Pre-season

[Kimlo]

After one of the worst seasons by a club in NRL history which was experienced by a team that has almost never missed the finals. people are rightfully trying to explain why everything crashed and burned as bad as it did, and I think people are rightfully placing some of the blame on the captain who, if you give the absolute benefit of the doubt, experienced a horrific form drop when choosing to play on too long. I don’t have a strong opinion either way on the comment itself but to pretend to be surprised that it rubbed people the wrong way is playing dumb imo.

Alex Glenn has a lot to answer for.

 

[broncsgoat]

Who cares about winning a trial? Play some good attacking footy, don't get injured.

We lost to Burleigh in a trial this year. We should be trying to win every time we go out on the field

 

[Allo]

Don't care about who we pick for the trial, I just want a shut-out.

 

[theshed]

Alex Glenn has a lot to answer for.

lol not wrong. But yeah I get it Boyd wasn’t captain last year; the point remains. .

 

[MrMoore]

lol @ McCullough playing water boy. Lets hope that's his only role all year.

Juat look at his face

 

[holdzy]

We lost to Burleigh in a trial this year. We should be trying to win every time we go out on the field

Of course we should.

 

[Wolfie]

After one of the worst seasons by a club in NRL history which was experienced by a team that has almost never missed the finals. people are rightfully trying to explain why everything crashed and burned as bad as it did, and I think people are rightfully placing some of the blame on the captain who, if you give the absolute benefit of the doubt, experienced a horrific form drop when choosing to play on too long. I don’t have a strong opinion either way on the comment itself but to pretend to be surprised that it rubbed people the wrong way is playing dumb imo.

I think its dumber to keep going on about somebody who has retired.

 

[abashii]

I think its dumber to keep going on about somebody who has retired.

100% mate. It's also pretty dumb to be so upset by Boyd you start to spread the witch hunt ever wider, then get triggered by a player unable to play because of a long-term injury saying words to the effect of "you learn footy's not everything, there are people outside football who can help you."

 

[theshed]

I think its dumber to keep going on about somebody who has retired.

Totally agree but I don’t think that’s what I was commenting on.

 

[holdzy]

Does anyone genuinely think we are spoon contenders again next year?

 

[Galah]

Does anyone genuinely think we are spoon contenders again next year?

Nope, top 8 bound

 

[holdzy]

Nope, top 8 bound

That's the way.

I seriously can't see the clusterfuck of this year repeating. We're due a good run with injuries and team stability.

 

[McHunt]

Why are people still so fixated with Darius Boyd and some taken out of context statements about its only a game now he has retired?

I guess because he's continued on at the club as a trainer, and many of us suspected he was the cancer. So if the subject is to do with attitude and mentoring, then Boyd is everything we don't want replicated on the field next season. Off the field, I don't know, he's always been presentable as a club ambassador, but his shirking responsibility for his own woeful performances, saying shit like he was "trying too hard" and playing down losses, grated on many of us. On top of those generic complaints, some of us are also somewhat leery about him blaming "mental health" for his infidelity. Where he chooses to stick his dick is not our business, but he's traded on that feeble excuse to package himself as a player mentor on every permutation of psychological trauma. Not all of us are buying in.

So as much as we'd like to relegate him to the past, he's still the present, at least somewhat.

On the topic of past, present and future, I feel much better about Macca hanging around the club. I'm loathe to see him back wearing the number 9, but the bloke is rock solid as a mentor, and if it weren't for him being a slug in lead boots at dummy half, he'd be the standout pick for captain.

 

[Financeguy]

Does anyone genuinely think we are spoon contenders again next year?

I hope i am wrong but i don't see us being too far from bottom 4 so i guess that means i have us in the race for the spoon next season.

I like Kevvie being on board and i think the 30+ floggings will stop but i just can't see where our improvement comes from where we comfortably overtake Dogs, Cows or Manly from last year.

Seibold removed any fear factor we had, teams seem to enjoy playing us, especially at home. Our backline looks timid in attack without Staggs and Milford and Croft would have to lift their game by a large margin and find consistency to be in the top 8 fight.

Our pack is solid but unsettled, Lodge and TPJ can be bang or bust, if they even last the season...

Maybe i have been burnt by season 2020 but my expectation for next season is not so much ladder position but Kevvie rolling out a team that plays with heart and doesn't roll over like the Seibold years with a view to building a roster towards 2022 and beyond.

 

[IceWorks]

Every season has teams that massively out perform, we can be that team in 2021

 

[Cult]

Go and listen to Sandor Earl’s podcast with Bloke in a Bar. I think you’ll appreciate the mindset differences between what our squad has and what others have...

Anyone else find it funny that the only examples people seem to be using are those that are notorious cheaters, whether it’s signing two contracts or performance enhancing drugs?

There’s a balance. And Boyd’s comment was about his own mental health and finding that balance himself.

 

[Cult]

Slater is exemplary, Boyd is embarrassing.

Football was Billy's obsession too, but he never used it as an excuse for something as despicable, win or lose, as cheating on his spouse.

Just cheating by signing two contracts hey

 

[holdzy]

Just cheating by signing two contracts hey

Zing!