I gotta say, even though I am a Perth based fan and therefor my knowledge of some of the players and the team may not be as intimate or extensive of most of you, that there are some bloody obvious changes that need to be made to the side to stop the current rot.
It's as simple as revisiting the makeup of the side when we were rolling along nicely and sitting pretty in 5th or 6th spot a month ago!
The team then was:
01. Brett Hodgson
02. Jason Moodie
03. Shane Elford
04. Daniel Fitzhenry
05. Luke Covell
06. Benji Marshall
07. Scott Prince
08. John Skandalis
09. Darren Senter
10. Anthony Laffranchi
11. Mark O'Neill
12. Ben Galea
13. Scott Sattler
14. Todd Payten
15. Robert Mears
16. Dene Halatau
17. Chris Heighnington
That was the team that smashed Parramatta 33-6 in Rd 12 and then we lost a close one to Melbourne before the Warriors thrashing in Rd 14 in which injury had forced our hand somewhat:
It was that week where Princey had SOO commitments, Benji was finished, stupidly Fitzhenry was shifted to a wing before he busted his foot, Payten supplanted Franchi in the front row, while Harrison, Gibbs and Fulton made up the bench.
Yes momentum and the fact that we were playing a terrible side resulted in a 50-4 win, but as soon as possible thereafter Sheensy should have been looking to put his succesful combination back on the park.
This week it just HAS to happen!
This weeks side to play Melbourne MUST be as close to that Rd 12 side as possible:
01. Brett Hodgson
02. Jason Moodie
03. Shane Elford
04. Daniel Fitzhenry (Dene Halatau)
05. Luke Covell
06. Benji Marshall (Scott Prince)
07. Scott Prince (Keiran Kerr)
08. John Skandalis
09. Darren Senter
10. Anthony Laffranchi
11. Mark O'Neill
12. Ben Galea
13. Scott Sattler
14. Todd Payten
15. Robert Mears
16. Dene Halatau (Bronson Harrison / Pat Richards)
17. Chris Heighnington
The stats from the past few weeks indicate as much, we are struggling to post a real score with a lack of creative spark in the halves, we have rewarded our two best go forward guys by not giving them enough ball (Through 12 rounds Skandalis led the comp in Hit Ups per game and was a meter eater but is averaging some 6 fewer carries per game over our losing streak and not for lack of putting his hand up - but for lack of being fed the pill on his runs and Franchi is our most potent forward - both work tirelessly leading the team in tackles made and hit ups and meters made yet continue to be looked over for less aggressive ball runners).
It's pretty simple, 5 big hit ups from our key forwards followed by a good LONG kick from Princey, time and time again until the defense succumbs to being bashed senseless, hungry aggressive chases like we saw in New Zealand resulting in repeat sets, and fewer soft plays from our second rowers and over use of the pill by our sub standard backs and halves (with the exception of Hodgo) and we'll get up vs Melbourne!
Not that hard really is it?
We can still make the semi finals!
