It was a response we all wanted and some even expected considering the past games this year. Well done to the players for proving us wrong last night and to BA for giving them the chance to own their defeat to Canterbury. However, i will say, why does it take a loss the prior week to form a performance like last night? BA and Gutho spoke how frustrating it is and if anything BA spoke the best i have actually heard him speak. He was on point and clear, he said cannot rely on talent which is spot on to what some of us have been saying for ages. We go into games thinking "We are playing average, but quality will prevail and get us through". Again emphasises the importance of an on field leader, whether that is Hodgson or another player, there is a need for a leader on the field to calm everything and go back to basics.
People were saying to me at the game "Well, see BA is not the problem". What i replied with was i never said BA was 100% the problem but he did derserve some blame here and there. I am one who is willing to be proven wrong as being proven wrong means we are doing well. However, we have seen this 3 times now. Lose to Cronulla, back up to Melbourne, Lose to NQ, back up to Penrith, lose to Canterbury, back up to Sydney City and you can put in losing to Wests and backing up to Newcastle though was not overly convincing.
The big determing factor is in a fortnight, against a battered and bruised Souths who will be smarting massively at home. Does a break help us? Was this game simply a put differences aside if there are any to regain some integrity? Was it a turning point mentally? Did the boys play for BA? Did BA shove a rocket up their ass with an ultimatum of NSW cup? Either way i agree with BA saying they did not do anything overly different at training, more so the embarrassment drove us to produce energy and motivation. My only gripe is that should not lead to us being like that, we should have that anyway.
Of course, you cannot sustain that level of energy for a 24 game season, not including 3-4 weeks of semis. You will have slip ups and the odd average performance, but that is where a match like Gold Coast in round 1, Newcastle in Round 7 and Cronulla round 2, where we either won but had major flaws shown, or lost close due to some dumb errors. Those performances are fine once in a while, the issue is we have had up to 3 dreadful performances, 1 is never acceptable but what can you do, 3 though.
So though this type of energy is exactly what we should be, realistically we will not sustain it for the remainder of the season, though there will be games where we have to grind and just let execusion take over, points will come when executing. Just hope the off night is against say the Warriors or Tigers, not Penrith or Brisbane coming up.
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Nice blog, LB.
Turned a corner for now, they need to at least have the energy ready for Souths. I agree about BA being in charge of getting them up. I mean why not show comments from here saying "Look what they are saying about you, do you want them being right?" Show what Warren Smith said, motivate them, we obviously are better when we are considered no chance of winning, unfortunately that is not always going to happen.
It shouldn't take a hammering to get them motivated, hope that loss makes us better for the future. BA can coach, he is a great person upon meeting him a few times and he deserves the best, but the way we finish this year is massive. Even if we finish 6th we could string together a win or two and get to a prelim then we would have improved and that is the good thing.
100%. Souths win is vital.
Totally agree with everything in your second paragraph, LB. While they are capable of the performances like last night, there is hope.
Gutho's best game of the year by a long way.