Whether this is the case or not, why would you bring it up in the media. All it is going to do is dishearten supporters. Let them gel but dont tell people that they need time, especially that long.

Would the team be "gelled" had they won last night?

No excuses, no hiding behind rhetoric, play the game, coach the team and win the championship. that will do me :)

Smyth said it normally takes a new group of players six to 10 weeks to start playing good, consistent basketball, but the 36ers coach said he feels the group at his disposal can achieve that a lot quicker.

so can i ask the obvious why didnt planning take in account when the season starts and get group together and jell - i take 60 minutes to bake a cake i dont start the provcess when i about to have my birthday party - get real - practice more they arter all professional 24 hours in day 8 to sleep leaves lazy 16 to juggle lets say 30 hours of training i f you really waNT TO GET SERIOUS

It would probably take Phil about 2 weeks to gel his hair .

2 minutes. Have you seen how much he has??????

hahahaha anon! Love the birthday party analogy

All Smyth's pratices are just scrimmages. Thats why Lanard can keep playing - practices are a breeze. Unfortunately juniors don't learn anything....

But if they haven't gelled now they never will.

Deja Vu

Towards the end of the "gelling" period will be the inevitable story from Boti about Chappell not being the player he used to be. Wonder who will feed him that? Towards the end of the season, the excuses will really start.

Luckily, you guys have the Dragons to help make you look good.

sturty6ers , i believe that was the point i was trying to make , so thankyou for the punchline ....

"Agreed, Dr. B.

I wont be out to any games until December now."


Yeh Anon thats the attitude that helps the team out, STOP ALL OF YOUR BITCHING.

All this constant whining makes me wonder why the hell i came back to Adelaide to live

Listen to the audio on the NBL site where Smyth says this and you can hear the hesitancy in his voice answering the question. He didn't want to answer it but did, and I bet he wishes he could take it back. Definite setup by the journo on that one!

152347, I'm guessing all the people who are "going after Smyth" just might be basing their opinions on the Tigers. The Gaze retirement didn't devastate them, and the new players they have this year don't appear to have slowed the push towards another championship. I'm just sick of hearing the same lame, pathetic excuses all the time.

Restricted training, Maher,Chappell injured and Mottram late clearance.
BRAD DAVIDSON IS OUT FOR 4 WEEKS INJURED.

Ditto x infinity

Do the 36ers need to look at the workload in the preseason or the training regime that has seen pretty much every player that joins the club succumb to injuries .
??

I am interested to know how many hours per week of training they actually put in. Most of the guys are on good full time incomes, make them work for it. I would love to earn my full time pay and only work part time for it. At the same time enjoy a 4-5 month break from work. If I can leave the house at 7.30am and return home at 6pm 5 days per week, then they can put in a few more hours. No wonder Smyth is the coach most players like to play for, they are on easy street when it comes to earning their salaries. Doesn't sound like he overworks them too much.

Everything about this season so far smells too much like last year. There is no guarantee that Chappell is going to get that much better. There's no guarantee that the team is going to escape major injuries this season. Putting a jelling time on the team to come good, totally disregards any other factor that affects their success.

It's relaxed there , they've got a gym there now,players are there most mornings just very light.
Then about one and half hours,afternoons,flat out.
Players reckon it's better than Gorgians boot camp.
(although,Brian has changed a bit,is harder on the young ones,and a bit of different training for the older guys)

Cake's don't get a back injury.

Chappell and a cake isn't apples with apples.

Do others believe that a fit Chappell would have Adelaide at 3-0..? I do.

Davidson clearly wasn't too good throughout Mahersy's record match, woulda won that by a lot more...

Interesting stuff by the usual knockers if we beat Perth by 4points would you say great job no way you would say Smyth was lucky.Mee and Cat injured for Cairns sack Black oops Rogers injured missed a couple of games early sack Fischer oops Ellis injured out for the season for Townsville sack the coach Knight injured for Razorbacks missed a couple of games sack the coach it would appear all clubs get injuries and drop games so instead of riding Smyth and the team how about getting your agenda on supporting the team.I doubt you people will because you are uneducated and have a personal issue either with Smyth or the 36ers.

jammer, what a load of crap, The question is not aboout sacking the coach but what he is doing about it. There is no point in talking about a jelling period when there is hardly any improvement in Chappell. He never mentions that problem. If that rate of improvement continues, the whole season will go by without much input from him. Its all about assessing the situation and making the necessary changes if it warrants it. This needs to be done now so another Wheeler episode can be avoided. We went through all this last season that's why people are concerned about it. Mistakes are good when you learn from them. Making the same mistake twice is stupidity.

After having said this, I am interested to know whether this player is insured and whether a replacement player can be brought in with the intention that Chappell will come back after suitably recovered. Will the NBL allow this situation of having one player out and a temporary replacement for him in the meantime.

Let's put it into perspective - West Sydney have "gelled" already. The Sixers should have too.

As far as I know players fly economy. Not business class. Picture a guy 203 cm tall cramped behind a seat with no leg room for 14 plus hours like a sardine. Chappell didn't just waltz in with a previous injury. Clearly you do not know what you are talking about here. Cut him? And then what? Bring in another import, offset the entire team with a new guy and create an even longer gel period that probably would cost us the season anyway? Chances are you'd find a selfish import who would come in for numbers and compromise any chances of having a great team. Not to mention the 36ers having to pay out a hefty sum for breaking Chappel's contract. The way I see it, he needs more training to get back in shape and needs to wait until then to actually put in serious playing time during games.

exactamundo eldoctor , Rob Beveridge is however the motherf...ing gel master and it had nothing to do with a searching pre season and 10 practice matches before the real season tip off .

What Phill probably meant was he was not going to even think about making the hard decision on Chappell until week 10.

Make the hard decision now Phill, the season is slipping away. My impression of the last two home games is that it all looks very much the same as last season so far.

Do the fans really care about a new import that is playing half assed games injured, that is not going to be part of the clubs future in 1-2 years from now? Chappell who? Tar him with the same brush as Paris & Robinson and cut him

Cut him for goodness sake!

CUT HIM!

Interesting point on WestSydney preseason games playing so many wonder if the budget allowed the Sixers to play more my mail is it didnt.Understand they were trying to go to China but the cost was to much of course the operation manager controls that so lets ask him.Heard Janet Ng was doing all the work to help with no assistance is that Smyths fault as well or does someone else do that i hope its not the coaches job to do that as well.

Maybe what Phil was trying to say, was that the effort need to gel (fall into place).
FFS, if any of you had a freak'n clue, you'd know that we've had injuries & late arrivals, which no other club's had to contend with.
From what I've seen (& that'd be a whole lot more than you DLIMBFLICKS), things are coming along nicely (considering).

I wonder if Willie Farley is available? Pay him some performance based incentives and he might just get the job done.

chappell is probably smyth's new excuse for blowing another season

Yea EC, i reckon Farley would of been a ok fit with this team and can play SF i reckon, would be a tad undersized but is about the same size as Wethers or Saville anyway so wouldnt be too bad. Unfortunatly last season didnt work out for Farley as he may of been back and we wouldnt have had this problem, Farleys "bad" season still saw him averaging around 19ppg. Having said that if Chappell gets into form which i hope he does his extra size and intensity on rebounding and defense will be a bonus in the SF spot along with the fact he is also capable of putting up 20ppg, heres hoping he gets his body right and finds form. Smyth seems to be a patient coach so im sure Chappell will be given a very good opportunity to get himeslf right and into form and i hope he does as he is a brilliant player as he showed in his previous NBL stints. Smyth is also most likely on notice so will be working hard to get the 36ers into the play offs and to a good season, this being a contract year his job may depend on it, so lets get behind Smyth and the team and trust they are doing the best they can! and the fact i doubt there has been a training session with the entire starting 5 all in it, being Davidson, Maher, Chappell, Ballinger and Mottram (mostly Chappell and Mottram would have been missing) would help explain why they are not all used to playing together yet, so it would have to take a few games.

BoomPatrol you are a tool Smyth never blamed Farley so you have no knowledge other than you dont like Smyth or dont listen.Chappelle will light up and you will still be hiding behind your stupidity

I am not for sacking Chappell, I just want to see a temporary replacement to cover his spot. With his injury continuing for so long, with Maher being touch and go and now Davidson out for a few weeks, the team is undermanned. There is still a long way to go before the end of the season but you can't underestimate the damage that is done early in the season.

Chappell is 1-2 games away from being at his best.
Maher is all o.k. now,no problems.
Davo was the best player in trials and game one,then injured in game 2 and 3, now out for 4 games.
Chappell does not miss many shots at practice!

The Journo is right, West Sydney has just as many new faces and they are playing together as a group and overachieving.

Would anyone have objected to Smyth saying "I haven't yet gotten the group to jell", instead of this 6-10 week crap? It would pacify me somewhat if he acknowledged that the cohesion of the group is HIS responsibility.

Watched some old NZ game tapes through the week of Chappell when he was fit, and I can understand why Smyth wants to give him some time to get back to peak form, as a fully fit Chappell would put us in a different part of the league ladder. But we didn't put a roster together based on that: Chappell is the only small forward, and, while I'm glad to be rid of the inconsistency of Adrian Majstrovich, and the impotence of Mark Nash, we DO NOT have the depth at that position to CARRY Chappell. We cannot be relying on Lanard Copeland to bail us out off the bench every game (he has already done this twice this year).

Personally, I say stick Chappell at the point forward and Maher and Ng out on the wings while Davidson is out injured.

(#152576)So he hits his shots at training? He would have to, because he aint putting them in any place else.

Cut him, cut him now!

We all knew that with the amount of new players coming into the team , that there would be a gelling process , I think the 6,ers are coming along fine and doing well as long as we can win our home games and grab a few on the road we will definately be there come finals if not top four.For those supporters who keep bagging Smyth bagging Chappell It wont change anything why not get behind your team and show some support and judge them on a whole season not just a handfull of games..

just one question...when will Chappell be fully fit?

Smyth has said that Chappell's back is no longer an issue and it's just up to him hitting his shots and finding his timing, etc. Story on AdelaideNow about it.

The 36ers have two winnable road games against NZ and the Crocs coming up - good opportunities for Chappell to perform there.

Thanks Isaac,
That must be one hell of a recovery, I watched Chappell run out onto the court against the wildcats...he was clearly..and i mean obviously! restricted by a back problem, it seemed to loosen up once he was on the court a while..but...he could not run normally for the first minute or so after coming off the bench. this would have to restrict his shooting , passing etc. and to recover from that to not an issue..is well..lets say...remarkable.

or is Smyth's statement more that..he doesnt care about his back..he just has to perform?

Read a few Cats writing the same - that he still did not look "right". The tone of the article I mentioned seemed to be a bit about Smyth trying to alleviate some pressure presumably so Chappell could have his best chance at coming good.

I guess we'll see - as I've said, easy opportunities to prove himself if the travel doesn't set him back.