Not convinced it was just Origin that had that impact. Or that Bennett couldn't have overcome it or motivated players out of their post-Origin let down...
Not convinced it was just Origin that had that impact. Or that Bennett couldn't have overcome it or motivated players out of their post-Origin let down...
Losing 7-10 players year after year is hard to deal with and no matter how you motivate someone sometimes the body just can't handle the workload, the one year it changed was 2006 when Benton (I think) suggested the guys get a week off just after Origin and remarkably we didn't fade. I think although it is hard to know in advance he should have rested guys periodically through rounds 3-10 before Origin and then again in the rounds immediately after the series but hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Yeah, but Origin was about 100 times harder in the 90s than the crap they call Origin now. So there's no excuse for players to be shagged for so long after.
Yep. I think the only difference between now and then is that the game is faster these days. It still doesn't justify the late season fade outs though. Although there are exceptions. The injury toll in 2007 was phenomenal.
