Aetna, I'm thinking that the De$ debacle was aimed squarely (in the end) at exactly this end. Dessie has been a superb coach for our club, but at the end of the day keeping him on for another season could well have crippled our short (and perhaps long) term future.
With De$ as head coach in 2012, given that he'd already signed for the berries, our chances of going back to back were exactly zero. It was never going to work (see Wayne Bennett leaving saints for best pionter to that) and our chances of retaining Foz and perhaps DCE beyond the next couple of seasons would diminish every time he got a minute alone with either of them. Fortunately De$ got caught out, got the a$$, and now Tooves has at least one season to ensure they stay. Hopefully they do: I can see this halves pairing as being one of the greatest of all time (boundless potential at this stage!!) and it's PLAYERS that win the games, good coaches (whilst valuable of course!) merely provide the direction and motivation.... Something which Tooves *should* be brilliant at!!
So relax... Forget De$, look forward to retaining our crown, and have a merry Christmas!!!