The fact that Seibold said Dearden would take pressure off Croft in the organisation department shows what a failure of a signing he has been. Incredible that we needed a halfback to take organising pressure off the halfback who was meant to take the organising pressure off Milford.
Should be Milford and Dearden in the halves with Croft dropped.
I too think it was a poor call but not for the same reason! For me, to get what he was after you get an older, much more seasoned halfback. I have a son 24, very high iq, strong and I'd say very well schooled and with developing thinking skills. I have a lot of faith in his abilities. However, if he was asked to direct staff/players/people who were considerably older and experienced I'd guess the task for him would be extremely difficult.
Croft is two years younger and the gap in experience even wider. He would never have been my choice but not because I think he's rubbish. I don't at all and I hope he sticks around. No, I'd have looked to the ISC and searched for a 27-30 year old who will never be a superstar but would kill his mother for a chance.
Someone who would do a job, nothing flash, just a job. Someone happy to direct gorillas where to go, when to run and be in position to put in a kick. I'd simplify the job too. Kick for the corners preferably into touch. Even that job would be made easier for him by my instruction to kick it just hard enough to make it dead over the sideline. I would make sure my team got lots of breaks and time to reset. Structure and more importantly, rhythm and timing, just like the psychologist suggested.
I wouldn't even ask this halfback to set up fancy plays, nope. Just move it on to the nrl superstars he gets to play with. I wouldn't burden him with playmaking, just be in position, feed the scrums and try hard to get in the road of the blokes running at him. I wouldn't even count his missed tackles unless he had a thousand!
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