Turn of the season- looking forward and back with your club

Inspired by the prospects page and Yappy's England tour review, this is a 2-part thread.

1) how did you feel about your club's progress last season? What went well and what didn't? Who stepped up and who disappointed?

2) how do you feel about the next season? What changes I'm terms of plan or personnelle would you like to see? Where would you have to come in the AP and Europe to be a) satisfied and b) happy?

As you may have noticed last season was pretty amazing for Quins. The winning streak, beating Toulouse, Tigers and Saracens and then lifting the Prem trophy at the end of it all was phenominal.

I've been really impressed with a whole host of players. Especially in the pack where Kingston has work magic to transform Johnston and Marler and to get Kohn so imstumental in the tight.

As goals for next season:

1.Realistically we need to have a very good second season now, we need to turn the Stoop in to a fortress and make sure we finish top 4.

2.We also have to get in to the knock outs of the Heiny, I don't expect us to get to the final but out of our pool is a must.

3. We have to find a back up for Kohn as currently when he's out then our pack crumbles. Also Sinkler needs to be eased in as he is a huge (literally) prospect and a terrifying back up to Johnston.

4. We need to get Hopper involved more at 13, Lowe & JTH are the men in possesion but we shouldn't be scared to rotate. And Hopper was my find of the season, I want to see him get a chance to turn out for the Saxons again.rem

5. Must rest Nev, only get him starting in Europe and key Prem games. Other wise let's give Clegg a run and see how he grows.

Ultimately last season was a dissapointment:

The young players struggled at the start of the season when we were missing a couple of older heads.
We were poor away from home in Europe.
We looked tired in the Premiership final.

However the team deserves a lot of credit for finishing just 1 point behind Quins after being in 11th place (and 19pys behind) when the RWC ended.


For next season:

I would like to see players like Tom Youngs, George Ford and Ed slater really pushing the first choice players for their jerseys.
I would like to see the long term injured - Deacon, Crane, Tait - playing and demonstratingtheir class.
I would like to see us roatate players more so we are not tired at the business end of the season.
We need to get out of our HC group - a harder task than most english clubs are facing - but we need to do that if we are to be considered a big team.
Oh and I want a top 2 AP position as well.

1)

The good

HC quarter final - Topping the HC pool, doing the double over Pro12 champs Ospreys.

Plenty of Saracens players getting international recognition.

The youngsters filled in well when injury gave them their opportunities - George Kruis,Will Fraser,Jackson Wray and Ben Spencer all put in very good shifts.

Particularly Spencer by outshining Yachvili vs Biarritz and securing a Saxons berth.

Good debut season for Charlie Hodgson albeit underperformed in playoff semi.

Still winning lots of matches. Cementing as one of the best sides in England.

The bad

Joubert and Brits were not their normal selves.

The whole team didn't get over the line in the crunch games like Quins (Wembley), Leicester (VR).

Blown away by Clermont. How do we fix that?

Lack of intent to attack - another reason we didn't get top 2.

Centre partnership still a complete mystery.

Not doing better.

2) Optimistic about next season. I feel we have strengthened our already strong squad.

We need to be more positive and aggressive in attack.

We have in my opinion potentially one of the best back threes in the AP with Strettle/Short,Wyles,Ashton,Goode as our options. Let's use it.

Let's keep the faith with the young guns who did well in substition of stronger options.

Sort out the centre conundrum - I am hopeful either Stanley or Tomkins can do this.

In the AP and Europe - has to be AP champions and HC semi - I would be satisfied with.

Beating Clermont or Leinster would make me very happy too.

A HC is the ultimate goal though.

IMO Quin's bare minimum in the HC should be a semi final.

The easiest group by a long way. Should get a home quarter and go from there.

Beshocked, when do Brown, Burger and Saull look to be back for Sarries?

Burger is out till February I believe.

Not sure about Brown and Saull. I think there's optimism they'll be ready for the start of the season.

For Quins- overall I am delighted with the season.

The Good- Even though we were aided by the World Cup, we still won the AP outright and in the playoffs, with not-insubstantial injuries through the season (better than some clubs though)

We blooded some fantastic youngsters and some young players were amongst the best in the premiership and represented England. The growth of Marler, Johnstone and Wallace particularly

Some of our best players seem to be hitting great form- Robshaw is rightly England Captain and 7 in great form prior to his last game. Brown and Care are looking great.

We have options almost everywhere.

We beat Toulouse away, and the two last AP Champions in the two biggest arenas in English Rugby

The Bad- we threw away a golden chance to make the HEC quarters after beating Toulouse by losing to Connaught. Must improve in Europe. Our back up pack is a little too easy to bully. Nev can't keep up for a whole season and his knees seem to be wearing down. Do we have the strength in depth to run a successful European campaign and win in the AP?

For next season- we must make the Playoffs. I'd like to win again but playoffs are a must. Must make QFs preferably SFs of HEC. No home loses in Europe. Must back up Kohn and let Clegg gain confidence. Deal with loss of players to England. Get our youngsters involved and prove we can make the playoffs and compete in Europe without exhausting our squad

It was a tale in two parts last year for Newcastle. The first half was dreadful and best forgotten as quickly as possible. We fronted up in the second half of the season and if Gary Gold had been in charge all season, I honestly believe we’d have been away from relegation danger.

There have been some decent signings (some less inspiring ones too), but I think we all hope that the club starts to utilise the youngsters come through a bit more. I’m talking about players like Joel Hodgson (SH/FH), Joe Robinson (Back-row), Josh Beaumont (Second Row), Tom Catterick (FH/ FB), Zach Kibrige (Wing) and Mark Wilson (no.8/BR)

The future? We are hoping that Deano will come in and make the Falcons a northern stronghold. Hopefully Falcons will encourage fans regularly back through the gates with some exciting play. However, being a pragmatist it will be about survival to begin with again.

I will be happy with survival, but hope to see them lay foundations to kick on and be a mid-table club in the medium term and maybe look at HC qualification in the longer term.

beshocked wrote:Burger is out till February I believe.

Not sure about Brown and Saull. I think there's optimism they'll be ready for the start of the season.

Woah, that's one helluva blow on Burger, a seriously long lay-off. Kelly B was not far off being ready for Scotland's summer SH tour, I believe

Cumbrian, if any man is right to build Newcastle back up to a HEC side, it's Deano. Quins are living proof, the team is basically the one he created, cleverly managed by COS

ChequeredJersey wrote:Cumbrian, if any man is right to build Newcastle back up to a HEC side, it's Deano. Quins are living proof, the team is basically the one he created, cleverly managed by COS

I do think that is harsh on COS he has moved this side on from being a good plucky underdog surprising us with HC quarter final and Jeff semi final to a real quality side that has the potential of winning an HC.

Yes by cleverly managing the players Deano set up. COS has done a fantastic job but Richards helped enable him to do that

yappysnap wrote:As you may have noticed last season was pretty amazing for Quins. The winning streak, beating Toulouse, Tigers and Saracens and then lifting the Prem trophy at the end of it all was phenominal.

I've been really impressed with a whole host of players. Especially in the pack where Kingston has work magic to transform Johnston and Marler and to get Kohn so imstumental in the tight.

As goals for next season:

1.Realistically we need to have a very good second season now, we need to turn the Stoop in to a fortress and make sure we finish top 4.

2.We also have to get in to the knock outs of the Heiny, I don't expect us to get to the final but out of our pool is a must.

3. We have to find a back up for Kohn as currently when he's out then our pack crumbles. Also Sinkler needs to be eased in as he is a huge (literally) prospect and a terrifying back up to Johnston.

4. We need to get Hopper involved more at 13, Lowe & JTH are the men in possesion but we shouldn't be scared to rotate. And Hopper was my find of the season, I want to see him get a chance to turn out for the Saxons again.rem

5. Must rest Nev, only get him starting in Europe and key Prem games. Other wise let's give Clegg a run and see how he grows.

I'd add meaningful discussion to this thread, but Yappy just summed most things i was thinking

Chequered, i'd say COS has done a huge amount for the squad. He's put a buzz back in to the side that we've missed and he's built us in to a team that can win the close games as well as we used to play the champagne stuff.

Lots of new players have blossomed under him and I don't think we'd see Eng caps for any of the current players bar Care if he wasn't their coach, the offloading and vision that he's taught them is phenomenal. Watching the internationals has reminded me how much we take Quins offloading game for granted!

Alistair i'm glad we're all on the same script!

beshocked wrote:IMO Quin's bare minimum in the HC should be a semi final.

The easiest group by a long way. Should get a home quarter and go from there.

I agree if we can play our 1st XV in Europe, if we don't manage our resources well enough then our B side is far too weak to go away to Biarritz and let's not mention away to Connacht over winter again...

LondonTiger wrote:Ultimately last season was a dissapointment:

The young players struggled at the start of the season when we were missing a couple of older heads.
We were poor away from home in Europe.
We looked tired in the Premiership final.

However the team deserves a lot of credit for finishing just 1 point behind Quins after being in 11th place (and 19pys behind) when the RWC ended.


For next season:

I would like to see players like Tom Youngs, George Ford and Ed slater really pushing the first choice players for their jerseys.
I would like to see the long term injured - Deacon, Crane, Tait - playing and demonstratingtheir class.
I would like to see us roatate players more so we are not tired at the business end of the season.
We need to get out of our HC group - a harder task than most english clubs are facing - but we need to do that if we are to be considered a big team.
Oh and I want a top 2 AP position as well.

You're so unbelievably dour sometimes, what's your real name, Marvin the Paranoid Android?

I saw it like this, yes the beginning of the season (including most of the crucial HC games) was bad and not a little depressing. But, given the absentees, the post Christmas turnaround was a beauty to behold. Its no wonder that some players looked tired come the end, they'd been the best team in the country for getting on five months - playing at that intensity has to take its toll. Young players might have underperformed in the AP, but did the team proud in the LV Cup, putting together a very good run, its a trophy, i'd take it - and anyone who wouldn't is probably lying.

I agree with the rest, apart from a 2nd in the AP, this year it HAS to be a win in the final, its been too long and I suspect its coming, could even go well in Europe, although for me thats of secondary concern at the moment.