Thurston backs Mal Meninga to fix ‘broken’ South Sydney: JT’s Thought Bubble

Thought bubble time with Jonathan. Hi JT Hey Bruce. How are you? Really good. Caught you off guard. Who am I standing next to? Bit to get through today? Josh Schuster. I I I think any way you look at it it’s a sad state of affairs now officially parting ways with Manly. There were clauses in the contract and I guess certain things KPIs that he had to achieve that he hasn’t. And now you’ve got a a young bloke looking for a new club and needing to reset his career. Yeah, it’s a shame because there’s so much talent, but if you don’t work hard it goes to waste. And I think he was earning around 800 KA season. So I would have been investing in a chef and a personal trainer to help me reach those KPIs because I think he’s 2223 years of age. So looks like that’s a lot of millions of dollars down the drain. Well, what sort of coach does a player of that mould need? We know the talent’s there, but clearly, obviously the application needs work. Yeah, a hard nosed coach to get him through what he needs to get done. So clearly he hasn’t done that at Manly under Anthony Sebold. So yeah, if I was him I’d be looking at a an experienced coach to help him realise the potential and and how hard work pays off. Will we see him playing in the NRL anytime soon? I hope so ’cause it’s a huge waste of talent. If he’s not, it’s too good to be playing park footy, that’s for sure, So hopefully a club can pick him up and get the best out of him. We’re talking about coaches here as well. There’s been a lot of discussion surrounding Jason Demetrio at the Rabidos this week and your old mate now Meninga has has said he’d be interested if there was an interim role available. Can you see him coaching an NRL team? Yeah, definitely. That club’s broken at the moment, five wins from the last 20 games and they’re sitting at the bottom of the ladder currently. And Yep, if there’s any man that can bring the best out of the players at that club then it’s Melmeninga. He knows that’ll bring a team together. What sort of coach is he? He’s a very smart coach tactically. He knows the game extremely well, but he’s a great man manager and can get the best out of those players. So that’s what they need at the moment. Someone’s to get them together and rip in and dig their heels in and hopefully get chalk up a few wins. He said he likes the idea of being an interim coach. Could you see him being full time? Not at this stage. Nah, Nah. Oh the internationals. The state of Origins really suit Mal’s demeanor and his style of coaching so I couldn’t see him doing full time coaching. But as a caretaker at that club, it is on its knees and they need one of the greats to, you know, bring him back and I think he’s the man for the job. Chemist Warehouse Sunday Footy at Campbelltown this Sunday, Arvo, the Tiges and the Drags. 2 teams with a lot of interest this year. We had West Tigers get back-to-back wins brought back to earth last week, but we’re seeing the green shoots there, aren’t we? Yeah, we certainly are. They’ve got some young talent through there. Locky Galvan’s been great in that number six jersey. APIs Corasal’s leading by example, so they’ve got the makings of climbing the ladder and once those boys start hitting those younger boys start hitting fifty 6070 games, that’s when they’ll start climbing the ladder. So, so much talent there. Jereen Buller, Tyrell, Slowden, Ball of Ball of the The young stars on the rise in the number one jump. Yeah, I know. They’re both electric great under the high ball. They’ve got great support and they’re just silky through the air, like when they’re gliding across the ground. It’s looks effortless. So if there’s any open space there, those two boys will find it. Tiger or Dragon? I think I went Tiger, Yeah. You still going, Tiger? I think so, yeah. Yep. Out at Campbelltown. Yeah. So hopefully a big crowd out there for them. You recovered from the 20 year celebration with your old Bulldogs teammates. I’m still recovering. Yeah, 11 week later. I’m not surprised you’re up and standing mate. Enjoy the weekend of footy. Will do. Thanks Jonathan, Thought Bubble.