If Moga's rushing in is obvious and its hard to disagree with that assessment, the obvious question is why Cleary didn't do something about it? When JT had his arm dangling down in SOO2 commentators like Andrew Johns were very critical of the NSW halves for not targeting him. In fact Johns was angry at the lack of game smarts. The point being, its not just the coach who is responsible for adjusting the play as the game progresses.
I think the team has to take responsibility for the lack of game smarts and for failing to respond to what was in front of them at the time. That is not a set play. That is adjusting to what you see. The great halves do it all the time. JT would have had that sorted in a few sets and a try would have resulted.
Maybe its because our halfback is a rookie. Maybe its because our 5/8th is a rookie. Maybe its because reading the game is not a skill they possess. Who knows why?
In the off-season our coaches will need to work with the halves to get them to work out things like that. "When this happens, we do this. When that that happens we do something else" and so on. But you have to accept that even if they are coached, when the game is played at semi-final intensity then its the players who have to adjust on the run and make the calls. Of course Griffin isn't blameless, but he isn't the only one at fault, as Johns pointed out in his withering assessment of the NSW halves, the coach can only do so much.
Only time will tell if Cleary has the ability to read the game and adjust as he goes along. We forget, he is still a rookie playing the toughest position in the team. Unfortunately, other than Wallace, most of this season the other spine positions have also been rookies. How good would it be if we could get somebody like Cooper Cronk helping him for a season?
