Bearfax
Grizzly old fart
As has been suggested often in the past, you dont need a good coach for SOO, you need a good motivator. The players are amongst the cream and know what they need to do and other than a few trick plays, a SOO coach has almost no time to effectively 'coach' a team. Otherwise we would be calling Meninga a champion coach, which his previous NRL coaching career suggests he is not. He wins because he has a bunch of very talented attacking players who've played alongside each other at various times for years. Therefore its who you choose in the SOO team that will determine if you win or lose....not the coaching.
For mine Daley has erred in several areas. You need the unpredictable attacking skills of a Carney to counter Thurston's brilliance. You also need an aggressive player in close who dictates play and has an excellent kicking game. That's why I would have picked the more dynamic pairing of Adam Reynolds and Carney. And I would have chosen Sutton as a reserve ahead of Josh Reynolds. I know Josh can play hooker and is an aggressive little cus, but in the past two years Sutton has reached his potential. He is a fine ball player, a hard runner, a strong defender and though he wouldnt be able to cover hooker, he would cover several other posts including being a back row forward. Josh doesnt have those skills as well defined. Yes you need touch and purposeful like Josh and Pearce, but you need that X factor that neither of those players have but Carney, Adam Reynolds and Sutton have. Its the X factor that is that ingredient that wins SOO games.
For mine Daley has erred in several areas. You need the unpredictable attacking skills of a Carney to counter Thurston's brilliance. You also need an aggressive player in close who dictates play and has an excellent kicking game. That's why I would have picked the more dynamic pairing of Adam Reynolds and Carney. And I would have chosen Sutton as a reserve ahead of Josh Reynolds. I know Josh can play hooker and is an aggressive little cus, but in the past two years Sutton has reached his potential. He is a fine ball player, a hard runner, a strong defender and though he wouldnt be able to cover hooker, he would cover several other posts including being a back row forward. Josh doesnt have those skills as well defined. Yes you need touch and purposeful like Josh and Pearce, but you need that X factor that neither of those players have but Carney, Adam Reynolds and Sutton have. Its the X factor that is that ingredient that wins SOO games.