A few things I've noticed is we seem to be playing our shift plays with a lot of depth. It seems the opposition defence has a lot of time to come up and also spread so when we get to the target area there's no real target gap anymore. The other thing I've noticed is we are diabolically slow on the ground. In fairness, I don't think Johnson or Townsend are the ones who should be copping criticism. At times Townsend made Mannering look half threatening for once and for once we saw a line break from a back up run, from Townsend. Johnson I thought was taking the ball to the line a lot more this week, and his kicking in the first half was excellent. A couple of grubbers in the second half were also well placed, even the Morris one, the issue was where we were defensively, the depth on the kick was good. Matulino was excellent, Rapira had two or three good charges... Lillyman I note is doing a lot of work, but the hand brake this year seems more pronounced as he comes to the line. Its costing him time in the ruck. Bakuya hasn't played well yet IMO, he's athletic enough to be creating quick tackles, his ball skills today were also fairly poor. Tomkins, I think he's a victim of the first line of my post, he's receiving the ball when they're well adjusted. Despite the criticism, out of the 5 tries we've scored this year, he's scored one and had 3 try assists. I'd also question where the support has been to create any block for him under the bomb. I'd much prefer the Warriors go more direct, and use the offload through the middle for Johnson and Tomkins. If they don't offload, as long as they get a quick play the ball, thats when Johnson and Tomkins need to take the ball well at the line and use their agility.
All in all, an incredibly poor performance. A number of personnel haven't rocked up this year. Bakuya thus far has been poor, Neilsen is a non event (yes he did scramble well to save a try admittedly), Lillyman is putting in load of effort but is non effective. I note Johnson and Tomkins are receiving a tonne of criticism, but boy, to me it starts up front, and it finishes with their structure. One is an attitude issue, the other is IMO poor coaching.
And this is where Scurrah isn't immune from criticism. The bloke led the coup d'etat to scuttle Ivan Cleary, who has clearly been our best coach. I dare say he's also a reason John Hart isn't with the club any longer, Hart as much as some die hard league people won't admit was extremely good for the club IMO. He's made two poor judgements in who he has put in as coaches in McClennan and Elliott. I see him as a very political animal. When McClennan went, I recall Scurrah on the radio defending himself due to good commercial results, almost avoiding any contact on the football side of things. I also recall him talking about how he deferred a lot of responsibility on the coaching appointments to others. At the end of the day, he is the head of the organisation. The cultural fish at this joint stinks from the top down. I wonder if Neilsen was asked to be completely honest what differences he'd site from the Storm to the Warriors. Publically he will say not much. I bet there is a tonne. I bet at the Storm little things like getting to the training ground 30 minutes in advance and practising something or rather or a pet play is a fate a compli. By the time the coach is scheduled, they'd be stripped into their training gear and ready to go. I wonder whether our blokes turn up 5 minutes before in beanies and chill in the dressing rooms before going out. These are the things I never hear answered. And these, as much as he wishes to deflect, can start from the top.
If this keeps going, Scurrah can't escape, Price as CEO, Elliott gone, they won't get a seasoned first grade coach but looking at Robinson and McGuire, I'm not sure that's a necessity. FWIW, I think Green and Arthur (despite last night) will be successful as well. I'd look at Dave Kidwell and Jason Taylor. Both have been involved with excellent club cultures with Souths and Melbourne for Kidwell, Taylor for the Roosters. Taylor physically shouldn't have been a stand out in the NRL, but he was because he was smart and a hard worker. Yes, he made a fundamental mistake with Fa'alogo, he looks like a bloke who would learn though. Elliott, he's been a proven failure for well over a decade in this competition.
