You have to wonder why they wasted a season last year not training hard in the preseason. Had Payten never been involved in an NRL preseason before?
No, I think 2009 was the tail end of a 12-year period where we spent well on football operations. With a bit of luck we could've won a premiership or two.
Agreed. I think they spent less after that period. It's the best explanation for why they died in the arse. They certainly didn't replace their coach. Green was there from 2014 to mid-2020. I'm sure he didn't forget how to coach.
How can you prove the coach was responsible for those poor seasons? There are plenty more influential people at every club, most of them players.
How can you say that while ignoring the new captain and the youngsters having breakout seasons? How can you isolate the effect of coaching when it is the most opaque element of what you see on the field?
Because the teams that were best suited to the new ruck rules took that long to adjust to them. They didn't have a whole pre-season to prepare.
Maybe Payten saw what didn’t work the season before and changed his approach? You don’t think coaches are capable of learning from their experiences on what to do differently?
Our 2009 side had Keating, Robson and Mortimer as our spine. They were all fringe first graders. We did extremely well to get to that grand final.
Neither you or I know how much the Cowboys spent after 2017. They obviously didn’t plan effectively for the post Thurston era. I think you need to place more stock in good decision making when it comes to management.
It’s a coaches job to ultimately wear the responsibility for how a team goes. I agree there are many factors but ultimately the buck stops with the coach.
I’m not ignoring the new faces that are having breakout seasons at the Cowboys. They didn’t go out and buy established superstars to do what they’re doing now. It’s still up to Payten to make everything work. I still think they’re overachieving big time.
You’re picking and choosing about why we aren’t as dominant as early to mid 2020. You’ve claimed before that Penrith became a dominant team because the new rules suited them but now apparently they didn’t suit us but it didn’t initially suit other teams but now they do? Wait what?
