It’s the Bench composition & lack of rotation in managing fatigue & form
Same 17=Same result
Is Mary too close to the players to be able to make hard decisions?? The evidence in mounting. Blake Laurie is not a first grade lock forward, he is a Prop and in truth a bench Prop. Tyson Frizzel needs to be playing lock, even if JDB comes back. In season 2019, having an extra Prop playing lock won't cut it. It seems to me that Mary McGregor is placing too much importance on his relationship with the players and he needs to be willing to make decisions for the team, even if it doesn't sit well with the ambition of any particular player
I see a pattern that is very clear and consistant and is the route of the problem with the team, this year it is selecting the back row and bench, last year it was the incomprehensible decision to select K.Mann over Field (could also have considered one or two others and accepted that Mann is not a run on player in First Grade).
Here is my reasons
When Widdop was first injured, Mary had a choice between a 5/8/halfback in Jai Field who can be a threat in attack, competent defender and a good kicking game, plus a reasonable goal kicker. The other choice was his Mr Fix it Kurt Mann. He is none of those things but ok to fill in if on bench to get through a match. He chose Kurt Mann, a very poor choice which cost us going further in the semis last year. Then he showed how sure he was that he made the right choice by releasing Kurt Mann,
Choosing the bench players, seeing that players who come into the 17 are replaced by someone who can do a similar job and his some/most/all of the same skill set. I also observe that some key positional selection decisions, appear to be made to accomodate players he wants around him. instead of picking the best option as he sees it for the team.
Another (there are others) is the selection of 2 specialist right centres. Time for Mary to make a call and of his three cetnre options, Lomax, Lafia and Aitken, pick 2 of them to start and on form and best fit criteria, not using goal kicking as major deciding factor. At present, I am not convinced by any of the 3, though I think on their day all 3 can be very good. If as it seems Lomax and Aitken and considered as being equally viable, sure let Lomax be prefered on his goal kicking, but never select him above Aitken if he is not playing as well as Aitken, because it will let the team down. Mary clearly can't see this so he puts one on the bench.
Time for Mary to caase the Wayne Bennett tactic of not using the bench players as impact weapons. There is little to no vision on how he can get the best bench impact, which is costing us in the second halves of games. It may also cost us in the back half of the season due to fatigue. Time for Mary to let Hornby make these decisions for him if he is incapabable. I would also say, we should get behind Mary for remainder of season, but his mentality of 'Keeping the boys together through thick and thin' is not working at this stage of the team development cycle. It worked when we were moving up from the poor seasons 2013-2014 and somewhat during the following 2 seasons, but now it is time to hard nosed in selecting players and in doing so, setting the standard of performance expected to make the team as successful as possible.
I sincerely believe, we have the players, regardless of injuries ect. to Win the comp. I am not talking about blind faith and hope, we actually have the players to be the best team, it's all about seizing the moment. and getting the balance between Performance and Team stability right. Also I would say that critcising players and even the coach won't contribute to a Premiership, but criticising laclustre performances does. Time ot step up Mary
