Time to call a spade a spade.
We are a very poorly coached football side. I really had hope that seibold and Flannagan could team up and do something special but so far it's been really really poor.
I'm the first to admit I'm was team Des.
He was fired so I whole heartedly embraced the new management but the one thing I was afraid of looks to be happening. My take was always if we did dump Des then whatever came next had to be better but also have upside.
We ended up with a bloke who was so damaged he couldn't get a coaching gig in League and ended up an assistant in Union. The other bloke may as well have spiders all over him given the NRL's dislike for him after the peptides and cheating scandals.
I hear you say.... we were second in the comp. We could have been in the top 6 tonight had we won. Yes that's true. BUT it's true because this season the form line is all over the shop. The big dogs are faltering. The hot up and comers from last year are tipping over themselves. We beat a Bunnies side that hadn't clicked and we're pretty poor in the early season. We beat a Storm side without Pappenhausen and Munster in the 1 jersey(thank christ) that night. We just beat the West tigers wo hadn't won all year. The slime are a shadow of their former selves and we beat the bye.just.
It's true we have had injuries but so have all the other teams.
My final thought is we look a lot worse than midseason last year.
After Tom's injury and the big reshuffle we started playing some tough respectable footy. Before rainbowgate we were on track to make the 8 without Tom or shoe really.
Even in the dark days last year we still had an attack. Yes our defence end of year was shocking but we had shape and could score some points.
This year we have no shape. We have no ability to create the extra man. We have no punch up the middle. We have nothing.
Poor DCE is having a great year because we have nothing else.
Unless the Shoe comes back and started killing it we could easily be pulled into a fight for the spoon with a side that should be in the top 6 easy.
Mate, I appreciate where you're coming from, but due to cap pressure, recruitment strategy, injury, whatever it may have been, we've been relatively unchanged roster wise comparatively speaking with the rest of the opposition over the past decade or so (i.e. less turnover) - most certainly marquee player wise.
We've had Trent Barrett (remember he finished 6th one year), Geoff Toovey, Chad Randall, Jim Dymock, John Cartwright, Des Hasler, Michael Monaghan, Steven Hales, Shane Flannagan, Brett Stewart, Anthony Siebold and others all coach us in that relatively short period of time. None of these coaches (and they are all different types, who bring different things) have been able to get our players playing consistently or motivate them to success. Up one year (for whatever reason), down one year (for whatever reason) - there's just no consistent quality from year to year.
Given this, it's pretty harsh to look at Siebold and Flannagan, and claim they are the problem after 2.9 months of actual premiership footy, and blame them don't you agree?
So then, what IS the problem? For mine, it's the terrible quality of player we have, along with an unbalanced top 30 (i.e. recruitment). BUT, again, quality doesn't mean much these days if you have character and work ethic - look at the Dolphins. So add our poor roster, to a completely unacceptable attitude and culture, you're going to win 4 times in your last 17 games like we have, (at an average score of 27 against in that span).
I honestly hope Fulton ****s up The Tigers like he has, us. In the last few years, they've added:
Brandon Wakeham (from Dogs)
Brent Naden (from Panthers) - premiership winner
Charlie Staines (from Panthers) - premiership winner
Api Koroisou (from Panthers) - premiership winner
David Klemmer (from Newcastle)
Isaiah Papali'i (from Parramatta) - just played a GF
John Bateman (from Raiders / U.K) - quality player
I get they are still ****e for whatever reason, but these are quality adds.
Look at us:
Kelma Tuilagi (from Tigers) - wooden spooners & complete plonker
Ben Condon (from Cowboys) - didn't play ONE game all year) - complete plonker
Cooper Johns (not sure) - was being put out to pasture - comPLETELY ordinary
Aaron Woods (from Dragons) - was being put out to pasture
Tommy Talua (from Tigers) - no comment
I just think it's premature to now blame Siebold / Flannagan. They need time to reshape this roster, and cull all the flops (which, unfortunately, is a huge component of this squad).
