Yeah I don’t think the team lacks motivation, the effort has been fairly consistently good over the last 5 years with the occasional shocker thrown in (games against Manly and the Dogs this year stand out from that category) so I don’t think him being able to motivate the players or get them up for the fight is the problem.
We have one of the worst spines in the league, and if KP wasn’t there it would definitely be the worst. I think it’s pretty clear that the club recognises this hence we’ve tapped Brailey and Hastings on the shoulder now. I would say that last year was a bit of a false economy in a way because these guys all played their best football for a 10 week stretch (who knows, possibly the best football they’ll ever play) and then haven’t been able to pack it up this year.
Imo, AOB hasn’t done a bad job. It is infuriating how he tries to dumb down the tactics as much as he does at times but he’s got the right idea at least when it comes to the “DNA” of what he wants the side to be, and I think he’s been pretty clear about his messaging with that since he got here.
Ultimately we can compare him to the premiership winning coaches as much as we want but look at the spines that Bellamy, Robinson and Cleary have at their disposal it’s not even close. All three of those are bursting with talent and arguably several of those players will go onto be all time greats. We simply don’t have that outside of KP.
I’m of the opinion that if we can upgrade 2 out of those 3 other spine positions (preferably hooker and halfback) and can get a couple of guys in who are able to do their job to at least a strong NRL standard every week then we’re cooking with gas.
That’s what we’ve brought O’Sullivan in to do right?
