Jedhead
State of Origin Rep
Contributor
- Jan 8, 2018
- 6,539
- 13,340
I'm wondering if you were asked - like Kevvie, to go away and think about what you would like your Broncos team to eventually look like, what would you say was your priorities?
We've been talking this morning about the importance of coaching.
Another deciding factor with how our team performs is - player experience and stability.
As we all know, teams that have been together for a number of seasons not only learn combinations and each other’s game they also gain an advantage on teams that are at their own beginning of a re-build. So, a team full of rookies coming up against a team full of 50 plus regulars will always get flogged.
Siebold’s hairbrained ideas of getting rid of almost everyone connected in any way to Benny and replace them with brand new shiny rookies is a prime example. He thought he’d come up with a sound idea to manufacture loyalty, but it was at the expense of stability and experience and it backfired horribly. They were flogged on a weekly basis and the physical and mental scars were just too much for some to bear.
Our current crop of players are all fast approaching that point where they are no longer raw in-experienced pushovers and between now and the next couple of seasons the shoe will be on the other foot. They will be the ones bossing other teams who are made up more of rookies than experienced players. Furthermore, they are reaching this stage with a much brighter attitude than if we had persevered with the errant schoolteacher.
The big difference is Kev has brought in several ‘old’ hands to help nurture our younger brigade. All our roster is gaining irreplaceable levels of confidence by just being around players like Reyno, Capewell and to a lesser degree Jensen, Mead, Lee and James. Over the last month if I heard it once I heard it a dozen times from our youngsters saying their confidence had exploded from having calm heads like our skipper just talking to them and coaching them through the tough periods of games.
The good news is, very soon those players will be able to remain calm all on their own.
The big thing is though is that these guys need to realise that the good times are just around the corner. Herbie, for instance, plays his 50th game tonight and it is only now that he is starting to be regarded as a reliable weapon. We need to be able to keep guys like Herbie to recoup all the time and effort both he and the club have put in to get to this stage.
I hope these young guys realise that sure a GF ring is an ultimate goal, but a GF ring won through sticking by a team who has fought their way through adversity is much sweeter than a ring that is won by walking into a team that has already done all the heavy lifting.
Some of you might argue a GF ring is a GF ring, but I’d bet most players would get a bigger level of satisfaction winning a GF ring that was won through years of personal sacrifice.
Finally, when Kev went away for his sitdown to think about what he wanted his team to eventually look like I hope part of his vision was a team full of players who had sacrificed a great deal to win a GF ring as that my friends is a huge deciding factor during those 80 minutes of the big dance.
What would your 'vision' be?
We've been talking this morning about the importance of coaching.
Another deciding factor with how our team performs is - player experience and stability.
As we all know, teams that have been together for a number of seasons not only learn combinations and each other’s game they also gain an advantage on teams that are at their own beginning of a re-build. So, a team full of rookies coming up against a team full of 50 plus regulars will always get flogged.
Siebold’s hairbrained ideas of getting rid of almost everyone connected in any way to Benny and replace them with brand new shiny rookies is a prime example. He thought he’d come up with a sound idea to manufacture loyalty, but it was at the expense of stability and experience and it backfired horribly. They were flogged on a weekly basis and the physical and mental scars were just too much for some to bear.
Our current crop of players are all fast approaching that point where they are no longer raw in-experienced pushovers and between now and the next couple of seasons the shoe will be on the other foot. They will be the ones bossing other teams who are made up more of rookies than experienced players. Furthermore, they are reaching this stage with a much brighter attitude than if we had persevered with the errant schoolteacher.
The big difference is Kev has brought in several ‘old’ hands to help nurture our younger brigade. All our roster is gaining irreplaceable levels of confidence by just being around players like Reyno, Capewell and to a lesser degree Jensen, Mead, Lee and James. Over the last month if I heard it once I heard it a dozen times from our youngsters saying their confidence had exploded from having calm heads like our skipper just talking to them and coaching them through the tough periods of games.
The good news is, very soon those players will be able to remain calm all on their own.
The big thing is though is that these guys need to realise that the good times are just around the corner. Herbie, for instance, plays his 50th game tonight and it is only now that he is starting to be regarded as a reliable weapon. We need to be able to keep guys like Herbie to recoup all the time and effort both he and the club have put in to get to this stage.
I hope these young guys realise that sure a GF ring is an ultimate goal, but a GF ring won through sticking by a team who has fought their way through adversity is much sweeter than a ring that is won by walking into a team that has already done all the heavy lifting.
Some of you might argue a GF ring is a GF ring, but I’d bet most players would get a bigger level of satisfaction winning a GF ring that was won through years of personal sacrifice.
Finally, when Kev went away for his sitdown to think about what he wanted his team to eventually look like I hope part of his vision was a team full of players who had sacrificed a great deal to win a GF ring as that my friends is a huge deciding factor during those 80 minutes of the big dance.
What would your 'vision' be?
