I missed the IMO at the end of your sentence, but even still, my response to your actual post wasn't the one quoted in this post. I was the one who brought up statistically because for the life of me I don't know how anyone could think this season has been the best since 15. Making a whole lot of excuses like no other club goes through the same shit every year to justify your position deserves to be questioned.
I wasn't undermining Seibold - shit, I wasn't even talking about him.
What positives am I twisting into a bad light? I don't understand.
You can think what you want about who I would like to win but I do and always will want the Broncos to win.
Well I don’t know about you but in a season where we have been kicked pillar to post, underachieving for the most of first half of the season, had zero stability team cohesion wise all year because of constant injuries, suspensions and player movement which has had us at one stage made finishing in the bottom 4 look a real possibility, I think making the 8 is a decent achievement under the circumstances and considering how the team was looking in the first 8 weeks. Last year for instance I felt we were more settled as a team and were more consistent and then we ended the regular season on fire so making the 8 felt more like a given. That is why the absolute pasting in Week 1 at home was hard to take.
Statistically regular season wise, 2019 will not be better than last season but we have had a lot of shit to contend with this year whether you want to think that’s an excuse or not and I think if we at least match our Week 1 finals standing of last season, that’s some turn around from the way we were looking after around 8.
Tell me how many other clubs do you reckon could make the finals after:
- Losing their most successful and established coach during the pre season (whose style and culture is imbedded in the very fabric of the club and players) to a completely different brand of coach who has to completely change their playing style and get the players to buy in
- Let go of 3 international players, an origin centre and an up and coming forward to be able to keep our gun players coming through that need to be upgraded to stop them being poached
- Having a 2-6 start to the year heading into Origin where we had our biggest contingent during the series in some time.
- Having our most important positions in our spine handicapped every single week with the way Boyd and Macca’s seasons have played out. We also have had to contend with putting our most established half back to 1 to try and rectify the problem.
You call this making excuses, I am merely stating some of the hurdles we have had to contend with and I think if we make the finals despite all this I definitely give it a pass mark and look forward to building on it next season.
For all the talk about players wanting out and following Bennett out the door, only 2 of them did and even then that was circumstantial. Roberts because he was pushing for a move back
home because Seibold refused to cut him the same slack Bennett did and he didn’t want to be held accountable. And Su’a was always struggling to be in our best 17 with the emergence of Carrigan and Flegler and more probably left for the opportunity. The fact we got Lodge and TPJ to extend was a positive sign that the players are buying in. Hopefully Fifita is next.
Bennett is an effort coach and more of a man manager than Seibold but I believe Seibold is a better tactician and employs a more modern style to help us take that next step. Remains to be seen of it will work but the future looks brighter than it did 3 months ago and we have a good base to build on. I kind of feel like part of your grudge is because you bought into the idea we were ready to win the comp but the realists knew this wasn’t going to click overnight with all the changes. Premierships aren’t won on ‘potential’