What would everyone consider a disappointing result this season?

[ChocOConnor]

What would be disappointing for me would be to hear the name of Mcf**knuckle by anyone or see his bald head anywhere near the team:
Anything and everything else would be a positive

 

[redv13]

What would be disappointing for me would be to hear the name of Mcf**knuckle by anyone or see his bald head anywhere near the team:
Anything and everything else would be a positive

He got sacked. Can’t see him being anywhere near the team so don’t stress

 

[BLM01]

That’s a big question(s) I have a wish list;

I suppose I’m looking for an overall improvement in attitude from the team particularly in defence. What was the number? Average of 22 points a game conceded? If that gets dropped to 12-14 we’ll be competitive every week.

I’m looking for a huge lift in production on the left side, 5 tries compared to 27 on the right last year. The Feagai’s look to be the long term solution but that will take time. Mat hasn’t played a game of footy since March last year.

Specifically I’m looking for Hunt to stand up & become relevant, like most I’m sick of discussing him & what his best position is. I’d like his form to dictate his selection & get him out of the press then allow the club to extend McInnes early in the season.

Ostensively, with the incomplete squad we have I wouldn’t be too disappointed if we miss the 8 but secretly I’m convinced a 7th or 8th place finish is definitely achievable particularly if we get off to a good start.

I’m really hoping we wipe the floor with Easts on ANZAC Day make a statement that we are the real deal.

I hoping we recruit well, Angus Crichton is on the top of my list. He’s 24 best footy ahead of him, we’ve got the money so just pay him & get it done!

Finally I’m looking for Gus Gould to choke on his words & admit Hook & his staff have done a great job in turning us around in just the one season! F him!

So what do you consider a disappointing result this year?

I will be disappointed if by the end of the year Hook does not have his 3rd year option taken up by the club and we have not performed the cull and recruiting needed.
This year is our golden opportunity to achieve the final piece of the clean out and set us up for real improvement from 22 on.
But seriously for me no real expectations. I know we will be more competitive, structured and start to show some game awareness as they will finally practice that stuff at training.

 

[Maddragon99]

GC yes but unsure abt NZ and the dogs

Agreed RE Canterbury, Barrett is unproven & there's a lot of new faces who’ll take time to gel.

 

[Gareth67]

I just want to be proud of the team for the first time since 2011. Other than that, some grit in defence and attack that doesn’t look like that of an under 10’s team.

Well said since77 , that would indeed be a boost for not only the players , but also for all supporters of the Big Red V.

I will include 2 more points and they are for our captain to really find a voice and give both barrels to the players when required , also not to have the team mulling around the goalposts after their opponents have scored a try looking like a pack of witless sheep .

When scored against I expect the captain to call them together and say “ well that ain’t good enough for the jersey that we are wearing so get back out there and kick some butt “ - or words to that effect .

 

[Maddragon99]

So what do you consider a disappointing result this year?

I will be disappointed if by the end of the year Hook does not have his 3rd year option taken up by the club and we have not performed the cull and recruiting needed.
This year is our golden opportunity to achieve the final piece of the clean out and set us up for real improvement from 22 on.
But seriously for me no real expectations. I know we will be more competitive, structured and start to show some game awareness as they will finally practice that stuff at training.

I don’t know mate, I guess more of the same would be heart breaking. Leaking soft tries up the middle, Hunt playing like a pedestrian & more constant debate about where he should play. So much depends on Hunt lifting his game like any team we need our halfback to play well. Amone is 1 or 2 years away, Clune is solid but not a world beater. If Hunt plays well it also resolves the McInnes question otherwise McInnes rumours will constantly be in the papers.

I’m bound to admit, that cynically I’m hoping Norman plays like a busted donkey from round one so Sullivan can take over, could be the key to a Ben Hunt revival.

 

[muzby]

When scored against I expect the captain to call them together and say “ well that ain’t good enough for the jersey that we are wearing so get back out there and kick some butt “ - or words to that effect .

Is he still allowed to say that when we’re wearing this?

 

[possm]

I am hopeful that the Griffin - Elliot combination flourishes. I see Anthony Griffin as being a straight shooter and tough task master without being overly technical. Matthew Elliot on the other hand is an effective communicator with a good football brain. Working together they should complement each other, provided Griffin delegates sensibly.

I will be disappointed if the the combination fails and/or does not produce a top eight finish.

I support what you say about our coaching staff and so would be very disappointed if Saints do not make the top 4 in 2021.

 

[Maddragon99]

Is he still allowed to say that when we’re wearing this?

Hybrid jersey?

I support what you say about our coaching staff and so would be very disappointed if Saints do not make the top 4 in 2021.

Elliott was always an innovator so a good compliment to Hook. Exciting times ahead!

 

[Maddragon99]

I support what you say about our coaching staff and so would be very disappointed if Saints do not make the top 4 in 2021.

Love your enthusiasm but realistically we’re 2 quality backrow forwards short. We’re not settled at the Lock position & as much as I like Jackson Ford I’m not sure he’s ready to dominate. Bottom top 8 in ‘21 is fine with me. But ‘22 should look like this

11 Sims
12 Crichton
13 JdB

or

11 Sims
12 Capewell
13 Magoulias

My wish list for this year is we get out there aggressively sign up the best backrower available & that’s either Crichton or Capewell. We’ve got the cap space so just get it done before we miss out.

 

[Willow]

E.g. Anything below 12th position on the ladder.

That's a pretty low bar to use as an example.

I'm still grappling with the view that a 'top eight' finish is seen as a successful season.

 

[denis preston]

Firstly , avoid the spoon !! Seriously our aim obviously is improvement in all facets of our game and player improvement through confidence from this.I think we should be aiming 5-8 as a successful season but will take 8-10 if we show that things are moving in the right direction .Will also need recruitment for 2022 to be sound with perhaps 2 to 3 big name signings on the cards. Also good seasons from the 6 or 7 younger players to form a sound base for future years.

 

[Dragon David]

To me it will be incredibly disappointing to see us capitulate 10 minutes from full-time when we have the game in the bag. It will be disappointing if our defence and attack is not showing any improvement from previous years.

The Captain needs to bark orders and keep geeing the guys up throughout the games and I would be disappointed if this did not happen.

Finally, I would be disappointed if Hook and Co don't come up with good game plans including good plan B's.

 

[Saint52]

We must expect an improvement from every game .There is no reason why they cant get to the bottom of the 8. With Griffin and 2 other 1st grade coaches I’m expecting improvement in all areas. We will surprise some “experts” this year. Position depends on some luck and depth.
We will improve.

 

[Old Timer]

We have slipped so far, missed so many opportunities and failed so many players it is quite hard to know exactly how big the mess actually is.

IMO unless we know that it is also hard to know what measure of improvement is a reasonable expectation.

In saying that Hook is a very experienced coach with what appears to be good coaching staff around him and of course our super consultant "Sowie" who will perfect what should have already been a success for us namely a proper kicking game.

In many ways I think we need to split the season up into 1/4's and gauge improvement of each subsequent 1/4 to the previous one as we can't expect all things to come together all at once and from game 1.

By the end of the 1st 1/4 of the season I would expect that improvement could be gauged in that the run on team and bench are selected on form and that non performing players regardless are dropped and if need be our fledglings to be given their chances. I would also expect that our defensive strategies are well set in place and we stop leaking soft tries due to dumb shit things like we have done over the last few years

By the end of the 2nd 1/4 of the season I would expect that the style of football and team work is well defined and making us look like a team with a real purpose in a attack. It will not be perfect but it should be perfectly clear that we are better organised and not prone to panic and dumb shit kicks.

By the end of the 3rd quarter of the season really good combinations should be forming and the senior players should be in form and guiding the team in critical / clutch moments so as to ensure we get a result from that play rather than releasing pressure and having the opposition scoring a runaway try to add insult to injury. We should also be seeing the younger players growing in confidence and having big moments in games in both attack and defence.

By the end of the season we should be pressing all sides right until the whistle blows and whether we win, lose or draw the opposition know they have played a side that has skill and ability and who are to be taken seriously.

I think the measure should not be gauged on just wins or losses or for that matter where we finish on the ladder.

If we don't achieve any of the above then we know where we will be on the ladder and if we achieve some, most or all of the above then why put a limit on it.

Finally I think a good measure of our season will be who we keep and ultimately who we sign at the end of the season because if we are heading in the right direction recruitment issues should start to fade away and our roster should be strengthening for a successful period especially considering the junior talent we have in the ranks.

 

[This Year?]

Anything less than a PF appearance I consider a failure.

 

[matPORTS]

At the moment I am genuinely finding it difficult to work out what would be a disappointing result for us in 2021, as surely it couldn't be any more disappointing than the past two years (and just about every other year under Price & McGregor)?

I haven't seen a news snippet about it yet (and if I'm incorrect do let me know) - but genuinely I think the team is going through it's 'toughest pre-season' in a number of years. The coaching staff would no doubt be working the absolute crap out of the playing group now. The standard would be getting set for what would be the new normal going forward. Given the flogging right now, I'm expecting us to come out of the blocks quite slowly but this will have us in good stead for the back end of the season...

The hard work and attitude at training each week, coupled with a little bit of luck, I'm expecting us to run mid-lower table for the majority of the season. The hard work and luck may put us in a position to knock on the door for a finals berth in the late rounds? We may also run out of steam due to rigors of the season as a whole and luck not being on our side with injuries.

Guess what I'm trying to say - I would much rather us run in positions 9-12 for the majority of the early-mid season and give us a chance to knock on the door of the finals (this is more positive result in my opinion and sets new benchmarks for improvement in 2022+), rather than run at the pointy end and be looking over our shoulders only to then just stay in the 8 or slip out (this is a negative result and would set the tone to being no different to the McGregor years).

 

[Gareth67]

Is he still allowed to say that when we’re wearing this?

They can be wearing their Jockey ‘ Y ‘ fronts as far as I am concerned .

As long as they have the St.George Illawarra emblem on them then they must appreciate that they are not only playing for themselves , but they represent both districts and have an obligation to do so with pride .

 

[possm]

At the moment I am genuinely finding it difficult to work out what would be a disappointing result for us in 2021, as surely it couldn't be any more disappointing than the past two years (and just about every other year under Price & McGregor)?

I haven't seen a news snippet about it yet (and if I'm incorrect do let me know) - but genuinely I think the team is going through it's 'toughest pre-season' in a number of years. The coaching staff would no doubt be working the absolute crap out of the playing group now. The standard would be getting set for what would be the new normal going forward. Given the flogging right now, I'm expecting us to come out of the blocks quite slowly but this will have us in good stead for the back end of the season...

The hard work and attitude at training each week, coupled with a little bit of luck, I'm expecting us to run mid-lower table for the majority of the season. The hard work and luck may put us in a position to knock on the door for a finals berth in the late rounds? We may also run out of steam due to rigors of the season as a whole and luck not being on our side with injuries.

Guess what I'm trying to say - I would much rather us run in positions 9-12 for the majority of the early-mid season and give us a chance to knock on the door of the finals (this is more positive result in my opinion and sets new benchmarks for improvement in 2022+), rather than run at the pointy end and be looking over our shoulders only to then just stay in the 8 or slip out (this is a negative result and would set the tone to being no different to the McGregor years).

Well I'd be prepared to say poor coaching and poor game plans would account for 75% of our problem last season. I don't expect they we have poor coaching anymore and I am confident our game plans will be up to scratch.

Then there is player attitude and effort. Again I feel the coaching staff will have all players busting to either keep there NRL position or win a position in the NRL team, so I really don't thing this will be a problem.

Finally, there is luck. It has been said many times that you make your own luck but history has shown that much of the luck revolves around referees decisions on 50/50 calls. Cam Smith has shown us that if the referees fear making a wrong call against certain teams, those teams seem to get the rub of the green. McInnes will have to stand up to the referees in 2021 if he is our captain, otherwise we will be as before, always on the wrong end of the referees 'mistakes'.

So I expect the Saints to compete fiercely each game and be in the top 8 all season. I only hope that with few injuries and our fair share of luck that we end up in the top 4 of the competition.

 

[redv13]

Agreed RE Canterbury, Barrett is unproven & there's a lot of new faces who’ll take time to gel.

People seem to forget that Baz took a decent Manly side near a wooden spoon. His head coaching skills are very ordinary

Well I'd be prepared to say poor coaching and poor game plans would account for 75% of our problem last season. I don't expect they we have poor coaching anymore and I am confident our game plans will be up to scratch.

Then there is player attitude and effort. Again I feel the coaching staff will have all players busting to either keep there NRL position or win a position in the NRL team, so I really don't thing this will be a problem.

Finally, there is luck. It has been said many times that you make your own luck but history has shown that much of the luck revolves around referees decisions on 50/50 calls. Cam Smith has shown us that if the referees fear making a wrong call against certain teams, those teams seem to get the rub of the green. McInnes will have to stand up to the referees in 2021 if he is our captain, otherwise we will be as before, always on the wrong end of the referees 'mistakes'.

So I expect the Saints to compete fiercely each game and be in the top 8 all season. I only hope that with few injuries and our fair share of luck that we end up in the top 4 of the competition.

I love your passion Possm, all your comments show it, but we are a long way from being a top 4 side. With some strong recruitment leading into 2022 anything is possible but not this year.