Plenty of doom and gloom at the moment after losing 6 on the bounce, and rightly so, but I thought I’d take a step back and have a proper look at it, and exactly how bad it all is
Straight up obviously the injury toll has absolutely killed us, it isn’t so much the quantity of injury, but the quality of injury moreso with key guys going down. What also hasn’t helped is that it hasn’t just been 1 in a game, it has been 2 or 3, and they happen early. 1 your stretched and can cover ok, but once you’re getting more, especially in the backs, you’re in big trouble trying to cover it. What has come out of the position that we are in, is that we are in a position to have a look at some different blokes for a month and see what they offer going forward. Our depth is always mentioned, I don’t think our depth is actually that bad, but the trouble is we aren’t on the next line of the depth chart, we are right at the bottom of it
What gives me belief in next season, is that we showed at the start of this season, with troops on deck, that we are right in there. With the most unkind draw in the comp, we should have been leading after 6 weeks.
Having a look at the results, the flogging obviously stand out, and they can be a by product of many factors. What struck me though, is that we have lost 5 matches by 4 points or less, in the comp with extremely small margins, when you pick up those results, you can move up the ladder rapidly, Canberra are the best example of that when you compare 2018 to 2019, a mile out of the race, to grand finalists
My main concerns, wing would be top of the list, Garrick was a mile off this season and we don’t have anyone banging the door down to take a spot.
Obviously the Fainu situation would be the other one and where that lands over the offseason. If it is Levi again, I’d like to see more minutes for him, he isn’t perfect but I think we look better with him on the park
Backline is the part of the jigsaw we need to put together right and haven’t had the chance to this season. The next few weeks of Schuster is key if his ankle is ok, if he can cement a spot and look the goods, Walker pushes out wider and our centres with Him, Suli, Funa and Harper look a mile better with Parker down the pecking order. If Hopoate is still with us, it is a huge offseason for him to get ready to step up into a potential wing role with the fitness for fullback cover in his legs
Our pack is great, Thompson is a hole to fill, but Jack impressed me enough last night when he was there to think he might be able to do it. Our front row rotation is probably the best in the comp, no dramas there. Jake we probably need to reassess, he isn’t playing poorly at all and is doing the job asked of him, but we can use him better and get more out of him. The lack of Olakau’atu and Sipley has been the most perplexing thing for me this season at times when we have been down on troops up front
Hasler has been flogged for apparently not giving young guys a crack, but that is a bit of a myth. Funa, Garrick, Suli, Keppie, Paseka, Cust, Waddell, Goseiwski, Harper, Hopoate, Schuster, olakau’atu off the top of my head are all in the infancy of their nrl careers and most will be better for the experience of this season. Not all of them will make it or be upto it in the future, but at least we have had or are going to have a decent look at them
Wrapping it all up after going off on a few tangents, there is plenty to look forward to next season potentially, but in the NRL competition you need a lot of luck and we haven’t had any for quite a while now. Des needs to tinker with a few aspects of our play over the offseason, but the bones are there for a good run. What we have potentially coming through the ranks (Schuster, Hopoate, Trbojevic 3, Fainu 2 etc) to add to what we already have is exciting. Half fit we are a top 8 certainty, if a miracle happens and Fainu is cleared to go, we push higher up the rungs
The most pleasing part is that we aren’t stuck in the Titans/Dogs zone where you couldn’t see any upside for many years
Straight up obviously the injury toll has absolutely killed us, it isn’t so much the quantity of injury, but the quality of injury moreso with key guys going down. What also hasn’t helped is that it hasn’t just been 1 in a game, it has been 2 or 3, and they happen early. 1 your stretched and can cover ok, but once you’re getting more, especially in the backs, you’re in big trouble trying to cover it. What has come out of the position that we are in, is that we are in a position to have a look at some different blokes for a month and see what they offer going forward. Our depth is always mentioned, I don’t think our depth is actually that bad, but the trouble is we aren’t on the next line of the depth chart, we are right at the bottom of it
What gives me belief in next season, is that we showed at the start of this season, with troops on deck, that we are right in there. With the most unkind draw in the comp, we should have been leading after 6 weeks.
Having a look at the results, the flogging obviously stand out, and they can be a by product of many factors. What struck me though, is that we have lost 5 matches by 4 points or less, in the comp with extremely small margins, when you pick up those results, you can move up the ladder rapidly, Canberra are the best example of that when you compare 2018 to 2019, a mile out of the race, to grand finalists
My main concerns, wing would be top of the list, Garrick was a mile off this season and we don’t have anyone banging the door down to take a spot.
Obviously the Fainu situation would be the other one and where that lands over the offseason. If it is Levi again, I’d like to see more minutes for him, he isn’t perfect but I think we look better with him on the park
Backline is the part of the jigsaw we need to put together right and haven’t had the chance to this season. The next few weeks of Schuster is key if his ankle is ok, if he can cement a spot and look the goods, Walker pushes out wider and our centres with Him, Suli, Funa and Harper look a mile better with Parker down the pecking order. If Hopoate is still with us, it is a huge offseason for him to get ready to step up into a potential wing role with the fitness for fullback cover in his legs
Our pack is great, Thompson is a hole to fill, but Jack impressed me enough last night when he was there to think he might be able to do it. Our front row rotation is probably the best in the comp, no dramas there. Jake we probably need to reassess, he isn’t playing poorly at all and is doing the job asked of him, but we can use him better and get more out of him. The lack of Olakau’atu and Sipley has been the most perplexing thing for me this season at times when we have been down on troops up front
Hasler has been flogged for apparently not giving young guys a crack, but that is a bit of a myth. Funa, Garrick, Suli, Keppie, Paseka, Cust, Waddell, Goseiwski, Harper, Hopoate, Schuster, olakau’atu off the top of my head are all in the infancy of their nrl careers and most will be better for the experience of this season. Not all of them will make it or be upto it in the future, but at least we have had or are going to have a decent look at them
Wrapping it all up after going off on a few tangents, there is plenty to look forward to next season potentially, but in the NRL competition you need a lot of luck and we haven’t had any for quite a while now. Des needs to tinker with a few aspects of our play over the offseason, but the bones are there for a good run. What we have potentially coming through the ranks (Schuster, Hopoate, Trbojevic 3, Fainu 2 etc) to add to what we already have is exciting. Half fit we are a top 8 certainty, if a miracle happens and Fainu is cleared to go, we push higher up the rungs
The most pleasing part is that we aren’t stuck in the Titans/Dogs zone where you couldn’t see any upside for many years
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