Leadership

[Poupou Escobar]

This is what once again f**ked us tonight. Poor leadership.

It's not enough that we got rid of Hindmarsh. Losing a poor leader doesn't mean a few good ones will magically appear, and unfortunately the most influential players in our club emerged through the culture that Brian Smith left here. And no coach since has been here long enough to build a culture of leadership and resilience.

Sticky's going to have to buy some leadership. Because at the moment, as soon as a couple of things go against us (e.g. Toutai's early errors tonight) we roll on our backs and piss. Like a bunch of submissive dogs. Strong leadership would have ensured that didn't happen.

We obviously don't have a roster as good as that of the Chooks, but 50-0 is f**king disgraceful. We have enough ability to compete with other NRL sides - with a bit of early luck we managed to run away with the Warriors just three weeks ago. We just have no mental strength in our playing group. We haven't done since the late 90s when Smith drove Pay, McCracken and co out of the club.

 

[Avenger]

Hayne has struggled with the captaincy.

 

[Eels Dude]

We should have kept Kearney. He was the ultimate leader apparently. Maybe Sticky can buy him to play in the backrow. He couldn't do any worse than our current backrowers.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

While it's true that Kearney captained just about every team he ever played in - including the Western Suburbs Magpies (coached by premiership winner Warren Ryan) at the age of 21 - no amount of off-field leadership will mitigate the effects of poor leadership on the field.

Today Vai needed someone to keep his chin up. I'm sure Sticky will help him get his confidence back, but there's only so much he can do during the 80 minutes.

 

[strider]

Hayne has struggled with the captaincy.

and where the f**k is Reni? .... if I hadn't been told about it, I wouldn't even realise Reni was co-captain - I bet most supporters of other teams would be thinking it's just hayne atm

reni was everyone's knight in shining armour for leadership this year ... M.I.A.

 

[Avenger]

Reni has been shit all year bar the first game.

 

[Jake the snake]

Now we're blaming the leaders? Don Bradman could not help us last night. Our team are talentless. Poor leadership has nothing to do with it. We are not good enough. Only we are going to win is by an act of god.

 

[strider]

even a talentless team shouldn't get 50 put on them

i saw alot of talk going on in goal after each try from alot of different people (admittedly there were enough opportunities for everyone to have a say) ..... so I don't think it's that players aren't aware they need to take ownership .... i think we are just scarred from a few years of absolute crap

 

[Maroubra Eel]

lol it's Brian Smith's fault now.

Bwahahhahahhahaahhahaha!!!!!!!!

 

[The Colonel]

Simply Mannah should have been made captain. The only reason Hayne was made captain was to re-sign him. He has no experience and a struggling team is not the place to gain it.

 

[oldmancraigy]

and where the f**k is Reni? .... if I hadn't been told about it, I wouldn't even realise Reni was co-captain - I bet most supporters of other teams would be thinking it's just hayne atm

reni was everyone's knight in shining armour for leadership this year ... M.I.A.

Reni was standing next to the left touchline sucking in the big ones for most of the game.

He and Fui are looking old this year.



The reason we lost is not 'leadership' nor lack thereof. It's talent level. Our backrow is the worst in the comp by a long way. We suffered 2 years under a bad systems coach who brought in low grade talent (or none at all). To cap it all off, these guys have then been taught the wrong way to play first grade.

The old adage is that it takes 18 months to change the culture of a club - I dunno if Ricky is the man to do it, but I hope he does because I don't want to waste another 2 years...



But I kind of agree with some part of Pou's original post. We need to bring in some NRL veterans - guys who are solid first graders who know what to do, and where to be.

 

[Bigfella]

If your entire back row, and your entire three quarter line, is not of nrl standard, and you have very ordinary halves, and the worst hooker in the comp, leadership is going to be very hard to find. Yes, it becomes even more important, but it gets even harder.

Not sure about the effect the coach is having on tje players
mindsets either tbh.

 

[madunit]

I said it after the tigers gane, mannah should be the only captain. Hayne as captain f**ks with his form. Just like it does with Benji at the Tigers.

Mannah is the only player who would have the respect of all his team mates. Reni as captain is a joke of a concept. Only Stuart could have thought that one up.

 

[Gronk]

<flashback>

"It will all change once that cancer Hindmarsh is away from the club.

We'll be a better team once he's gone."

#nostradamusfail

 

[spiderdan]

The old adage is that it takes 18 months to change the culture of a club - I dunno if Ricky is the man to do it, but I hope he does because I don't want to waste another 2 years...

that's gus's adage, not the old adage.

there's been a few clubs that have become contenders in the space of an off-season or even during a season. i think poupou is right that there are leadership issues and they contributed to us not being able to get some respectability into the scoreline but i don't think that was what led to so much dropped ball and ineffective defence last night.

 

[forward pass]

even a talentless team shouldn't get 50 put on them

i saw alot of talk going on in goal after each try from alot of different people (admittedly there were enough opportunities for everyone to have a say) ..... so I don't think it's that players aren't aware they need to take ownership .... i think we are just scarred from a few years of absolute crap

The guy who seemed to be doing the most talking was Mitch Allgood. I thought he was good in a pathetic team last night. Make him the bloody captain for all I care....

 

[Parra]

I said it after the tigers gane, mannah should be the only captain. Hayne as captain f**ks with his form. Just like it does with Benji at the Tigers.

Mannah is the only player who would have the respect of all his team mates. Reni as captain is a joke of a concept. Only Stuart could have thought that one up.

Madunit is right.

 

[Sphagnum]

The guy who seemed to be doing the most talking was Mitch Allgood. I thought he was good in a pathetic team last night. Make him the bloody captain for all I care....

He has improved dramatically this year. Bigger, stronger and can play more effective minutes.

He isn't the only one who has improved. I thought Morgan tried his heart out and did some quality defence. That young backrower Tanginoa had a real dig and looks like he could potentially be quite a handful. Moi Moi, Sio, Mannah, Hayne all tried hard but some horribly inept performance from Roberts and Toutai gave the Roosters too many opportunities and the last couple of years aren't far enough away for the players to forget how bad they can be when the scoreboard says 22 - 0 at half time.

They all tried hard in the first half and for 20 minutes of the second half but lost their way completely in the last 20 minutes when all hope had been lost.

Now that Kelly is back, Roberts has to go. I wouldn't be giving Toutai another chance at this stage either because he gave away about 20 points and never threatened in attack. He doesn't have an X factor about him so give some of the other guys toiling away in the lower grades a go and see if any of them want to step up to the plate.

It's only round 4. The Roosters could prove to be real competition heavyweights this year and it's quite clear we play under an entirely different salary cap to teams like Canterbury, Souths, Roosters, Sharks and Manly.

Ricky was getting Hayne to address the team at half time. He is intent on developing him into a leader but it will still take some time.

It's only round 4....

 

[Kornstar]

He has improved dramatically this year. Bigger, stronger and can play more effective minutes.

He isn't the only one who has improved. I thought Morgan tried his heart out and did some quality defence. That young backrower Tanginoa had a real dig and looks like he could potentially be quite a handful. Moi Moi, Sio, Mannah, Hayne all tried hard but some horribly inept performance from Roberts and Toutai gave the Roosters too many opportunities and the last couple of years aren't far enough away for the players to forget how bad they can be when the scoreboard says 22 - 0 at half time.

They all tried hard in the first half and for 20 minutes of the second half but lost their way completely in the last 20 minutes when all hope had been lost.

Now that Kelly is back, Roberts has to go. I wouldn't be giving Toutai another chance at this stage either because he gave away about 20 points and never threatened in attack. He doesn't have an X factor about him so give some of the other guys toiling away in the lower grades a go and see if any of them want to step up to the plate.

It's only round 4. The Roosters could prove to be real competition heavyweights this year and it's quite clear we play under an entirely different salary cap to teams like Canterbury, Souths, Roosters, Sharks and Manly.

Ricky was getting Hayne to address the team at half time. He is intent on developing him into a leader but it will still take some time.

It's only round 4....

If you are ever going to get someone used to be a captain when it may not be natural to them, this is the year! We are shot anyway, so might aswell get him used to it......he'll learn.

 

[Sphagnum]

If you are ever going to get someone used to be a captain when it may not be natural to them, this is the year! We are shot anyway, so might aswell get him used to it......he'll learn.

And being responsible when times are bad will make the good times so much sweeter.

He has come a long way in a short space of time. He needs to learn that arguing with the ref is a bad idea unless you are actually slowing the game down when your team needs a break. He also needs to realise that leading from the front forces the team to follow. Get into the line and make a big tackle, pick the ball up from the back and charge into the defensive line looking for a penalty and seek out the young guy who is having a shocker and counsel him to get his mind back on the job.

I agree, he'll learn.