Did we over achieve this season

[Skinner]

The reality is, they played one more game than they played last year. They went one week longer. Sure, they finished much higher up the ladder than last, but it actually means diddly if you don't go on with it.

Certainly, without argument, they did very well, given their injuries, to finish in fifth spot, but you need to go a whole lot better than that.

The goal is the premiership - nothing less. I believe that there are only three coaches in the world that could get the Warriors to a premiership....none of them are available at this point.

 

[Meth]

Fair enough comment about Inu and Moon i know what you mean they can be handy one day and very shady the next. I guess we should look at other centre options. Have you got any suggestions? I didnt choose moon however but i guess he's the only other option atm. Should we look at buying another centre as cover?

I think we've exhausted all of the obvious options, but hopefully a better centre option will come out of the woodwork

How about Lousi?

 

[Wheeled Warrior]

The reality is, they played one more game than they played last year. They went one week longer. Sure, they finished much higher up the ladder than last, but it actually means diddly if you don't go on with it.

Certainly, without argument, they did very well, given their injuries, to finish in fifth spot, but you need to go a whole lot better than that.

The goal is the premiership - nothing less. I believe that there are only three coaches in the world that could get the Warriors to a premiership....none of them are available at this point.

Guessing your three coaches here

1. Daniel Anderson
2. Brian "Bluey" McClenan
3. Wayne Bennett

 

[Skinner]

Guessing your three coaches here

1. Daniel Anderson
2. Brian "Bluey" McClenan
3. Wayne Bennett

Put Philip Ronald Gould in for DA and you have it.

 

[Rich102]

Fair enough comment about Inu and Moon i know what you mean they can be handy one day and very shady the next. I guess we should look at other centre options. Have you got any suggestions? I didnt choose moon however but i guess he's the only other option atm. Should we look at buying another centre as cover?[/QUOTE]

No. We need two class centres to win the competition. We have two journeymen.

 

[Rich102]

The reality is, they played one more game than they played last year. They went one week longer. Sure, they finished much higher up the ladder than last, but it actually means diddly if you don't go on with it.

Certainly, without argument, they did very well, given their injuries, to finish in fifth spot, but you need to go a whole lot better than that.

The goal is the premiership - nothing less. I believe that there are only three coaches in the world that could get the Warriors to a premiership....none of them are available at this point.

 

[Iafeta]

The warriors failed they didnt win.
We need the potency in our 1,6,7,9,13

01. Kevin Locke
02. Krisnan Inu
03. Lewis Brown
04. Jerome Ropati
05. Manu Vatuvei
06. James Maloney
07. Isaac John
09. Alehana Mara/Aaron Heremaia/Nafe Seluini
13. Feleti Mateo


Now that looks menancing if we continue down the same road youre gonna get the same results and I'm not looking forward to 2011 without these changes being made. It's not a panic attack when we need to change an old recipe into a new one.

The reality is, they played one more game than they played last year. They went one week longer. Sure, they finished much higher up the ladder than last, but it actually means diddly if you don't go on with it.

Certainly, without argument, they did very well, given their injuries, to finish in fifth spot, but you need to go a whole lot better than that.

The goal is the premiership - nothing less. I believe that there are only three coaches in the world that could get the Warriors to a premiership....none of them are available at this point.

I take the old English Premier League model. 20 teams go into that comp every season, about 15-16 of them never really entertain thoughts of winning the Premier League itself. Some of them are happy with relegation survival. I don't think it was realistic for the Warriors to go into 2010 with any realistic expectations of winning the Premiership. As the odds pre-season indicated, and the thoughts and comments of many fans and experts backed-up, the Warriors were never a hope. As the season panned out, not through anything extraordinary, but rather more the NRL 2010 Stephen Bradbury Domino effect, we got an outside sniff. In years gone by, I don't realistically think a team playing as inconsistently as the Wests Tigers would expect to be one game shy of the Grand Final, but that's the nature of this years Premiership in that there are maybe 2-3 outstanding teams, a group of there or there-abouts (which we managed to slip into) and the also rans (which we were supposed to be a part of).

I would gauge the season as a success, but I would temper it and say it was a solid season in an NRL season that I don't really believe reached the heights of previous seasons. It had an almost late 90s feel to it where there were truly some hopeless contributors. I would say it's been a success for the growth in certain young talent who should, if recruitment goes well, form a cornerstone of this club for a few years to come. I do not believe the Premiership was a realistic goal and think its a bit too black and white to label the season as not being successful in that it did not bring home the Premiership. One part I would say though in finishing fifth is good but not quite good enough is that this season needs to be seen as our lowest benchmark, we need to be ensuring consistently we do at the very worst equal if not better than this year into the future. We have some great youngsters coming through, and finally it seems we're developing a pathway to ensure we get some of that good potential into first grade.

 

[Martli]

I do not believe the Premiership was a realistic goal and think its a bit too black and white to label the season as not being successful in that it did not bring home the Premiership.

Exactly. If you take this approach then there are 15 teams who should be scrapping out everything at the end of each season and looking to start a fresh. Premierships come at the top of a cycle as teams build up and begin to peak and then fade. Considering where we were at 2009, our only real goal should have been to build a solid base for the years to come with an eye to lay siege to the premiership in '11 or '12. With all the young talent that has matured in the season just gone I'd say we did just that and have now put ourselves in a decent position to have a stab next season. You can't measure a teams performance/success using such simplistic and short-term measures, it's a long term thing and the success of the season depends on how it sits within the grand strategy that spans a range of seasons.

 

[ozbash]

One part I would say though in finishing fifth is good but not quite good enough is that this season needs to be seen as our lowest benchmark, we need to be ensuring consistently we do at the very worst equal if not better than this year into the future.

agree, we never stepped up. we went into the finals playing regular footy.

some say we lacked 'big game' players, but I think we had plenty. Top 3 inches let us down.

I enjoyed the season though.

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

I don't think we prepared or ever really thought we'd win it this year, and I don't think we ever really "stepped up" to a new level....but with the rub of the green anything could've happened, we could still be in it now given the standard of the comp.

I mean, the Tiges could go and win the thing, and they've hardly "stepped up"....their own fans still have the exact same criticisms they've had for the last 4 years where they've missed the 8. Yet they could quite conceivably win the thing.

 

[KeepingTheFaith]

Difference is that Benji/Farah have that extra bit of class and all it takes is for them to hit a purple patch.

Warriors have players who can be brilliant on their day, it's just a matter of whether or not Cleary can get the players to all peak at the same time.

One common thing in most premiership sides is players in peak form. 2003 had Puletua, Galuvao, Clinton, Ross playing at levels they haven't reached since. In 2005 Halatau was an absolute beast in the final series.

Back to the original question. No I don't think we over achieved. Apart from a little mid season slump where we took a few hammerings in quick succession, we were fairly consistent for most of the year and got the most out of the players we had considering how often our team changed due to injury. I think you could make an arguement that others teams (Dogs, Rabbits, Eels, Storm for obvious reasons) under achieved, but that shouldn't take anything away from our season.

 

[Rich102]

Put Philip Ronald Gould in for DA and you have it.

I see he has been approached to coach the Cowboys. (TVNZ Breakfast show today.)
Could be a great buy. His ego won't allow him to fail.

 

[Martli]

He's retired from coaching, he's just going to advise them on what to fix up. There's an article here: http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/league/4148867/Struggling-Cowboys-rope-in-Gus-Gould

 

[Skinner]

He's retired from coaching

Gus has retired from coaching for as long as it suits him..