Gela-Mosby has tonnes of flaws, it's obvious why he doesn't get picked and he only has himself to blame. Extremely inconsistent on the field and constantly gets suspended. Then he has off field issues on top of that. Yes he's fast, he needs to improve in a lot of other areas to cement a first grade spot though. It said it all last year when he was in first grade and someone made a break and he just gave up chasing after about 10m.
I feel like North Qld have heaps of vocal fairweather fans who came out of the woodwork after winning the grand final, the way they carry on with a little bit of hardship is embarrassing. It's especially evident in Facebook groups. They treat a lot of players in the team like absolute shit, even wishing for them to get injured so the 'young blokes' can play. Terrible supporters.
No doubt changes need to happen and we need to see some improvement after last year but the way these so called fans just get the knives out at any sniff of weakness is disappointing to see. It was already happening in 2016 when we didn't go back to back.
Here are my thoughts to your comments Lloyd.
1 Gideon's off the field record is overstated imo. It seems like a convenient excuse to me (which was the same about Clifford recently having some issues away from the field). Most people cannot substantiate many of the things he has supposedly done wrong anyway besides did not renew his licence when he got behind a wheel, or being late to training once. We all forget we had a few bad boys back in the day. One of them is Johnathan Thurston, and he went alright.
2 I've been a Cowboys fan since the beginning. I believe in appreciation, but not to the extent of just not caring because we won back in 2015 so everything else doesn't matter anymore.
3 It is not just about Gideon's speed alone (but God knows we need some speed in the backline). He has great try scoring ability. You take Gideon out of the team (and Feldt), and I just struggle to see where the points are coming from now. It looks like we have a backline of light backrowers. McDonald is also crying for some better ball out wide. Instead, it takes too long to get to him....
4 Agree that was a shocking effort where Gideon did not chase a player. He was caught wrong footed and was not going to chase down Roberts from that far behind, so hesitated whether he'd try or not. However, fans don't see it that way and get please and encouraged by effort. I think he copped a spray for that, and deserves the right to be forgived. In my recollection, he has not done it again.
5 When I advocate for changes, it is because the same players that always get picked make the same errors constantly, so it is like watching ground hog day. When a young player comes into the team and makes errors, at least they have upside to get better and learn. When a 28 or 29 year old continues to make the same errors, you question whether they have upside or are just surviving off the legacy of the 2015 grand final. I personally think some of the premiership players have lost a bit of that extra motivation. Yes they still care on game day, but they miss that hunger. A 2015 historic premiership, marriage, having kids, buying property and small businesses etc... they've ticked off a lot of boxes in footy and their personal life, and have lost some of their old competitive edge to win.
6 Agree in hindsight about 2016. I think the Cowboys made a very honest title defence, even though I was critical at the time when they had two shocking performances against the Roosters and Tigers. That we made the top 4 was a lot more than many other defending premiers could do. With that said, I also feel that we saw some of the Cowboys best and worst footy that year. Early 2016, we looked better than the 2015 premiership, and players like Lachlan Coote were on fire. Late in the year, we looked tired, stale and robotic. We no longer seemed to enjoy the regular season and couldn't wait for the finals to come around, so that we could put all our effort into a handful of games. We had our grand final in the second round against Brisbane. We had nothing left by the time we got to Cronulla.
