Eskimo Sharkie
Bench
- Messages
- 3,296
I remember reading the season's form guide in the Sunday Telegraph at the start of the year and they had us pegged for a top four spot. My thoughts at the time were that we'd lost too much in defence, had bought fairly poorly for 2003 and would struggle to make the eight.
Some of that pessimism evaporated after about 20 minutes of the Round 1 match against Melbourne when we were up 22-0. Then we basically imploded, totally falling apart in defence and lost a game that we should never have even looked like losing. I remember Anderson saying something about silly options and trying to force passes when they should have focussed on defence and ground out a win. For my mind, the loss after being in a seemingly invincible position midway through the first half, seemed to upset their confidence.
Having a match in Round 2 to right the ship would have helped, but we carried that lack of confidence into our next two matches and were justifiably thumped by a couple of premiership heavyweights (Brisbane and the Roosters). If we had gone down in closely fought contests, then I may have thought that we had a chance of making something out of the season, but we really looked out of our depth. Then after losing our first six matches, we were really no hope. I'd say Anderson was just being realistic when he said that 2003 would then be a rebuilding year.
Still, we did have some good results. The huge upset win at Marathon/Energy Australia over Newcastle, the 20-10 win over the Broncos and the 25-16 win that ended the Dragqueens season were highlights for me. We did unearth some potential stars for the future and I feel quietly confident about our chances in 2004. I'm sure that many of the guys will also have taken heart from Penrith's premiership win, as they were in a similar position to what we find now ourselves in the season before.
I'd just like to know why so many people think that Raper is the answer if the Board decides as expected to give Anderson the flick on his return to Australia?
Some of that pessimism evaporated after about 20 minutes of the Round 1 match against Melbourne when we were up 22-0. Then we basically imploded, totally falling apart in defence and lost a game that we should never have even looked like losing. I remember Anderson saying something about silly options and trying to force passes when they should have focussed on defence and ground out a win. For my mind, the loss after being in a seemingly invincible position midway through the first half, seemed to upset their confidence.
Having a match in Round 2 to right the ship would have helped, but we carried that lack of confidence into our next two matches and were justifiably thumped by a couple of premiership heavyweights (Brisbane and the Roosters). If we had gone down in closely fought contests, then I may have thought that we had a chance of making something out of the season, but we really looked out of our depth. Then after losing our first six matches, we were really no hope. I'd say Anderson was just being realistic when he said that 2003 would then be a rebuilding year.
Still, we did have some good results. The huge upset win at Marathon/Energy Australia over Newcastle, the 20-10 win over the Broncos and the 25-16 win that ended the Dragqueens season were highlights for me. We did unearth some potential stars for the future and I feel quietly confident about our chances in 2004. I'm sure that many of the guys will also have taken heart from Penrith's premiership win, as they were in a similar position to what we find now ourselves in the season before.
I'd just like to know why so many people think that Raper is the answer if the Board decides as expected to give Anderson the flick on his return to Australia?
