And that is no surprise to me!
You take your number one half back out of any team and there will be problems.
Go back to the Lui threads with the ususal flotsam attacking his play. Lui had the vision in attack Pearce could only dream about, outstanding ball playing skills and took a lot of pressure from Marshall. He created another point of attack and was especially good in finals series!
Take also your No 1 fullback. Perhaps he had only played 30 minutes but that did not stop many leading clubs chasing his signature. And finally lose Ellis for weeks and Galloway and there will be problems.
In short, spin it whatever way you may but injuries have impacted on the team and its performance.
See, what makes me laugh is that you have automatically pegged me as an irrational Sheens hater just because I often criticise him. But if you've read any of my posts I'll always explain my thoughts rather than just criticise for the sake of it.
Perfect example is Lui. I don't know why you are telling me the value of Lui, I've always defended him on here, there's no doubt that he was a massive loss, he is a huge talent and the side really misses him. I've always rated him and defended him on here despite the bagging he copped.
Back to your comparison, there is no doubt Lui is a loss and so is Tedesco and neither are the fault of Sheens. However, you've compared them to Thurston/Bowen and Slater/Cronk. The reason this doesn't make any sense is that those players are the best in those sides. Thurston and Bowen are without a doubt the Cowboys two most important and best players, while Slater and Cronk are part of the big three, so let's say second and third best players after Smith.
Tedesco and Lui aren't two of our best players. They are good players but our most important players and our two best players are Marshall and Farah. They've been on the field for most of the year, bar a few games without Robbie. And while Tedesco is a huge talent, he's played one first grade game.
Now its not Sheens' fault that these two guys are gone. However, it IS his fault and he is ultimately responsible for the mess that's happened in replacing them. My main gripe with Sheens has always been about team selection and playing players out of position. We may have lost Lui due to sacking and Tedesco due to injury but Sheens WAS NOT forced to:
- Play Farah at halfback
- Move Moltzen from halfback
- Play Ayshford at five eighth
- Play Lawrence at five eighth
In all of these cases, Sheens could have easily picked a player to replace the injured/unavailable player without moving players out of position. Whether it be Humble, Miller, Chisholm or whoever, the point is he had the option to keep players in their natural position but ultimately chose not to.
Now you can spin that whichever way you like but to blame injuries and injuries alone is little more than a cop out. Just admit Sheens could have managed the situation better. He could have avoided so much tinkering and chopping and changing if he just picked like for like replacements in these positions.
But feel free to tell me how I'm wrong and I'm an irrational Sheens hater.
