I think we've improved on last year. Probably more so because we don't have the injuries "yet" that we did last year. Its really hard to pinpoint the issue with us. By rights our forward pack should be matching it with some of the best but they just turn to butter too often. There is no doubting our key positions are lacking.
A large part of me thinks alot of it is psychological. We've shown good periods of play in all of our games but as soon as momentum goes against us we drop the bundle. That to me also suggests lack of leadership. No one stands up behind the try line and reads the riot act to them. Or if they do, they haven't earned the right to à la Cameron smith or Corey Parker.
I really hope Carty pulls Kevvie aside and gives him a tatse of what he did to Chris Johns. He needs to pull his head in over his bench and rotations. Making payne play 70 mins, TPJ 30 min and bringing croft on for 22 mins while leaving turps out there for 80 astounds me. I mean what do you expect croft to do in this roving lock forward utility kind of role? Either replace turps or dont play croft.
Kevvie maybe bronco's favourite son but i can tell you now mismanagement like that and not even the old boys will save him.
I think too much onus has been placed on Haas, Carrigan and Flegler. Young guys that are getting run over in defence. They need to be rotated properly to stay fresh.
TPJ is also not a reliable defender in the middle or on an edge.
It's a total dog's breakfast when we're defending... 3 guys getting caught at marker, running with their back to the ptb, conceding quick ptb. It's easy pickings for a team.
The issue is who do we have that can be relied upon to play 50mins or so in the middle. Lodge should be that guy, but injuries over the last 2yrs have killed any chance to show that. But who do we have after that??
Flegler should be in ISC learning his craft. Haas and Carrigan should be in the 17 playing as part of the supporting cast, but instead they're being relied on to carry the forward pack. It's just not going to work. We probably could make a play for Moose. He plays long minutes and will always take a tough carry. He's reasonably mobile around the middle, although I haven't paid too much attention to his wrestling abilities.
I think our best defender in the middle is possibly Turps only because he leads the line speed and is able to cut guys in half, but we dont have anyone that can win the wrestle and get the ball runner on their back.
Carrigan also goes alright when he is fresh and I think he is our best when it comes to that up top 1v1 strength out of our middle forwards, but after 30mins or so he's fatigued, gets caught at the ruck and then it turns to shit... he needs to be used in 20min stints until his game is up to speed, which should be expected for a young middle forward.