Well can of worms. Anyway I still back my basic point that its a ridiuculous notion to stop supporting the team, just because they are playing poorly. If they really weren't putting in they'd be getting 40 put on them every week. I think some players may not be putting in, but not the whole team.
But what has always irked me, and is core to this post is the absolute negativity of many of our fans. There is generally a lot of negativity with very little well constructed, well thought out solutions.
I mean the current solution from many is to drop half the top grade side and replace them with lower graders. There is a reason most 23 year old plus guys are still playing nsw cup, its because they are not first grade material. And the 20s are going terrible. It is just not well though out.
The second thing that irks me is that we have a different scape goat as the season progresses. Currently its Hagan. Some other guys have been untouchable, I mean for some critics its taken 18 rounds to recognise Hayne has been poor.
I also think the constant line we have sooo much talent yet we are playing poorly is a total myth. If you compare our top 17 to other clubs I think you'll find our great list of talent pool is simply not there.
First and foremost compare our side to the storm the best side. I reckon on best form we get 5 maybe 6 players into a combined side. Hayne, Inu, Mateo, Hindy, Cayless. Then you could debate Lima or Fui as bench prop or Guru or Quinn as one winger.
In fact I did the same with the tigers and eels best line up and still managed more tigers 9 to 8.
So this rubbish about all this talent, is just that rubbish. We are the same as most other teams bar perhaps the storm who have a superior group of players to all others. We have some very talented players, but it doesn't extend beyond perhaps Inu, Grothe, Hayne, Mateo, Finch, Hindy and Cayless.
At the end of last year our stars all hit full throtal and if the others just do their job you have a top team. At the moment some of our stars are off the pace and more importantly than anything else which people fail to recognise, we are not the same team as the end of last year. We are 4 players quite different than that team. No Timana Tahu who was on fire at the time. Ian Hindy was going great and is much better than Weller. No PJ, though I think dummy half is one area we are going okay.
But the biggest difference is no Tim Smith. He was our general and the person who created more for us than anyone else. He had no running game, we know, though some could never accept it. But he had arguably the greatest all round attacking passing and kicking game of any player in the comp. Finch was a bit part, Mateo just chimed in when needed, Smith did the bulk.
See what irks me more than anything else when talking about how a team is going, is rarely to people look at anything deeper than the results. We don't have envied talent, we have talent but no more than most. We lost our key playmaker, who was hounded out by some who are still bitching now.
Simple facts on how to go well in the comp:
1. Stay healthy no key injuries, keep a consistent side on the park, although you can do this over the last 10 or so weeks and still succeed.
2. Any side going well will struggle due to the cap, you must have new youngsters step up each year or have your average joes have a season out of the box.
3. Your guns must fire
I don't think any of those have gone our way.
