I'm not sure some of you realise how horribly coached this team has been - in particular the last couple of seasons but in my opinion we've underachieved since 2018.
Some people have been living in absolute denial or forgotten what a well coached team looks like . Yes there are issues with the roster , but this is the roster BA wanted . It's power forward heavy and we rely less on our outside backs than any other team . Whilst the game moved to guys with leg speed and athletes doing yardage work out of the back field , we neglected our backs and kept buying forwards. Add to This :
- We've never had a solid defensive structure . It's struggled on the edges , at marker and that's been obvious but we also miss a shit tonne of tackles . Going into this season the absolute priority of our squad should've been developing a solid structure where every player knew their role . We went from conceding 24 a game to 30 a game off the back of the longest pre season out of any club. Ciraldo has developed a solid system in 18 months . BA didn't in 11 years . BA had the luxury of a bloke who can start opposition sets on their 10 off his boot and we're still leaking 30 a game .
- BAs been throwing in rookies who aren't prepared or ready for NRL. He used to be super conservative with brining kids in .. then he bought in Jake and friends and started chucking in blokes who were unprepared left and right . As opposed to developing guys and giving them jobs to do in first grade , he uses first grade as the job experience.
- Whilst still on Jake .. BA couldn't separate the job from his emotion. Crying like a blubbering mess when Jake scored on debut while a touching father and son moment what other coach does this ? BA has said a tonne of times since he was flicked debuting Jake was one of the biggest highlights of his 11 years . It may be nice for him to debut his unready , untalented son .. but he lost the ability to do his job first and managed to convict himself playing Jake at 7 , Mitch at 6 and DB at centre was a worthwhile option . When that backfired he decided to try make him a super sub in a run to a GF.
- his use of interchange has cost us games . Flogging guys till the tank is completely empty and leaving them on the field too long has wore our middles down over the season . His response ' we pay them the big money to they need to stay on the field ''... completely stupid.
- he let his personal feelings towards players stop him picking our strongest side .
- Youngsters in our team have been getting worse by the season and having trouble staying 'in' games . Dylan Brown has been coached 'just to run the football'' when you need at 900k half to be more.
- We've never developed a culture where our effort and professionalism were non negotiables . We had huge ups and downs within seasons and cost ourselves top 4 finishes.
- the complete disconnect between the side and the fans / media . We have absolutely slipped miles behind the rest of the league when it comes to this .
Need we go on . My point is a new coach was an absolute must . Whether Ryles is the right appointment or not we won't know until we see what he brings to the side but we've given ourselves a chance to get out of the Desd set stone ages in NRL coaching and really modernise what we're doing with a guy who can evaluate our roster fairly and to the standards of the modern game . BA had the absolute luxury of having an international front row , representiitive halves and stability in the roster . We were miles ahead of most other clubs with our roster but I feel we didn't get to where we could've . Not so much in terms of making a GF but the style we played , our defence especially .. was never really amosntt the elite of the competition .
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I maintained for a long time he was a sweet talker. That's the only reason I can give as to why someone so stubborn and conservative remained in the job that long. The unwillingness and/or inability to adapt to the changing environment is the death knell of any business.
Well said. Just fix our defence and we are in the top 8.
The agile middles is something that is even been a big focus in the juniors. The eels flegg highlgihts start at 1:46
https://www.nswrl.com.au/news/2024/07/08/jersey-flegg-cup-highlight...
The prospects from here that are pushing for cup are 1(Twiddle), 2(Alameddine), 7(Lynn), 8 (Tuivita), 13 (Pryke). You would have heard me talk about them a lot recently. Twiddle, Lynn and Pryke are 19/20 years old. Alameddine and Tuivita are 18/19 years old.
The forward pack in that team is the biggest strength.
Yep and the other isssue has been our talent because poached by rivals. So hopefully the club have changed their process and resign our juniors earlier
Thanks for your valuable update!
BA long tenure at the club will have people divided, some will say he did a admirable job under difficult circumstances ie the salary cap drama, built a team that a GF But even the teams that that made the finals were not too far from a flogging or getting exposed defensively - BA ran with an old school game plan for all occasions and opposition, yes players improved individually but tactically BA lead teams lacked attention to detail especially in defence.hopefully the next group of kids get a footy education supported by the senior players, I'm confident the club is heading in the right direction.
Agree like you can't deny the individual improvement under BA, example of that Gutho, Cartwright the list goes on and especially Moses although its taken while he's now playing elite brand of footy.
Furthermore, Arthur failed to address the NRL teams serious lack of on-field leadership. His close relationship with Gutherson meant he couldn't see that Gutherson isn't captain material. Plays with heart, gives his all, but he is a shit captain, like Nathan Hindmarsh was.
Agree we need a new captain going into next season that should be Moses.
Yep BA was pretty simple mate, but cunning as a rat.
Initially I think he was a cheapie option as the club had paid out plenty before him so the club looked to save some $$, then the salary cap stuff hit and that's why the club persisted with him as long as they did. It was loyalty mixed in with promise. They bought in to the bullshit like many fans.
That and the fact the star players liked him which he was smart enough to leverage as his security blanket. Timed his extensions with the stars. He knew how to get the players on side, and keep them there plus he surrounded himself with assistants who average to bog, were 100% yes men that never really threatened his position, tactics or selections.
I will die on this hill - sacking BA after 11 years was the single most important thing this club has done for the long term prosperity of this club since they poached Brian Smith.
It may not seem that way yet but IMO it will pretty soon.....
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