The frustrating thing for Brown (and the fans) is that we're stuck in a cycle we can't get out of - we can't attract good spine players because we're a losing team, but we're a losing team largely because we have the NRL's worst spine. I think if you actually put a quality half and fullback in there over the past few years, our record of 6 wins from 51 might be significantly better. There are countless matches in those 45 losses you could argue we were at least competitive and the match was 'winnable' with a superior couple of key position players to help get us over the line. We've never had them, and credible losses has sadly become our version of a solid win.
I'd go as far as suggesting that if we had actually got Ash Taylor instead of Hodko, we could avoid the spoon this year. The difference between winning and losing any NRL game that ends up being a less than 12 points margin is very small. So many things contribute to the result in 80 minutes, and when you don't have that little bit of class in the spine, you don't take your opportunities, you don't get the points you deserve while you're on top, and you end up losing in all sorts of frustrating circumstances.
So basically we look like a basket case from the outside, but as Brown himself has said recently, if we could just get one big name player to sign, it might lead to 3 or 4.
Brown was very unlucky to inherit Hodko. He's made all the right moves getting rid of the dead wood, and he's ready to rebuild, but nobody wants to come here because the actual process has made us look too dire to get involved with. I actually don't think we are that dire anymore. I genuinely believe if we had picked up Foran and Graham, plus one other middle forward, the whole style of play and future prospects of the team would have improved massively. All of a sudden we wouldn't be that basket case people are scared of. But we just can't get the first top player over the line to start the chain reaction, even though if we already had just one stronger spine player and one decent prop in the past two years things wouldn't look as bad as they do.
I don't know what the solution is now. Brown has done everything I could have hoped for, and it still isn't working.
I'd go as far as suggesting that if we had actually got Ash Taylor instead of Hodko, we could avoid the spoon this year. The difference between winning and losing any NRL game that ends up being a less than 12 points margin is very small. So many things contribute to the result in 80 minutes, and when you don't have that little bit of class in the spine, you don't take your opportunities, you don't get the points you deserve while you're on top, and you end up losing in all sorts of frustrating circumstances.
So basically we look like a basket case from the outside, but as Brown himself has said recently, if we could just get one big name player to sign, it might lead to 3 or 4.
Brown was very unlucky to inherit Hodko. He's made all the right moves getting rid of the dead wood, and he's ready to rebuild, but nobody wants to come here because the actual process has made us look too dire to get involved with. I actually don't think we are that dire anymore. I genuinely believe if we had picked up Foran and Graham, plus one other middle forward, the whole style of play and future prospects of the team would have improved massively. All of a sudden we wouldn't be that basket case people are scared of. But we just can't get the first top player over the line to start the chain reaction, even though if we already had just one stronger spine player and one decent prop in the past two years things wouldn't look as bad as they do.
I don't know what the solution is now. Brown has done everything I could have hoped for, and it still isn't working.
