It was tough to watch our team take on the Storm. Like many sitting and watching I did not like what I saw, and if I had written this in the hours post-match, my reaction may have been a little more raw.
Normally reliable players made fundamental errors and at times seemed somewhat devoid of genuine belief in each other. Of course that could have been frustration boiling over but it did not look pretty.
I trust that none of this will be missed in what would have been a brutal video review. But more must come from our loss last week.
Like any season, but especially with this season, I would hope an honest and forward thinking complete review is held into all aspects of the club.
As a fan my only real insight into team and squad construction is gained from what I see as I sit in the stand.
From the Friday night horror show
Competition is always an extremely healthy state of being and from my perspective there is little genuine competition within our squad. At times watching the Reserve Grade team this year has been very painful. From the stands it looks like we ran the gauntlet with the roster hoping we would not get too many injuries, suspension or players out of form.
Unfortunately at times this year we got all three, with little to no adequate cover in the squad and we must face that truth and rectify it. Turning a blind eye to the truth does nothing but cause ongoing trouble and stops growth.
You need to look no further than the NRL standing by and letting a powerful club publicly, and at an NRL sanctioned match accompanied by posts on social media, celebrate 25 years. That included celebrating a deliberate systematic widespread cheating of rules.
Failure to address problems in any organisation destabilises and causes increasing doubts that ultimately destroy and erode trust.
There have been issues for our team both on and off the field and I have decided to place my faith in decision makers at our club to identify the issues and fix them no matter how the season turns out.
I have not given up on our team and club. I will be there on Sunday cheering them on. Every player, official and coach will have my 100% support. It will be extremely tough to make the finals with our draw ahead and if I am honest the obvious weak spots in our roster don’t make it any easier.
But the truth is, no matter how the season unfolds, even if we went on a magical run, there are still massive learnings to be taken from this year.
If those in charge choose to put their head in the sand, as the NRL has done for years, then we, like the NRL, will make the same mistakes. If that was to happen, they’d lose my trust and those blue and gold glasses would regrettably be removed.
Come this Sunday my family will be passionately supporting our team, our club, our colours. Our aim is to go and enjoy a very rare Sunday afternoon game at our wonderful stadium.
This year has been tough and bumpy but my passion for the blue and gold is resolute. Play well boys, put in 100% effort and believe in yourself. We will be cheering you on.
Sixties
Hi Shelly well said, but we need development pushing through to nsw cup but that hasn’t been the case, hopefully a few going up in the last couple of weeks will be a good start . Nathan Brown is the right guy in that position now.
In reviewing this year it is also appropriate to again acknowledge the absurdities of the draw. For examplee, compare our requirement of playing other members of last year’s top eight with that of Canberra. The difference in the quality of opponents more than explains our different positions on the competition table. We require a transparent system to create some form of equity in the draw.
Totally agree although even with the head in the sand I will always support the blue and gold. We need to see a massive improvement this week and be able to hold our heads high after the game. Let’s hope we will be able to do a lot of cheering, flag waving and hand clapping this weekend!!