Good points and I also don't think Barrett was a hack, just an inexperienced coach, who when faced with serious adversity lost the plot and good ideas. He could still turn into a reasonable coach but Hasler is vastly superior at this stage. His performance with his troops especially in defence shows. He's concentrating on defence and playing to the limitations of his attack, an attack that has only one top player in DCE at this stage
As for injuries, yep Barrett suffered badly. But there are more than two players Hasler is down. Two of three best attackers in the team Tom T and Walker are long term absentees. Then there's the up and comers Funa, Metcalfe, Albert Hopoate, the latter two for the season. The loss of Kelly and Lane has further weakened our attack. Waddell and Garrick are pluses and Elgey is improving, but overall though Hasler has more troops on board, I think he has instilled in the team a growing winning culture, something that towards the end of last year had vanished from the side.
And Barrett's attitudes regarding Hastings still astonishes me. One of the better attacking and more enthusiastic players in the squad and he exiled him to Coventry...or rather Salford, where he and Jamie Lussick have dragged a team en route to relegation in 2018, to being a competitive side just outside of the top 5 in Superleague.
It was Barrett's decision making and lack of defensive structure that I considered he had lacking
