Joined: Jun 12 2003 Posts: 4022 Location: Kingston Upon Hull (East)
Briscoe - capped for England Fox - capped for England & Elite Squad member Welham - England Elite Squad member Webster - capped for NZ Dobson - Albert Goldthorpe Medal winner, SL Dream Teamer Vella - capped for Aus Clinton - NRL GF winner Newton - NRL GF winner Galea - NRL GF winner
Add to these the Aus schoolboys members Lovegrove and Green along with at least for 6 games the massively decorated Willie Mason, I struggle to see where ability or skills come in to why we are performing so horrendously.
If a kick up the backside isn't what these players need and it is all to do with the game plan then I think the finger can only be pointed in one direction. It is also not an attacking issue our squad has, our players enjoy attacking so much they seemingly forget they have to defend for at least 50% of the time too!
When signing all these antipodeans we were told their grand finals, state of origins, international experiences would be the catalyst for our success yet the match winning mentality certainly seems to have got lost with their luggage!
What is the answer? Force the coach to change his game plans? Change the coach? Change the benefits the players get?
Personally I think all players should be treated equally reguardless of past experience and honours. They should all be made to train the same and no mates rates favours given. But this won't happen while Justin is here I'm affraid to say.
Joined: Jan 15 2007 Posts: 11924 Location: Secret Hill Top Lair. V.2
nick hkr wrote:Briscoe - capped for England Fox - capped for England & Elite Squad member Welham - England Elite Squad member Webster - capped for NZ Dobson - Albert Goldthorpe Medal winner, SL Dream Teamer Vella - capped for Aus Clinton - NRL GF winner Newton - NRL GF winner Galea - NRL GF winner
Add to these the Aus schoolboys members Lovegrove and Green along with at least for 6 games the massively decorated Willie Mason, I struggle to see where ability or skills come in to why we are performing so horrendously.
If a kick up the backside isn't what these players need and it is all to do with the game plan then I think the finger can only be pointed in one direction. It is also not an attacking issue our squad has, our players enjoy attacking so much they seemingly forget they have to defend for at least 50% of the time too!
When signing all these antipodeans we were told their grand finals, state of origins, international experiences would be the catalyst for our success yet the match winning mentality certainly seems to have got lost with their luggage!
What is the answer? Force the coach to change his game plans? Change the coach? Change the benefits the players get?
Personally I think all players should be treated equally reguardless of past experience and honours. They should all be made to train the same and no mates rates favours given. But this won't happen while Justin is here I'm affraid to say.
Have you and Rhys fallen out with each other or just Rhys with Justin?
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle.
Joined: Jan 15 2007 Posts: 11924 Location: Secret Hill Top Lair. V.2
Mrs Barista wrote:What's up with Liam Watts? Utterly brilliant last year, what's happened to him - is he injured?
I'd give a serious answer if I thought this was a serious question.
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle.
Joined: Jul 15 2005 Posts: 29811 Location: West Yorkshire
pmh wrote:I'd give a serious answer if I thought this was a serious question.
It's a serious question. He was knocking on the door of the train-on squad last year and IMO was your best prop at that time. Is it "second season syndrome"? Just a bit surprised. No need for paranoia, it's a reasonable enquiry.
Joined: Aug 11 2006 Posts: 3789 Location: North Sea and beyond
Mrs Barista wrote:It's a serious question. He was knocking on the door of the train-on squad last year and IMO was your best prop at that time. Is it "second season syndrome"? Just a bit surprised. No need for paranoia, it's a reasonable enquiry.
I don't know if he was injured, dropped or rested against Wakefield , but he's not hit the heights of last season yet.
I like toast as much as anyone , but not for breakfast , dinner and tea.
Joined: Jan 15 2007 Posts: 11924 Location: Secret Hill Top Lair. V.2
Mrs Barista wrote:It's a serious question. He was knocking on the door of the train-on squad last year and IMO was your best prop at that time. Is it "second season syndrome"? Just a bit surprised. No need for paranoia, it's a reasonable enquiry.
He was used as a prop playing loose at his most effective last year and seemed to be given a freedom to play. No one's had that this year and he has not only stagnated but gone backwards. No idea if he's injured. He seemed to be learning admirably from Clinton last year (who despite your jibes was very good, capable of of drawing a man and popping a ball to someone on his shoulder) and we can all see what's happened to him. He came out after one game and stated that Mason was his new Sensei, and that's obviously gone equally well. The whole team is struggling for form, when your senior players can't catch, tackle or face up it doesn't give anyone else much room to work.
This is also his fourth season as a first team player at Rovers. Maybe he needs to be his own man a little more.
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle.
Joined: Jul 15 2005 Posts: 29811 Location: West Yorkshire
pmh wrote:He was used as a prop playing loose at his most effective last year and seemed to be given a freedom to play. No one's had that this year and he has not only stagnated but gone backwards. No idea if he's injured. He seemed to be learning admirably from Clinton last year (who despite your jibes was very good, capable of of drawing a man and popping a ball to someone on his shoulder) and we can all see what's happened to him. He came out after one game and stated that Mason was his new Sensei, and that's obviously gone equally well. The whole team is struggling for form, when your senior players can't catch, tackle or face up it doesn't give anyone else much room to work.
This is also his fourth season as a first team player at Rovers. Maybe he needs to be his own man a little more.
When he's played, has he been prop playing loose this year, then? Disappointing as he was a player genuinely to fear last year IMO at this level, great offloader and tacklebuster. A lot of players flatter to deceive in brief cameos of SL debuts but then don't kick on, but with Watts, I felt he'd already stepped up consistently and was a key player to build Rovers pack around in the future with Galea and Vella approaching the end of their careers. Hopefully just a bad run of form coinciding with wider underperformance, then.
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