You know I think Matthew Elliott is a double agent. There can be no other reason for a coach to be so active in destroyed success.
After being a disaster in the UK and almost running the now successful Raiders out of the competition, Matthew Elliott has turned his attention to runining the Penrith Panthers.
Getting the wooden spoon in his first season was a good start, but it all went pear shaped when in early 2008 the players publicly come out and said what we all knew.
His game plan was shit, and they would no longer take any notice of it.
From that point on Penrith has played pretty well, with players doing more than one out hit ups, and younger players coming into the side.
But it will take more that a teaqm flooded with talent to end Elliotts plans.
Elliott decided to get rid of team leader Luke Priddis. Then he convinced the club to release Rhys Wesser to South Sydney….because you know, the secret to success is to offload Origin quality players.
Not content with deconstructing the teams lineup, Elliott has also been active in filling his coaching staff with mates.
Former Bradford conditioner Carl Jennings is now at Penrith, because you know, British Rugby League has always been at the cutting edge of fitness and training.
Ex Panthers and serial egotisitcal back stabber Matt Adamson is also part of the coaching staff, having gone from being a trainer to being in the coaches box.
Wayne Collins is also part of the coaching staff. He knows Elliott after a spell on Bradford’s community team while Elliott was in charge at Odsal
But Elliott can go you one better than that!
Penrith has signed ex Huddersfield coach Jon Sharp. Sharp, who had been sacked as Huddersfield coach and is all the way down working as a consultant for Featherstone, will head to Penrith as an assistant coach.
So the hot bed of Rugby League, the number one Rugby League nation in the world, and Matthew Elliott has us importing coaching failures from the UK.
Its gets EVEN BETTER though!
Having just got rid of serial dickhead Craig Gower, Penrith fans are thankful to have a team with no arse wipes in it.
Matthew Elliott will see an end to that.
Its been reported that Penrith are super keen to take up Todd Carneys $400,000 a year contract, starting next season if they possibly can!
Forget the fact the Penriths junior system is turning out NRL talent on a weekly basis, or the fact that all of Penriths junior teams at every level are dominating competitions they are all part of.
Why do we need to pay so much money for a bloke that can’t handle his drink, we was close to being thrown in jail a few years ago and who still doesn’t understand why he is being treated so harshly!
What Elliott is doing is not coaching, its sabotage!
What can a fan do in this situation though?
Elliott is contracted through until the end of 2009, where you can expect the moronic Penrith Managment to extend his contract instead of signing a successful coach such as Daniel Anderson.
However, should Elliott be let go, his mates have their grubby claws in every level of the coaching staff now. How long will it take to remove the failures from the Panthers club once Elliott has left?
Its a shame too because Penrith is producing so many great young players. They deserve so much more.
After getting the wooden spoon in 2007 and starting 2008 terribly, Penrith had a chance to sign Wayne Bennett. We didn’t even try for Bennett, we were to busy chasing Jon Sharp.
