I think we have an issue where for near on decades we’ve chosen captains that are simply “talk with actions” type people. Cayless, Hindy, Hayne, Gutho. You don’t/can’t question what they do in terms of effort (well maybe with Hayne) buy they’re not going to give a inspiring speech behind the tryline to lift everyone when needed.
I honestly feel like that has cost us in some big moments and games. I think Foran had things not gone south so quickly with his off field situation could have been that great leader/captain that took us to another level.
I don’t know if there is anyone in our current squad that fits that role. The only player I’ve ever heard talk much sense when it comes to leadership with man, umm, like etc every 5 seconds was Matto
Gutho is a very good leader and captain. The problem is that our team as a whole is constantly imploding when confronted by adversity. This can not be fixed by Gutho alone.
Have any of you noticed the few times when the Storm for example are being dominated and hammered by a team that they too do dumb and un-Storm like things? That is what happens when fatigue, pressure and chaos is happening out there. Some players buckle. Well the Storm are very lucky that they have enough high quality players and are coached to the brink to eventually overcome and handle it better then any other team.
Then what happens is usually the team that is dominating them blinks and shits the bed, so in an instant the Storm regain their composure and strike. Game over.
Well yes they have great players, which is key. But we don't have crappy ones either, they should not be making the dumb arse errors that they are. Against the Roosters last week, Gutho lost it because he was like the rest of us and has had a gutful of the crap that was being served up against a team that we should have annihilated. He knew that and was confronted in his own mind(subconsciously) again with the realisation that we had basically lost our season there.
Can't blame him for losing all confidence in our credentials as a serious contender. When a team like Parra turn in another inept performance against as busted Roosters that is barely playing any better then we were on the night, he had a breaking point.
The captain can only do so much, The coaching staff are the ones who are tasked with preparing the team to be switched and ready to play at their collective best each week. This is where we are being let down, not our leadership by Gutho. We need better leaders in our off field coaches. Then we might see some significant improvement from the players. We offer way to little out there and then when we try to do more we muck it up so badly that the players just look like dumb useless merkins and then the frustration kicks in.
Sure players need to be accountable, but when you have a very good roster, then you need to look at preparation and coaching if you are playing as badly as what we have been when we should be putting at cricket score on our opposition with what they have been dishing up themselves. We have given our opponents life when there should have only been coffins, funerals and graves. That is on us. We are a very one dimensional team and when there is any disruption to that narrow one dimensional style of play we are gone. The captain is not the problem, his actions are a symptom of the slow creeping disease that is taking hold of our club.
I blame the coaches first then the players. If we don't address this quickly it could end up getting real ugly and crippling us for a very long time.
