Ryan
Journey Man
It's obvious that your too emotional to have a rational argument where you can only make a statement like your opening paragraph from behind a keyboard. Tough little man with a mouse in hand. You were a bit late with your reply so I suspect what you were smelling was a little closer to home. Maybe your phone was in your back pocket.
Our forward pack was regularly monstered by the more aggressive froward packs. Souths simply are not the same pack without Sam Burgess and Ben Te'o. I also don't consider the Broncos a monster pack. They are certainly an efficient , hard working pack. But hardly a huge pack like the Bulldogs or Roosters, both of whom beat us every time this season. FFS we couldn't even cope with the Eels pack. We were also without Brenton Lawrence and Josh Starling for most of the season - two of our bigger forwards. Although I doubt their inclusion would have changed much. It may have been a secret to you that our forward pack was our weakness but to most commentators of the game and any fan with the most basic understanding of forward play saw it as our most glaring weakness.
You also said in your initial post that you thought Toovey was let down by some of his players. Sounds like you were trying to defend him to me. It wasn't until we started to regularly have a reasonable chunk of our roster on the field each weak that we were somehow able to make a run at the finals. Sure in the end we failed but having our players on the field instead of the stands made a huge difference to Toovey's game plan, set plays...............Surely you get the picture.
In the end though, we got totally smashed by a monster forward pack in the second last round which showed us where our forwards really are in the pecking order.
I'd say it directly to your face Frank. Those on these boards that know me would certainly attest to that.
That aside, and on topic.
We have Jake Trbojevic. I think he's already one of the elite, and maybe one of the top 10 forwards in the game.
Willie Mason was outstanding. He added more than just solid performance and deserves another contract.
Feleti Meteo ran on average over 100 metres this season. He created much 2nd phase play.
Tom Symonds was up and down, mainly because he often played centre, but he was solid - at LEAST.
Blake Leary was a bright spot in very tough circumstance.
Matt Ballin was Matt Ballin. One of the elite defenders, very consistent, and very structured (although not as exciting in attack as I'd have liked).
That's excellent forward depth Frank.
Remember, we won 7 from 10 to end the season (or something). Losing to Parra (where we were out coached again), and The Panthers at the end killed us.
Gameplan was the issue Frank. Not poor forwards. We showed in the second half what we could do at times.
I completely disagree with you relating our forward players. Given innovative coaching, and new gameplan, I think they excel.
Toovey lost his players though. He allowed them to rule the roost, when he should have. BUT, he was also treated poorly by Penn and Zorba from what I read.