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The Losers Lounge

abpanther

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
20,816
For all those fans who support teams that didn't make the finals, here is the place to vent and tell us why your team didn't make it.

For the Panthers, Matt Elliot is the worst coach in the league, we started off well defensively but things fell apart, no cohesion in attack and instead had to rely on the individual brilliance of certain players. Our team folded when it mattered most, lots of players need to have a long hard look at themselves.

We have 2 more years of this nightmare to live out...

Hope things look better for your club...
 

Greenbits

Juniors
Messages
434
Rookie team with a rookie coach. Looked like a bunch of uncoached rabble for most of the season. Have seen enough in the 5 rounds, (particularly v Broncs, v Dragons, v Newcastle) to give hope that next year will be better.
 
Messages
22,180
why? why? why?

well. we sacked our best player in august last year. we also didnt have a good potion at hooker all season.
our new playmaker signing got off to a slow start and then got injured when he was playing well.
the other one got the sack for being drunk.

we signed a lazy bastard who got busted for drugs. we sacked a first grader because he signed a contract with jap rugby. could have used him for half the season.

we have the most inept backilne in the comp, filled with slow guys, young kids and hacks like pommeroy, simmons and green.

our coach may not have what it takes either. who knows.

we signed ian donnelly in mid season.

we lost winnable games against souths twice, canberra at home, newcastle at home and penrith away simply because we didnt defend the goal line.

we got robbed against manly once. maybe twice

oh, and were cursed.
 

Shorty

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
15,555
The usual excuse.
Lack of confidence and lack of self belief.
 

Paullyboy

Coach
Messages
10,471
rookie team with a rookie coach. Looked like a bunch of uncoached rabble for most of the season. Have seen enough in the 5 rounds, (particularly v broncs, v dragons, v newcastle) to give hope that next year will be better.

x 2
 

Mr_Raditch

Juniors
Messages
1,275
PLayed a guy who at best is a decent utility in the halves & moved one of the most off the cuff creative players into the 7 where he was unable to steer the team around the park which in turn ruined our attack. Failed to sign another prop for the last 2 years even though its plain as day we need another, & persisted with a useless nuffie who gives away more penalties & drops more balls than he makes metres in the front row. When we finally get a decent halves combination going & start to string a few wins together the coach changes it to cover an injury to a FULLBACK!!!!!!!!!!! He moves the player who was playing well in the 7 to fullback which he is terrible at. Positional play is horrible & he refuses to run the ball at the defensive line.
All in all its been the same story for 4 years now.
 
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Tom Ace

Bench
Messages
2,594
1. Season crippling injuries to Anasta, Minichello, O'Meley, Cherrington, Aubusson, Symonds etc.

2. Our coach got found out at a time when our extremely young team needed a experienced, solid leader. God bless Freddies cotton socks, but he's just not a NRL standard coach yet.

3. Too many lazy, lube handed, 5 minute islanders (FPN, Soliola, Sa, Paea, Waqa x 2, Tuigamala). Some of those players have undoubted talent but without a disciplined coach to kick them up the arse and some fitness they are pathetic.

4. SEAN KENNY-DOWALL!!!!

5. Off field incidents (especially losing Myles for 6 weeks), which relates back to point 2

6. Poor fitness.

7. 2nd half collapses. I'd love to see the stats on our first halves V second halves. Relates back to previous point.

8. SEAN KENNY-DOWALL!!!!!!

9. Dumb, undisciplined, pressure relieving penalties in the oppositions half all year. Usually related to those in point 3.



On the upside, for next season we've got a quality coach and a new 5/8 with enormous talent...If he can just stay off the booze.
 
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Greenbits

Juniors
Messages
434
1. Season crippling injuries to Anasta, Minichello, O'Meley, Cherrington, Aubusson, Symonds etc.

2. Our coach got found out at a time when our extremely young team needed a experienced, solid leader. God bless Freddies cotton socks, but he's just not a NRL standard coach yet.

3. Too many lazy, lube handed, 5 minute islanders (FPN, Soliola, Sa, Paea, Waqa x 2, Tuigamala). Some of those players have undoubted talent but without a disciplined coach to kick them up the arse and some fitness they are pathetic.

4. SEAN KENNY-DOWALL!!!!

5. Off field incidents, which relates back to point 2

6. Poor fitness.

7. 2nd half collapses. I'd love to see the stats on our first halves V second halves. Relates back to previous point.

8. SEAN KENNY-DOWALL!!!!!!



On the upside, for next season we've got a quality coach and a new 5/8 with enormous talent...If he can just stay off the booze.

Best of luck with that one.
 

Raider_69

Post Whore
Messages
61,170
Forget in experience guys, the young blokes that came in all did their job 1000x better then the old stagers who were dropped to give them a start

Canberra's problem was simple, the senior members of the squad didnt deliever with any consistancy... Monaghan, Thompson, Logan, Campese and Tongue all had bad years by their standard.
 

Greenbits

Juniors
Messages
434
Thats a bit harsh on campo. He has really only shown his best over the last 10 weeks of last year. Apart from that, his form this year is pretty much his average.
 

Raider_69

Post Whore
Messages
61,170
He's been given the big bucks, made the corner stone of this side... with that money and responsibility comes a higher expectation of delivering the goods. For a large part of the year he failed to delever. He still finished the year with the most try assists (i think? or close enough), but he was very up and down, and his attitude toward officals is very ordinary. He's a senior member of the side, we need him firing more if we are to be a contender
 
Messages
15,911
A coach who had a quality halfback at fullback the whole year. When he moves him to halfback we win every game, then moves him back and we capitulate.
 

Pete Cash

Post Whore
Messages
62,188
hmmmmmmmmmm

The problem with the Raiders is that I can name maybe 3 players who were good at worst in every game they played. Dugan, Harrison and maybe TLL.

The rest had some good games but some shockers in the mix. I mean it says it all that Dugan won the GH fans player of the year award (or is a dead cert to do so) and only played a handful of games. He polled almost every game he played.

Furner has a few issues as a coach but there is a lot to like. I was frustrated in the middle of the year and calling for his head but have come to like a lot of what he does. He has put an exciting team out on the paddock. If you looked at the Raiders potential backline at the start of the year and compare it to the best one he could put on the paddock at the start of next year.... miles better.

We have had coaches in the past (elliot) who would have stuck with your Kellys and your Purtells.

The senior players shouldn't be so inconsistant and I get annoyed at Furners bench rotation. I think Harrison is being left on the field a touch too long. He misses tackles when he gets tired.
 

Iafeta

Referee
Messages
24,357
1. The loss of Sonny Fai. Not only was he ready to explode, but the hit on the squad mentally would have been massive.
2. I don't buy into this injury stuff, yeah we lost Tate but a lot of teams lose key players. We should have adapted better.
3. Too much reliance on bombing to Manu.
4. Ian Henderson, slowest hooker in the comp. Severely stopped anything happening in the backs becuase he was so laboured.
5. Wade McKinnon. So little impact. Safe, but horrendously slow and laboured this year. Played like a pussy.
6. Backrow, Lillyman and Luck are too similar although Lillyman played good the last 6-7 weeks.
7. Lack of enthusiasm. Its a sad indictment on a team when a prop who's making 200 metres for the night is the only bloke chasing a bomb, gets it, and scores without any Warriors within 20m of him. Second to last week, Lillyman makes a big break straight up the middle, the closest bloke to him is 30m away, the left winger who's come from depth to be the closest. The centres, halves, hooker, lock, fullback... all of whom should be begging for an opportunity to trail an attacking break were no where to be seen.
8. Axing half the team. Look, I don't think Rovelli, Fien, Witt, Lauaki are all that good to be frank. I don't think the halves could win a premiership with this club. But the way it was all handled was extremely poor. Can only cause friction and disharmony in my book.
9. Jerome Ropati's defence. Any good team this year knew to hit it two wide on Ropati's side and you were in. Has a nasty habit of coming 10m up ahead of the defensive line and being beaten on the inside, making his winger cover like a desperate whale leaving his corner badly exposed. Ropati is close to the biggest disappointment in the entire NRL in 2009.
10. The halves in general were too slow. Although the ball they got from Henderson was so slow anyway, Jones while still having some guile was playing too basic a game plan thanks to Ivan Cleary and then didn't have any pace to change it up himself. Not a blight on the bloke, but all Warriors fans knew his best days ended with that injury in 2003, and 6 years on our management made a move only our management could have.

I think irrespective of everything point 1 did it in for us. First 5 games (3 trials and 2 NRL games) the Warriors were hot. After that they could barely do anything. It smacked of emotional sentiment at the start, and then the ebb of facing reality beyond that.

Horrible season, horrible season. Hated it. Massive expectations... and this result. Disgraceful. Cleary has till R10, I'm a forgiving bloke who thinks he has a good future as a coach but this end of year review has to be substantial and make significant changes to our on field play. Poor Denan Kemp came and went and touched the ball like twice in open space. All we wanted to do was hit it up in the middle for a bomb to Manu, which was disgraceful and farcical.

IMO, Jerome Ropati, Wade McKinnon, Ian Henderson and Ben Matulino are nearing last chance saloon. Matulino came to first grade as an enormous talent but has played like a pussy all year. He's barely gone close to breaking the line which is odd for an athlete like him. Ropati's defence, horrible. His hands, horrible. You can directly attribute about 3 losses to him, particularly Saints in Wollongong. McKinnon, horrible. No speed, no strength, timing all over the place. Yak. Henderson, yak. Ropati (Likiliki), McKinnon (Locke), Henderson (Mara), Matulino (Taylor/O'Regan) all have a lot of blokes under them capable right now of playing their spots and doing a damn good job. The off season is huge for these blokes for their careers IMO.
 

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