Calling for BAs head after what he has done with a basket case Club is premature. I do think he has some issues he needs to address for fans but talk of Smith’s return is rediculous. The recruitment / retention, player development and playing structure needs to be critically examined.
The retention of some including Terepo, Matagi, Vave, Alvaro instead of Eisenhuth. Apposition, and Twal, and paying overs for Evans Is a question that has to be asked. Is it time we look at the Dragons model where recruitment is not the coaches responsibility?
The deveoplement of players, especially Pritchard and Moroa is also concerning. Pritchard has heart but his kamikaze style sees him injured and results in his team playing a man down. He has a running game but has not developed this or is instructed not to run. He looks dangerous when he does run. He has not developed a kicking game which a quality hooker needs in today’s game. Moroa has stagnated. He has not developed an offload, struggles to break tackles and is too often replaced injured. Ma’u has lost his offload and is simply not an attacking threat.
The game plan / style needs examination. The attack is too sideways and structured with block plays. The forwards do not pass or offload which sees them dominated in gang tackles. When we do get a penalty we take 3-4 one out hit ups with no support which sees us dominated in the tackle and the defence set. Literally Moses, Norman or Kaysa take the tap, a forward takes a hit up, whilst our halves turn their back on them, even if they could offload, and they organise the next hit up, which is one out again. Is this what they train for?
I am a BA fan and just want to hear what he has to say about these issues instead of the tired and usual rhetoric that we tried hard, the efforts there, I am lost for words. On the Club app it has useless pictures and irrelevant interviews. I want to see honesty and some answers to tough questions.
People may disagree with me and that’s fine, but let’s hear what the club has to about player development, retention, game plans. If they made mistakes I think they should own them. I think as fans we deserve this
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Replies
Eisenhuth was released by Ricky Stuart mid-2013 and almost had his career ended by a cancerous tumour in his knee.
I agree regarding the development of Moeroa. He's almost turned into what Hindy was at the backend of his career and Hindy played like that because of Michael Hagan and his ACL injury in 2006.
BA spoke two weeks ago that the players seem to be down on confidence. They're second guessing themselves and playing too safe in fear of dropping the ball and having to defend. I'm not quite sure how you fix that.
It's not up to the club to post content that grills BA. That's bad PR and damages the brand. It's up to journalists to ask those questions in interviews and press conferences.
Pick and choose the player ricky let go super, but ba has had his share of retention cock ups that would make Ricky look like jack Gibson.
Sad but true.
I would not be offering a contract renewal for Tep unless there was nobady available and then he'd be downgraded heaps. Has not offerred much at all and is knocked out every third tackle.
Sportman, you've missed my point completely. The point I was making is that Tep has just turned into a ball-runner and tackling machine as opposed to that wide-running backrower with bone jarring defence and a good step and offload we saw in 2015 and 2016.
LOL!