I agree with most of your post pete. The focus of the majority of the comments in this thread have been in the quality of the squad which are all relevant but Kevvies coaching is leaving me a little underwhelmed.
We are still one doing one off ruck hit ups which is fine at certain times and field positions but we have zero creativity or variation.
Nothing comes off our half, not even a simple drop under.
Lodge needs to not ball play, ever, except for an offload in a tackle.
We dont have any shape inside said 20.
Putting it through the hands is every time slimy is not Nrl standard.
Even our flat runners telegraph they are decoys because they slow down at the line. They should be running through the line to provide an option and keep the D interested.
Bombing To' o was one of the few times we look like we had a part of a plan.
This is all coaching basics, so whilst Kevvie has excuses for the squad he doesn't for our style and our attacking purpose.
Then there is the D which us just as confused.
Yeah I can somewhat forgive the attack. Round 1 Milf was playing on both sides and linking with his co-half. Some good shapes but I think Kev has purposefully simplified things to the absolute basic level and guys still aren’t able to follow it. This may be why our attack is so one dimensional - because the players are struggling to execute even our current overly simplified strategies. For me the jury is still out on this.
A concern is definitely the defence. Yea, he is working with gumbies but the right side has been swapped so much and not shown any improvement.
The right side has looked like: several combinations of the following:
4th in defender: Riki, TPJ
3rd in: Milf, Croft
2nd in: Niu, Kennar, Mead, Farnworth
Wing: Coates, (Farnworth half a game)
The only constant has been Coates on wing and Isaako at fullback. So who is to blame for the horrendous right side defence?
Is it structural? Are all the players just terrible? Is Coates the issue? Is Isaako not communicating the numbers?
I think it’s obviously all of the above to some extent. Though Boyd was back there and things were no better with the “games best defensive communicator”.
It’s obviously just speculation but I’d find it hard to believe that this teams’ defence would be this bad under Bennett. I’m not sure what the answer is.