Paolo Odogwu

[JP14]

"I do personally feel like in rugby there's is this subconscious tendency to comment on a POC's power or pace rather than his/her skill (and it's happened on this forum too) which does need to change and I hope our own Zack Henry at flyhalf contributes to said change in attitudes."


What's a poc?

Person of colour. In the article, Odogwu was talking about how Black people tend to be played on the wing, not in the halfbacks (echoing comments made by Henry after he joined Leicester), but I think this problem in rugby extends to Pacific Islanders too hence why I said POC.

[Wayne Richardson Fan Club]

POC for me has always been a certain Irish 2nd Row of recent vintage...

There is having an attitude & being disruptive, they are 2 separate things, if you turn up late for training in a team sport that is disrespecting your team mates more than the coaches/club, people mature at different rates hence maybe Odogwu's later flourishing than others.

The connection with 2 of our former coaches lack of enthusiasm for young players is almost certainly connected though.

[Scott1]

I took it as Paul O'Connell too

[mol2]

Sometimes players have to move to find out that it’s them that needs to change.

Sometimes players have to move to get game time and recognition that they really are good enough to start. During the Cockers era we were really reluctant to play talented youngsters ahead of steady journeymen. Looking at the players we lost this is hard to argue against.

Which of the two we probably won’t know for sure.

[Tigerbeat]

Sometimes the pain of being rejected / released is character building and can spur players on to prove that they can improve and achieve a higher level. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but sitting in a comfort zone may not spur you on to get better.
Paolo has done well to get to where he is now when he could easily have given up.........he has been given a few kicks that have made him more determined and now he is reaping the reward and recognition.

[BFG]

Sometimes the pain of being rejected / released is character building and can spur players on to prove that they can improve and achieve a higher level. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but sitting in a comfort zone may not spur you on to get better.
Paolo has done well to get to where he is now when he could easily have given up.........he has been given a few kicks that have made him more determined and now he is reaping the reward and recognition.

Surely the idea is to nurture talent here to do it here and not discard it!
I don't go for the "it's my way or the highway" mindset and personally think that there is as much to learn from the youth as there is to pass on.
The biggest failure in my opinion is to pass the buck and too easily judge and give up on them which Leicester have done much too often and to their detriment.

[Tiglon]

Sometimes the pain of being rejected / released is character building and can spur players on to prove that they can improve and achieve a higher level. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but sitting in a comfort zone may not spur you on to get better.
Paolo has done well to get to where he is now when he could easily have given up.........he has been given a few kicks that have made him more determined and now he is reaping the reward and recognition.

Surely the idea is to nurture talent here to do it here and not discard it!
I don't go for the "it's my way or the highway" mindset and personally think that there is as much to learn from the youth as there is to pass on.
The biggest failure in my opinion is to pass the buck and too easily judge and give up on them which Leicester have done much too often and to their detriment.

So there are no circumstances whatsoever in which you would show a talented young player the door? As long as they have talent, they can do what they like, right?

[Scott1]

No one player is bigger than a club. No matter how good he is or potentially could be If his attitude isn’t right or he’s a bad influence etc he’s gone,simples!

[BFG]

Sometimes the pain of being rejected / released is character building and can spur players on to prove that they can improve and achieve a higher level. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but sitting in a comfort zone may not spur you on to get better.
Paolo has done well to get to where he is now when he could easily have given up.........he has been given a few kicks that have made him more determined and now he is reaping the reward and recognition.

Surely the idea is to nurture talent here to do it here and not discard it!
I don't go for the "it's my way or the highway" mindset and personally think that there is as much to learn from the youth as there is to pass on.
The biggest failure in my opinion is to pass the buck and too easily judge and give up on them which Leicester have done much too often and to their detriment.

So there are no circumstances whatsoever in which you would show a talented young player the door? As long as they have talent, they can do what they like, right?

If you've made good choices and nurtured it well then it shouldn't need showing the door!
I don't believe that Leicester were best placed to judge at that time.

[Tiglon]

Surely the idea is to nurture talent here to do it here and not discard it!
I don't go for the "it's my way or the highway" mindset and personally think that there is as much to learn from the youth as there is to pass on.
The biggest failure in my opinion is to pass the buck and too easily judge and give up on them which Leicester have done much too often and to their detriment.

So there are no circumstances whatsoever in which you would show a talented young player the door? As long as they have talent, they can do what they like, right?

If you've made good choices and nurtured it well then it shouldn't need showing the door!
I don't believe that Leicester were best placed to judge at that time.

Essentially I agree with with you - if you recruit the right people and treat them the right way you won't have to get rid of anyone. Not always that simple though and unfortunately players are able to make their own choices too, and sometimes they make very poor ones. Sometimes they have circumstances or influences outside of your control.

I agree that Leicester at that time were not great with young players, so it might well be that the club made a mistake. Or many mistakes. We will never know.

Well done to Paolo for achieving what he has so far, I hope he continues, and well done to Wasps for getting the best out of him.

[Tigerbeat]

No one player is bigger than a club. No matter how good he is or potentially could be If his attitude isn’t right or he’s a bad influence etc he’s gone,simples!

That is what I was referring....he may have the talent but if the attitude or commitment is not there then that is a valid reason to release players. Paolo has obviously made changes and has got to where he is now. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

[Tiglon]

I often find it interesting, when fans bemoan the fact that we let someone go, to look back on here at the comments when he was released.

Even as recently as when he left Sale, Tigers fans were commenting that he should be playing at Championship level. One person who now thinks we should not have discarded him said he was "nothing special" and the fact that he looked "half decent" in a Premiership 7s tournament showed how low the standard was.

As Tigerbeat says, hindsight...

[jgriffin]

No one player is bigger than a club. No matter how good he is or potentially could be If his attitude isn’t right or he’s a bad influence etc he’s gone,simples!

That is what I was referring....he may have the talent but if the attitude or commitment is not there then that is a valid reason to release players. Paolo has obviously made changes and has got to where he is now. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

I don't think many on here appreciate that no matter how good a player is, a decent manager will only tolerate so much disruption or prima donna ego. The alternative is too often the decline of teamwork.

[BFG]

No one player is bigger than a club. No matter how good he is or potentially could be If his attitude isn’t right or he’s a bad influence etc he’s gone,simples!

That is what I was referring....he may have the talent but if the attitude or commitment is not there then that is a valid reason to release players. Paolo has obviously made changes and has got to where he is now. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Has he made changes?
It looks the same to me.
Is it more about opportunities, but for Fekitoa's injury that opportunity might not have come at this time!
Leicester certainly have made changes since that time.

[Tigerbeat]

Changes may be in his attitude and his approach to training.