Off-field, the club is finally heading in the right direction after years of roster mismanagement, but the damage left behind won’t be undone overnight. While Mark O’Neill and Sarantinos have played their part, the biggest issue was Brad Arthur sacrificing long-term development to save himself.
Instead of nurturing young talent, he filled reserve grade with players who had already hit their ceiling. It was a survival strategy—ensuring that if injuries hit, he could call on experienced stopgaps rather than risk untested prospects. This approach kept the team competitive enough to hover around mid-table, which in turn prolonged his tenure. But it also left us with a barren development system, which is why Ryles now has no choice but to debut five or six players.
Another glaring issue was the aging roster, particularly in the forwards. With Paulo, Cartwright, Matterson, Gutherson, RCG, and Lane all on the wrong side of 30, there was no succession plan in place. Arthur’s short-term thinking meant retaining these players as long as possible, buying himself more time but leaving the team vulnerable once their form inevitably declined. As we’ve seen, many of them are now struggling against younger, more explosive opposition packs.
Despite these challenges, there are clear signs of progress. The emergence of players like Iongi, Ryley Smith, Sam Tuivaiti, and Samrani - a step in the right direction. Some of these rookies have already outperformed more experienced teammates, proving that the club finally has young talent worth investing in.
Defensively, there’s still a lot of work to do, especially out wide. We saw today how old habits from the previous system linger—Penasini’s decision to rush in rather than hold his shape is a prime example. These structural issues won’t be fixed overnight, but with time and better coaching, they’ll improve.
The inexperience in the spine is another major hurdle. We’re relying on a fullback with only three games under his belt, a halfback who hasn’t played in two years, a hooker with just two matches, and a five-eighth who isn’t mentally switched on. Given that, inconsistency is inevitable.
The next six weeks will be crucial. Defensively, we should see improvement as the new systems take hold, and our attack will start to click as key players return. It won’t be an immediate turnaround, but for the first time in a long while, the club is moving in the right direction.
All is not lost.
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Why should the club be anywhere near this situation. They bungled BA's departure so badly. They held onto him a year too long. After a successful 2022 season he should have been cut loose the very second it was obvious we were missing the 2023 finals. (He'd already done 10 seasons, change required was obvious) Instead we held onto him, wasted an entire pre season and consequently wasted an entire 2024 season. That's just straight up incompetence.
We allowed the next generation to leave because the current generation was blocking them however we now know that the current generation weren't locked in long term either. A total cluster f**k.
Our middles are the worst in the NRL. Easily. If you know of a worst prop rotation just let us know. This wasn't an accident. We designed this, we planned for it, we made it a reality. The club has been a disgrace on the R&R front. Anyone involved should be cut loose today.
Please ......... bloke was walked 12 months ago 😂
Something was sure as hell lost today Chief.....not all maybe, but we lost something today. We killed it.
As a fan it feels like being strapped to a mental patient.
Oh, and you can fuck off with your six weeks...the team is in a feotal position and that shit takes 9 months.
We're not even in at the conception stage yet...
We are gonna be getting fucked a lot, so it will happen
Im confused - one minute BA has masters to answer to, and the next he is this all powerful deity that makes GM's and CEOs bow to him and yet the CEO and board were able to terminate him on the spot with no notice and walked him out on the spot.
So which is it?
Don't get me wrong, he needed to go. Short sided, stubborn and refused to grow. He had bad roster management as we know but I actually don't know what to believe - he didnt care about junior development, but the nuresry produced some sought after players. Did he care to promote? no, only out of desperation.
But the fact he was allowed to go unchecked as he was for as long as he did, the enablers need to be held accountable for it too.
Chiefy, 100% agree that change will take time. The decade of BA lingers as at this point its essentially habit for a lot of the BA-era players. They've had a pre-season, and Ryles had months behind the scenes before the season had ended to get things in place, but we're still seeing the remnants on the field.
Im a big believer in progress, not perfection. But hand on your heart, can you honestly say that there was any sort of incremental improvement from Rnd 1 to what we saw today? The perennial cellar dwellers nearly put 40 unanswered points on the board, and they were by no means perfect.
Something isn't right behind the scenes and it is manifesting on the field. Whether the players aren't buying into Ryles' methods, or whatever the case may be, I find myself actually questioning why.
Its not that we lost that many are frustrated with and for fear of being called a fair weather supporter, i'll say it anyway, its the way we lost. Not even errors in set plays, but errors like tackling and handling that are basics of the game seem to have crept in. last year snatching defeat from a win so many times, Ryles and BA weren't here but we'd see it time and time again. What are the other parts that have remained the same?
But hey, lets just keep the FO as is because they've done such a bang up job in their tenure. Lets insulate them so that they never have to fear responsibility for their failures, as they will always be to push the blame elsewhere.
There are 16 other teams in the competition and yeah its a sport there has to be a winning and losing side - how can so many other teams get it so much closer to right than us? Younger clubs, clubs that have been on the brink, and yet here we are, standing eye deep in the shitty swamp waters of the Parramatta River...
It kinda all depends on the situation mate , we win today and the story goes a different way and BA was so useless even a rookie could step in and do better with instant results . But now he's gone the narrative will be it's the BA stench that's making us lose for the next 5+ years . We went through it with Brian Smith and the ones that claimed he needed to go for us to return to success . I think we were recovering from Smithy until Ando got us to the GF and then we were finally past Brian Smith era . What was that , 3 or 4 years ? So we should be out of the "BA's mess " by about 2028 or 2029 😂
Well said Chief, I'm no fan of MON simply we don't understand what is happening in the background
I'd like MON replaced asap, we need a CEO + Chairman + HOF all on the same page
there is progress and Rome was not built in a day, Ryles is the right man for the job so I'm backing him 100%
the senior group have been a real disappointment it appears Jason cannot lean on Jr, Hopgood, Lane, Carty or Matto all these clowns
have checkout!! this doesn't do any favours for a rookie it makes Jason's job even harder!! no pride in the jersey is a problem
good news is Williams, Lomax, and Iongi are looking sharp
Riley, Smith, Kautoga, Jordan & Tuivaiti are getting fast-tracked which will bear fruit down the track
Jason is cleaning the house BA built - too much change all at once can be an issue BUT what other option does he have?
some big lessons to learn, never give a dopey coach the keys to do whatever he wants!! anyway in Jason we trust!!
most of us have been around for a while and have gone through much worse periods, 1990 - 1995 dark days if anyone remembers
we need to keep the faith, BA's dopey clan will be shown the door sooner rather than later, once Ryles gets his team which may take 12 months then judge him - calls to sack Jason are so stupid!! I can't believe people would post that shit that's a sad reality
Why do we look so under prepared the last 2 weeks.
I pointed this out in the preseason we should have played a clinical high completion type of games because we had Melbourne in Melbourne week one.Ryles had months to prepare for that blow torch test yet preseason we put error ridden performances both weeks and that stench is with us to start the season.
Why can't our players get the little effort areas right.I don't know what's been sold over the off season but it's not been bought by the players.We look like a rabble and for a foward coach that specialises in middle defense we are losing the collision badly and much like last years performances.
Moses much like last year is going to get parachuted in to try and save us but I suspect if we go 0-5 0-6 Jason is staring the spoon down dead set spoon team.While I agree a lot of this roster is BAs good coaches can get the best out of what's leftover after conceding 88 points which was the basic weakness of this side last year that averaged 32 against can you say Jason has got off to a positive start as our weakness looks worse than last year.
100% correct. We all knew we gonna loose against Melbourne but we expected to con
100% correct. We all knew we were going to lose against Melbourne, but we expected the team to at least compete.
The Tigers were so bad yesterday, yet they still managed to put 36 points on us. No matter how bad your roster is, the basics should be right. It feels like there is no structure in defense or attack.
No one expected us to make the top 8, but we expect them to go out there and give their best. It seems like half the team isn't interested, and Ryles had the whole preseason to get this right.
I really hope I am wrong but it looks like Ryles might be another Kearney if not worse.
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