We are at this stage an awfully unprofessional team.
Our long kicking game is the worst in the league. Apart from none of our kickers having big boots on them, they get themselves into poor positions and have no instinct for reacting to the pressure from the defense. When having to choose between rushing the kick or stepping inside the rushing defense they'll make the wrong decision more often than not. We've also failed to find touch from penalties multiple times this year.
Our restarts are terrible, Tighe from the kick off and Coote from in-goal, both have poor boots just not up to NRL standard.
Our backline is amongst the least fluent in the NRL. Kingston from dummy half aside, our play makers Coote, Walsh, Iosefa and Burns have an inability to throw a flat ball onto the chest of an outside back running at pace. Our backline moves resemble an L plater learning manual. They're specials for suicide balls too, both flat balls at the line to players about to get creamed or floaters to backs so that they can get creamed. Lewis is the only one who can throw a decent ball.
With the exception of Gordon, our outside backs coming from our own end are getting snapped up by the marker defense for minimal gain. The rules have changed, marker defenders get more leeway this season and it's like we haven't noticed.
On the left side of our defense Simmons and Jennings are on completely different wave lengths.
Some of our big guns are playing very poorly. Coote has the Morris disease and Lewis has become the biggest crab in the NRL. Waterhouse is always up for multiple penalties whether he's guilty or not, and Jennings has caught his disease. These two need to take the safe option for a couple of months and try and get themselves off the refs radars. Jennings needs to get his hands in order too, and Waterhouse has become pedestrian.
We also lack pace, I don't know about Simmons and Jennings is an obvious exception, but Gordon, Kingston, Tighe and Coote are deceptively slow.
All in all I think Elliott's departure is inevitable, and if he goes now it may save us a pointless season.
