NEWS Storm: we were sorry to see Brodie go

McHunt

McHunt

International Rep
Contributor
Aug 25, 2018
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Storm football director Frank Ponissi gives his side of the Brodie Croft saga, immediately squashing rumours of a personality clash:

“That couldn’t be further from the truth. It wasn’t easy to agree to the release. We gave a lot of thought and consideration to it. We said ‘this bloke could come back and bite us on the arse’. We certainly said that. There was enormous pressure on him to replace Cooper and the way we play has a lot of pressure on the halfback. Anyone that was going to follow Cooper Cronk was going to have a big pair of shoes to fill. That was a fair bit of pressure on him at a young age."

“Coops left a year before we all thought he was going to leave. We thought 2019 would be when Crofty took over rather than 2018, but he got us to a grand final (2018) and played halfback. The bloke can play."


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Never right for each other

“People forget he was dropped twice in 2018, which is big for your halfback, but had the character to come back and be our halfback for the finals series and play in a grand final. That tells you something about his character and why we’re alert. He is a competitive and determined little bugger. We had to make a decision between Crofty and Jahrome Hughes and they were nose-and-nose together. It wasn’t about us being unhappy with him."

“Halfback is a position where if the rest of your team isn’t going well, especially your forward pack, it puts a lot of pressure on you. We have no doubt he’ll be up for us tomorrow night and we expect him to play well. He is really well-liked and respected by us. It’s been difficult to see the criticism of him. He hasn’t been playing to his best ability, but the comments about him not being NRL standard are well off the mark. Even Cooper Cronk came out and supported him. He is just out of form but only one good game away from getting back into form. We just hope that’s next week.”


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In a better place

Croft insists he split from notoriously needy Cameron Smith on good terms. All he ever wanted was to walk tall as an honest man, in the greatest city on Planet Earth:

“I don’t know what all those rumours have come from. I had a great relationship with all the boys there and that was the hardest thing about leaving Melbourne — was the mateships I made down there for four years. I moved away from my family to go down there. I created some tight bonds so I found it really hard to leave. When I reflect on my time at Melbourne, it was a rollercoaster I guess you could say, but it developed me as a player and person. Having Craig Bellamy as a coach, I learnt so much, so I wouldn’t change anything.”

McHunt
 
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Rubbish. This is just them poking fun at us for being an absolute basketcase by saying the complete opposite to everyone with eyes.
 
Hey if he can Pull a Reed and get Smith to slap him and binned then I'll be a happy man. That was a good sight, young mongrel getting under the skin of of King Grub was nice.
 
Need to fix the thread title i think...let me help...

"Storm: we were sorry to see Brodie go before Cam Smith had the chance to slam the door shut on the way out"
 
“It was a tough decision to let him go. But we did, because that’s what good clubs do. Make tough decisions, not wring their hands and attempt to absolve themselves of all blame and accountability?

What we talking about? Oh yeah Brodie. He’s not much chop, but a likeable fella. He’s actually pretty awful, but he’s still an improvement over what the Broncs have at the club. I honestly don’t know how they manage it? They sign all the good juniors, pick pretty much the worst of them and continually let the good ones go and then turn around and buy our discards like Brodie and Anthony.

Simply incredible. Any rational person would think they’d eventually just fall out of this pattern and by chance manage to sign someone good, but there you go....”
 
“It was a tough decision to let him go. But we did, because that’s what good clubs do. Make tough decisions, not wring their hands and attempt to absolve themselves of all blame and accountability?

What we talking about? Oh yeah Brodie. He’s not much chop, but a likeable fella. He’s actually pretty awful, but he’s still an improvement over what the Broncs have at the club. I honestly don’t know how they manage it? They sign all the good juniors, pick pretty much the worst of them and continually let the good ones go and then turn around and buy our discards like Brodie and Anthony.

Simply incredible. Any rational person would think they’d eventually just fall out of this pattern and by chance manage to sign someone good, but there you go....”

They have done so with Fifita, Haas, Carrigan, Flegler, Dearden, Coates and Staggs but the club’s problem is the coaching. The development of these kids is stunted and the system is broken, this is why they aren’t kicking on.
 
Rubbish. This is just them poking fun at us for being an absolute basketcase by saying the complete opposite to everyone with eyes.
Or maybe popular opinion is wrong. I cannot understand the mentality that seems to be so strong that the possibility the masses are wrong about something is considered so small as to be unworthy of consideration.

I don't think I'd be so quick to judge. He's 22, basically not long ago a kid and teenager and I believe he will kick on. His form hasn't been outstanding lately but made to appear much much worse by the teams poor form. I think he has a great future and we should 100% stick with him and support him.

Pleae feel to let fly with derogation and dismissal.
 
I’ve recon this new halves pairing will be good as long as they stick with them the rest of the year just get a new coach
 
They dropped him for the 3rd string fullback on the eve of the finals I believe.
 
They dropped him for the 3rd string fullback on the eve of the finals I believe.

Maybe a factor in the decision to drop him was that unlike who they kept, he couldn't play 3 positions
 
Well if they were sorry to let him go I'll pay for his flight back to Melbourne or bus to sunny coast or wherever they are. The bloke is a flop, an abject failure.
 
Well if they were sorry to let him go I'll pay for his flight back to Melbourne or bus to sunny coast or wherever they are. The bloke is a flop, an abject failure.

You would also have to subsidise a huge chunk of his contract. Surely you have better things to spend that much coin on.
 
They have done so with Fifita, Haas, Carrigan, Flegler, Dearden, Coates and Staggs but the club’s problem is the coaching. The development of these kids is stunted and the system is broken, this is why they aren’t kicking on.

Yeah many thought the ‘class of 2008’ were our next generation of superstars too. With the exception of Yow Yeh (😭) and arguably McGuire, they proved by and large to be average quality A graders at best, not ‘superstars’ hence why we’ve won nothing in the decade or so they largely comprised the team.

I’m starting to wonder if history is repeating itself? We have a new generation of ‘superstars’ who as a whole are proving over-rated, with 1 or 2 exceptions, ie: perhaps Fifita... Not only under the current coaching regime, but under the former too, with the gradual slide of our overall performance un-checked by Wayne, leading to him getting the flick and now Seibold facing the same situation.

When multiple coaches can’t correct this slide, when is it time to turn an eye on the playing group and our recruitment and retention strategies, which many have identified as flawed over many years?
 

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