This is an unfotunate blog to write, as it seems like people come out of the woodwork to tear BA and the side a new one when they lose. Its reality though, the culture of this place starts with him.
Craig Bellamy said after last week that if the players he was picking couldn’t find the right attitude and committment he’d 'find new ones to pick'. They were coming off a 2 point loss and coming 2nd on the ladder. Results sometimes don't tell the full story, and I think both 2017 and 2018 results at Parra didn't tell the true story. I thought we won more than our fair share in 2017 and lost more than our fair share in 2018. Either way we consistently displayed the same up and down attitude with the same players.
BA has said in i’m guessing 20 press conferences over the last 2 years shit like ‘we can’t win turning that much ball over ‘ ‘ you can’t give a quality team 65% of the ball and excpect to win’ ‘ our attitude to our discipline wasn’t great ‘’... and come Tuesday there will be minimal unforced changes . There are guys in our side that have consistently shown they don’t have the attitude and commitment , discipline or mental toughness .. to get it done consistently in the NRL. Some of these guys he’s picked repeatedly since he became coach . If we don't make changes now, this will seep into our next gen as well.. and these guys have provided a breath of fresh air and hope across the team. A few player observations re lack of concistency...
Brad Taka can't be picked again if the coach is serious. He can provide an aerial threat against smaller centres and has the occassional good offload in him but for the most part its his effort and discipline that make him a liability. Your senior players lead the way. He makes ill disciplined errors constantly. His effort leaves a tonne to be desired...constantly. As a senior player he fails at the non negotiables of culture. Everyone has a bad game from time to time, he plays with half a brain. You could make a 20 mins highllights package just from games this year where he failed in the effort and concentration areas. Whether it be commitment to a tackle, kick chase, illdiscipline with the ball, poor efforts in cover defence.. He can't be picked by a coach serious in turning things around.
An unpopular one here will be Manu Mau. He can carry the ball with some enthusaism and has a decent offload in him from time to time. But if you watch him closely he also has plenty of bad reads in defence which were more exposed when he was on the edges but most alarmingly he rarely wins the contest in the tackle. Watch him out there and count how many times others have to come in and help or the attacker gets an offload away in tackles he's involved in. For a guy his size he doesnt have enough desire to win the individual contests in my opinion. Also, as a fan I was unimpressed watching him waving the ball around without grounding it while scoring in his comeback game. We were getting pasted thtough the middle that afternoon and were starting to gain a little momentum while still behind. Know your moment.
Jaemon Salmon. Young dude. Hard to single him out. Against the Tigers our prop over ran him at the kick off so he dived. He's also been arm grabbing the last few weeks and showing a lack of commitment, He's young and its unfair to single him out in a side thats hot and cold. But clearly he's too inexperienced and not ready to perfrom at a first grade level week in and week out. In which case , Don't pick him! Don't take the decent weeks with the bad. Expect consistency in effort.
Overall it is the coaches job to drive the standards. He was a big say in the leadership and senior players within the team and over the 5-6 years BA has been here he hasn't got it right. I feel like he's corrected a few things in the way we've been playing but he hasnt got close to solving the attitude. I hope the club has been doing its research in what alternatives are out there and aren't content with a 5-4 record with a -2 F/A at week 9. That is flat out medicore. Manly are a 10x worse roster than us on paper but their attitude is 100x better. There are no more excuses for games like tonight, or newcastle, or canberra from earlier in the season. All 3 games we weren't in the contest. Its time to go BA.
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I would tend to agree with your analysis accept for Salmon, you need to expect that kind of game from a half that is so green.
The biggest worry is that this has happened when almost the whole team and coach are supposed to be playing to survive and put food on the table by earning another contract.
It is almost as if Brad Arthur sticks to a strategy during the week and game plan which is 100 percent pre meditated. It’s like he doesn’t coach what he sees unfold on the field as the game goes on. Junior Paulo was obviously gassed in the first half and instead of bringing Mannah on he persisted with Paulo who was only getting flatter as the first half went on, allowing more go forward to them.
God only knows why Reed did not start, he could have ignited us when we had those two penalties go our way in the first half, instead we looked lost without him until he came on.
BA talks about a good start but he doesn’t read the game to make sure this happens. If forwards are getting dominated make the changes early and change momentum, don’t let the game run away in the first 20. Throw Kaufusi and Mannah on of you have to early, before the game is quickly lost. Maybe he is just one stubborn bastard.
Sorrry but he gifted them a dream start by his coaching strategy. What makes me sick is that he didn’t even spray them, if they didn’t deserve a dressing down tonight when would they ever? Our side on paper should never leak 64, that’s inexcusable.
The great coaches never allow momentum to build and the opposition to run away with a match in the first half. They will make changes and do whatever it takes. Never.
It is a sad truth that I think BA needs to pack it up. Maybe we need another hiding this week to put us out of our misery with this chapter.
So dissapointed.
Martina Navratilova needs to get a life, seriously!
I think everyone is disappointed .
Its easy to say BA isn’t the one missing the tackles or not playing with committment and that’s true .. but as the culture setter and driver of our teams standards he has failed . Theres a severe lack of leadership in the side and an inability for BA to get his messages across .
The players love him because he’s ‘honest with them ‘. He’s also extremely loyal to players that have let him down. These guys don’t need a coach they’re good mates with , they need a coach that drives accountability and standards into them . I hope our management aren’t seduced by the good results we’ve had in certain games and look at the bigger picture .. and that is this shit has been going on his whole Parra tenure. We’had 50 put on us his second game in charge and it has been up and down ever since . He no longer has excuses . He hasn’t got it right .
Yep the coach and his coaching staff, 4 or 5 players need tto be told they are not wanted in 2020.
Would like to hear a new Headcoach named in the next month, he can look at what we got and who he wants to keep.
Then have input into who he would like to chase
Surely BA knows his GONE.
Great blog as usual GWF, spot on.
the clincher for me was in the press conference when he though they tried hard.
what on the hell was he watching??
they bent over and pissed themselves like they always do when under pressure by a quality side. Look at Hasler and Manly, he’s done more in 6 months to instil toughness and attitude then BA has done in 6 years.
Of course the players love him absolutely no accountability at all. Their good buddy Brad will still pick them.
mate , i reckon most of us know we don’t have a top 4 roster on paper . We have no origin players . We’re not expecting to go out there and be undefeated . We just want consistency in effort . To know you’re going to get a Parra team with a good attitude that’s gonna come prepared to win and fight out the 2 competition points .
Against Newcastle , Canberra and Melbourne we didn’t come to fight at all. That’s 1/3rd of our games this season. Coming off a last place finish . The squad are mentally weak . If they wanted BA to get a new contract then they had to come and fight weekly . Fuck I think we’d all even cop an off day. But it happens way too many times . Whatever he’s doing to prepare the team and instill standards hasn’t worked . He’s been given plenty of time to show we’re going forward .
Cronulla have developed a tough attitude in the time BA has been here . Manly are taking steps in the right direction. We have been nothing but consistently mediocre . Inconsistenty in performance and mentally weak the whole time he’s been here . Even his supporters can’t argue that.
We’re now at the stage where he’s been here so long that he has shaped the roster . They’re guys he wanted to build the team he wanted . He’s had plenty of time to mould the team in his style and his style has produced inconsistency , no origin players , no finals wins and 4 or 5 complete pastings a season . It’s time to go.
Did he actually say they tried hard?looks like Potter will be our interim coach then because if I heard him say that and I’m sitting on the board I’ve called an impromptu board meeting for this morning and BAs our on his arse.
No, he didn't. He said the opposite, that they were soft and mentally weak. Don't know what Bup was watching but I just rewatched it and he never said they tried hard. He was as scathing and disappointed as I've ever seen him. Nothing like Bellamy's level of anger last week, but angry for BA.
Don’t know what you read Captain but I don’t watch press conferences. Words without action are useless . Talking about what you need to do or didn’t do are pointless in a press conference.
BA needs to isolate video of every player in that game and critique their performance in front of their peers .Asking teammates to critique each other’s efforts as well.
I said last week we won’t beat the Storm because we’ve been comprehensively been beaten by teams with line speed who get up in our grill.We fail to adjust when we’re denied playing the type of football we want to and we tend to drop our lip.
He didn't say they tried hard at all in the presser.
He said they were soft, no effort, and it wasn't good enough. He said they tried hard last week against the Dragons but this week they didn't.
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