Josh is a good perennial reserve grade player and largely a victim of circumstances imo.
The circumstances being the club has failed to develop and retain better options in the 6,7,9 roles and the fact that the Coach has rellied on him to not only plug the holes but take a leading role in the spine. At NRL level his defence is good. His effort is great. His kicking game has deteriorated to the point where most of his kicks are now poor where as earlier they were about 50/50 with the good kicks making up for the bad (which is where Widdops kicking is now imo). His ball play and playmaking has remained slow, steady and predictable which doesn't work unless the teams going well. He's hasn't been a 'safe' option for a long time and imo shouldn't be in the 17 but the options are seemingly non existent. Clubs failure - not Josh's fault.
Will follow his progress in Toronto with interest and wish him the best.
I agree with your sentiments 100% and I for one have a lot of respect for the guy.
He did not choose himself but instead was called upon by the coach to do a job for the club.
In my opinion he did that
to the best of his ability and played with plenty of ticker.
That's all you can ask for from any player.
Unfortunately, at this level, it just isn't enough.
The real scrutiny should be on the selection process that could not find any other option at No. 7 for 16 rounds.
This remains a total mystery to me and one that has been dragging the team down in my opinion.
Now, after losing a string of games and looking ordinary in the few wins we have had, the change is finally made with McCrone still on the bench.
I hope it does the trick because I think it puts enormous and unreasonable pressure on Mann to slot in and start playing great football.
The coaching standard is just not up to scratch and we seem determined to compromise on this aspect of the club's future.
