Hardly on the Ivan bandwagon from my post the page back..
Still don’t think we can win it with Ivan as coach but better set up for success this way
You were one of many that thought we under performed under hook...Yet changes happen and it is wrong?
I thought we underperformed with Hook. We change things up and results get worse. Ofcourse I think that's wrong.
Anything less than matching his results was not good enough and we should have been expecting to improve on them.
I was happy to stand by Ivan early on buying into the different excuses for his results. But after ending our finals streak in his first season back... a streak that started immediately when he left I am judging him purely on results now.
In the past 5 years we made 3/3 finals series without him and missed 2/2 with him. He has missed 4 finals series in a row and I have very litte faith he cam take such a weak roster to the finals in 2020.
His last finals appearance had 3 players in the spine all with more individual brilliance and x-factor than our spine now combined.
I can see Nathan improving as the main playmaker. But I expect a lot of inconsistency and teething issues with our 2x rookie 6s while neither Edwards or Koroisau are known for ball playing. Our team is riding on the shoulders of a player many here bag out for having no vision or playmaking ability, and counting on a rookie halves partner to step up with him. I know after a great game from each they were rated as future immortals by some on here. But that form is unrealistic to maintain as we saw with Luai in most games since.
Our average backline sure wont help these guys create points either.
I hope at the end of 2020 this post can be dug up and I can be laughed at as we hold up the trophy on grand final day. But for the first time in 6+ years I dont think we have a top 8 squad (letalone the top 4 squad i usually rate us as). By that I mean i think there are more than 8 sides i rate as better on paper than ours. Although to be fair I was always optimistic Whare and Mansour were a pre-season away from returning to peak form. 2019 finally convinced me it's not possible. Age and ACL injuries are just too hard to overcome. Those guys at their peak would pit us in the top 8 for sure. They were largely why I saw a top 4 squad the past few seasons. But after burning me 3 years in a row. I rate them for what they have delivered lately and not what they were capable of.