League legend Andrew Johns has urged Canterbury to choose a left-field option as his next coach to revive the club and give it a new lease of life in the NRL.
The Bulldogs have been searching for Trent Barrett since his resignation.
The club’s general manager for football, Phil Gould, claimed this week that he had “no appeal” and had not yet officially spoken to any potential coach about doing the job.
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A number of potential candidates have emerged from commentators and the media – Michael Maguire, Shane Flanagan, Paul Green, Cameron Siraldo.
But Johns wants to think outside the box, and poke at a pair of brothers who bring their own unique coaching style to the game.
Ben and Shane Walker have won a Queensland Cup with Ipswich and have floated several times over the years as NRL coaches in Waiting.
Working together, the Walkers allow their team to play with a free-flowing attack style that is difficult to defend but thrilling to watch.
“They play a unique style of footy,” Johns told Wide World of Sports. Freddie and VIII.
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“They’re all-out attacks, something we haven’t seen in the NRL, and I see it as bulldogs … what do they have to lose?”
“Let’s get some new ideas, see how it goes.”
The Bulldogs have been the worst attacking team in the NRL for several seasons now, and Johns says the Walkers will solve that problem almost immediately.
“The (Walkers) style of play is pretty extreme, so if they can give it back a bit … whether they can do it. But it’s all about skill and space,” he said.
“If you go back to the mid-90s and see how the teams played – the Broncos and the Raiders – it’s an all-out attack.”
The Walkers will breathe life into a batting club that has been under the NRL for a long time.
The playing team looks tired. The day after Barrett’s resignation, star recruiter Brent Naden left the club to join the West Tigers.
Gun winger Josh Addo-Caro is feeling the heat after being dropped from the New South Wales squad for this year’s State of Origin – a direct result of a successful move from Melbourne to Belmore Flandering.
“They stimulate the players,” Johns said of the Walkers.
“Players will want to go there because it will be fun to play, fun to train. I think it’s a risk they should really consider.”
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