I know much has been written about how we've started this season. We sit with four wins and four losses now. Not ideal but probably ahead of where a lot of people thought we'd be.
We weren't going to morph into Premiership contenders in one pre-season under a new coach. Brad Arthur has stated he wants continual improvement and we'd shown that every round up until the second half against the Tigers.
With a new coach comes a new game plan and new players. Obviously Arthur's coaching philosophy differs from his predecessors but he focuses on the basics and getting them right.
As part of a new coach assimilating into a club it's the players that must buy in to what the coach preaches. I feel as if the squad is still yet to fully commit to what Arthur has been saying.
He's asked for a good completion rate and a strong defensive commitment. In some games they have shown that and in other games they haven't.
I know some people aren't going to agree with what I have to say next.
I liken our position to that of Liverpool F.C. 20 months ago. A new coach had arrived at the club. In previous seasons Liverpool had struggled to reach the heights they wanted to. In the 2010 season they were one point above relegation.
When Brendan Rodgers took over for the 2012/13 season he promised change and to make Liverpool a force once more. At the end of that season they finished outside the top 4 again. But they showed promise, just inconsistently.
That's where I see us at the moment. Brad Arthur is in the same position as Brendan Rodgers was 20 months ago. A team full of promise that can play brilliantly when they want to, they're just missing that consistency that makes them a genuine threat.
This season Liverpool has played consistently well and are poised to claim the title in the next three weeks. So far they've won 11 in a row and haven't lost since December.
That's the next step for Parramatta and whether that happens this season or next is difficult to say. Arthur would want that to happen and is probably going to do everything he can to make them consistent.
Results such as the one against the Cowboys are frustrating. To capitulate so easily is embarrassing but our season is far from over.
We have a number of big games coming up. Cronulla and the Dragons at Parramatta. Winning those will put us back on track and ensure we're in the mix come July and August.
Replies
your right super about it taking time, a few have allowed them selves to get carried away with the better than expected start we had to the season but what they need to take into consideration is the lack of experience in a lot of our squad, the biggest difference in the players of first grade standard and second grade standard is consistency, it will take time for our younger players to reach that level of consistency. One of our biggest problems at the moment is our experienced players are not playing to the level required every week.
LOL super 3 responses and in top blogs, there seems to be some sort of a link with your blogs popping up in top blogs, none of them get any responses lol.
I think what has everyone confused is how we can beat teams like Rorters, Broncos & Sea-Eagles (yes I still count that a win) yet lose to reserve grade teams Tigers & Cowboys. Last week we all know the game was thrown away just don't know why? Then tonight everything was against us...5 day back up, travelling, playing 5:30pm in Nth Qld's humidity. Then of course was Thurston's whinge last week which was always going to see the refs give them all the decisions at home.
We just have to forget the last two weeks & get back to how we played the previous month. Forget that the Sharks "won" tonight as they were woeful & another beneficiary of video ref f*k-ups.
Agree, it will take time and B.A is the man to do that!!
But I can no longer agree with "big games coming up against X,Y & Z at Parramatta."
I long for the day when Parra has a big game against X,Y,Z and doesn't matter if it's at A,B or C stadium. :-)
That's what Premiership winners do!!
I think the next game is a real acid test for us...
Love it,PF. The only way to pass the acid test is one trip at a time.
If we keep a 50% record we will most likley make the 8, when you break it down we have lost only one game we should have won and that was against the tigers, the way the manly game panned out we should have won that too but you wouldn't normaly take a game against manly at brooky as a win, on the other hand we have won games against the roosters, broncos and panthers who were all in good form when we played them so when you put it all into perspective i think we are still ahead of where most of us would have expected to be at this point.
For me , i want us to be winning games at the back end of the season as this would show we have improved and we can carry that into next season.
Even if we make the 8 we will only be there to make up the numbers. We just aren't good enough to be genuine contenders yet. Unless the boys improve dramatically over the next 20 odd rounds.
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