It seemed slanted with a large grain of hypocrisy because, well, Tahu himself had at best an ordinary season. It would make more sense if it came from a Nathan Hindmarsh type character who rarely misses a beat and performs credibly basically all the time. Tahu's defence at times this season was deplorable.
I thought Brendan Cannon's comments a year or two ago about Tahu were a little bit over the top. I was happy to give him all benefit of the doubt against a rah-raher. But these types of public pandering don't do his character justice. It's a shame, because on his day Tahu is one of the best footballers to watch. And personally, I back him on any feeling of offence that came from that Origin camp.
I think, actually, it's Hindy that is out of line - and I hate to say that. But Hindy has spoken out against the board, claiming the players were behind him (and Ando). Clearly they are not - and the board has been proven right. He has put his leadership in a dangerous position by making his line in the sand public. Obviously there will be differences of opinion under such circumstances, but he needs to be the face of unity among the player group. Clearly he isn't, nor is he backing the board's judgement.
Tahu is merely adding strength to the board's decision. Imagine of the players were not all behind the coach, so the board makes the tough decision only to see the players not support the board. IMHO Tahu has done the right thing by his club and his board.
Was inept recruitment though, any prop that played origin last year and goes from a starter to a bench player is going to have a loss of confidence, or at the least be unsettled. Only now have they realised just how unbalanced their side actually is and are desperate to recruit a playmaker, there's a few people at the club who need to look in the mirror because they've certainly taken the easy way out here by making Anderson the scapegoat.
Poore was the starting prop with a disgruntled Fiu on the bench (another big name disgruntled at Ando perhaps?) Poore's form was never good. Yes there is an adjustment phase. Yes, he was never going to look world class next to Fiu's biggest hitups. Fui ended up pushing Poore to the bench.
As for Hayne - I din't see much evidence of any game plans or positional training to fine tune his game that Boyd got off Bennet, Carney got off Smith etc.