the club from Super 14 rugby easybeats to title contenders.

A report emanating from Sydney yesterday claimed the club faced a revolt from players sufficiently unhappy with his abrasiveness to compile a dossier of grievances to be presented to the board.

The Force were aware of Mitchell’s martinet mannerisms when they hired him in 2005 and, after two years of feedback from players, extended his contract for a further four seasons in May 2007.

Chairman Geoff Stooke was unperturbed that Mitchell was not universally popular with players, pointing out the impossibility of a coach who doubled as head selector keeping everyone happy each week.


the rest from the West.......

[slomo]

yes Mitchell does have the support of the board, but its becoming increasingly evident, that he doesn't have the support of all the players.......

[travelling_gerry]

Seems the validity of this report yesterday was that John Wellborn had some "dossier".

The Australian reports of Welborns part..

"John Welborn took the time to call me to say the report of a recent player meeting was distorted and very disappointing," Fordham said in a statement.

[NTT]

Yeah, why on earth would the players representative on the board have a 'dossier' of player feedback??
The thing that gets me most is the apparent shock and scandal this standard procedure receives from the journalists.
I think Stooke says it all when he says that all of the off-field distractions and pressure had an effect on Mitchell and some players and the release had to come sometime.
For me, IMHO, if a player or two are too precious to handle being told to lift their game then they're are not the players we need to build the club.

[Cowboy]

Last year we threw away our season by not showing up mentally for the games against the Stormers and the Reds. I was starting to feel embarassed by half time against the Brumbies.
I don't care who a player thinks he is or how big the reputation if you don't show up ready to play as if it is the last chance you will get then you deserve to be told your effort is pathetic. If you have a spine you'll cop it on the chin.

[jargan83]

I was starting to feel embarassed by half time against the Brumbies.

Good thing you weren't AT Suncorp. That was most un-enjoyable
Posted via Mobile Device

[robyn <3]

Last year we threw away our season by not showing up mentally for the games against the Stormers and the Reds. I was starting to feel embarassed by half time against the Brumbies.
I don't care who a player thinks he is or how big the reputation if you don't show up ready to play as if it is the last chance you will get then you deserve to be told your effort is pathetic. If you have a spine you'll cop it on the chin.

EXACTLY! and its a coaches job to tell them what they are doing right and wrong. in the case of the brumbies game there was just a lot more wrong to tell. they should be mature enough and professional enough to handle critisism.

jeez, they should try having my netball coach if mitch is upsetting them!

[shasta]

A young Matt Giteau learned his trade surrounded by, Gregan, Larkham, Mortlock, & Co. They had a culture where the senior players had a lot of input. They were coached by a man who was unyeilding in his belief that, player input considered, he was the boss and made the decisions in the end. They won the comp the same year the coach was shown the door. Hope it's just coincidence.

[Cowboy]

I'm just hoping he didn't learn from the attitudes which lead to that coach departing.

[normie]

A report emanating from Sydney no less. The old boys have been at the sherry cabinet again.

[travelling_gerry]

from Rugbyrugby.com

Rugby news, results and features from RugbyRugby

Coach Mitchell to be Forced out?
2008-09-28 15:34:08

Australian Super 14 outfit Western Force are reportedly in turmoil after some of the team's senior players fell out with their belligerent coach John Mitchell.

According to the Sunday Telegraph, Mitchell faces a possible player revolt after personality clashes between the former All Black coach and some of the team's key players escalated to near breaking point.

The drama has allegedly split the Force dressing room, and some of the team's key players have reportedly compiled a 'dossier' of gripes against Mitchell.

This document will be presented to the Western Force board at their next meeting, via player representative board member John Wellborn.

"I caught up with the players recently and also the CEO Greg Harris and had a chat about any issues they've got," Wellborn told the Sunday Telegraph.

"The players have got a number of issues. Some of those are around the coaching structure, some of them are around administration.

"The players are very keen to do well next year and to have some input into how that can happen.

"One of the standard items on the agenda of any board meeting is a report from the players."

The problems at the Force have seemingly been a long time coming, and a bust-up between Mitchell and the players allegedly occurred during the Force's final Super 14 game of the season - a home match against the Brumbies in May.

During the half-time break, Mitchell stormed out of the changing room, which allegedly caused star flyhalf Matt Giteau to call on a team-mate to "lock the door behind him".

The matter will now have to be resolved by the Western Force board, and Chief Executive Greg Harris is keen to keep the details of the issue in-house.

"If there are any issues with the players, and I'm not saying there are, then at the end of the day they'll have to come through me to go to the board," Harris said.

"If there was to be anything handed to me, it would be something I would be handling internally and not something I'd be making a comment on at this stage.

"At this stage there's been nothing presented to me formally whatsoever and until such time as there is, there'll be nothing out of the board."

However, another Force official, Team Manager Mitch Hardy, denied any lingering problems between the players and their hot-tempered coach.

"Not one of them mentioned any issues at all with the coach," Hardy said, referring to the end-of-year reviews he conducted with the Force players.

"You get a bit of scuttlebutt every now and then, there was the whole incident with the Brumbies, but other than that there's been nothing."

[laura]

All this hoo-ha and speculation and rumour makes me want to swear, or become a journo and report what is actually happening, not dredge up 1 minor incident from months ago, make up the biggest load of tripe about it and then print it.

If someone wrote this many rumours about me I'd want to get away from it and at this rate they'll all be running for the nearest isolated island available, why live somewhere when people won't just let things be and leave you to do your thing!

Probably over-reacting a tad but seriously how many things can they use as 'evidence' of a player revolt and how many times can they re-hash the story

[Flamethrower]

And in more breaking news it has been confirmed the moon is not made of cheese.

[James]

Upset senior players couldn't amount to Scott Fava could it? He would have plenty of reasons to be bitter toward Mitch- demoted from Vice-Captaincy, got less game time when Horua and Brown hit form etc etc I don't think Mitch would have had too many kind words post the Quokka incident.

This report was circulating a month ago before SF had announced his departure.

[lara93]

Two of Western Force's Wallabies have distanced themselves from a reputed player revolt against coach John Mitchell brewing at Perry Lakes, with Richard Brown claiming it was a journalist getting excited at the "sniff" of a story.

Force officials were again left perplexed after more reports of a potentially damaging schism between senior players and senior coach emerged over the weekend, with a supposed dossier of grievances having been seen by former Force star and player's representative John Welborn.

With Mitchell only just back in the country after a trip to the Kokoda trail, his senior stars were gathering on the other side of the country to prepare for the Wallabies upcoming trip to Hong Kong and Europe.

And Brown and rising star James O'Connor both said they were taking little notice of the reports.

"It has not got much to do with me, I am pretty sure someone has got a sniff of something and then exaggerated the facts," Brown said.

"So what is going around in the media I don't pay much thought to it."

O'Connor, whose rapid rise under Mitchell in Perth could lead him to become the second youngest Wallaby in history, was also keen to distance himself from any acrimony at the club.
http://www.rugbyheaven.com.au/news/n...651041000.html