Absolutely. Our defence is deplorable. But of late I don't think its been too much in terms of defensive structure, as opposed to absolutely mind dump defensive decisions individually, or a weak tackle technique. Take last week, the Holmes tries come off a disgraceful individual miss by RFM and one of the worst defensive reads you could ever see (and something highly common in this lads game, which is deplorable given his experience) from Manu Vatuvei. The other try, I'm not too sure how much more could have been done. Probably the most important thing would have been wrapping the ball up to stop that ball getting offloaded, but I don't blame Solomone Kata for not coming off his line - he was shot to bits from the inside and had to keep sliding to have any chance.
Its all mental (and, I think TBF there are some players in the team that are grossly overrated and have basic rudimentary errors in them). Its been mental for some time. The errors lead to having to repetitively defend their line. Most of the errors aren't because of 'razzle dazzle', there'd be a very high percentage of errors from simple losses in contact, ridiculous play-the-ball errors, and simple dropped balls from either decent passes or trying to rush things and throwing appalling passes (not talking offloads, I'm talking for example Friend's effort to Townsend and Townsend's effort to Lolohea on the weekend as examples). Another good example of basic skill weaknesses, Ken Maumalo had to pass the ball twice from dummy half. Twice he threw the ball like the Sydney Harbour bridge well behind the target. I couldn't believe it once, twice... wow.
In terms of players who may be grossly overrated, Konrad and Solomone. Both guys can bust tackles left right and centre. But the rest of their games tend to be rubbish. How many errors have they coughed up per game this year? Manu as well. Yes, you can probably proportion some of those errors into trying to defuse bombs etc which I think is tough, but there are significant unforced errors. They burn our energy and create opportunities.
Every year I hear they do a very hard pre season. But seriously, IMO, its in their heads. Aside from Simon Mannering all the time, Friendy most of the time, Ben Matulino for this year, Jacob all the time, Bodene and Hoff all the time, and Shaun Johnson for about 6 weeks this year, these blokes aren't hungry enough. They aren't ruthless. They aren't willing to grind. Its pretty sad week in week out that probably one of the least skilled players in either Mannering or Friend are getting the 3s and the 2s here, its a sign that the guys with the skills are miles behind in the toughness stakes. I don't know, maybe the injection of RTS and Luke may change that - both aren't coming here for a holiday, both are born winners, neither will compromise. Either directly they may force that attitude on them, or they may try to carry the spine and get SJ consistently performing to be part of the bro club they'll create, and drag the Warriors to a top 4 finish. But until 4-5 other blokes show they want a premiership more than they want a basic contract, we can never win the premiership. I'm a firm believer this club can win 4-5 in say 12-13 years if they can jag that first one and have a foundation that if you turn up to play for the Warriors, there's no excuses, there is a legacy to follow.
