Quote Ferocious Aardvark="Ferocious Aardvark"We often flatter to deceive, and I don't discount the good rugby we have played or the good results we have had. That said, compared with almost all our peers, across a season, we are indeed rubbish.
I never subscribed to the view that McNamara is a dud nor do I think Potter is a dud. And in Potter's case he does have some previous that strongly supports at least a fair level of ability. He, as McNamara before him, cannot escape his share of the responsibility for the debacles over which he is presiding, but now, as under McNamara, it is clear to me that our problem is the players.
This problem is a mixture of players who are not good enough, players who some of the time don't put it all in, players who we are told regularly fail to follow the game plan their coach has given them, and players who regularly show an alarming lack of discipline and ball control. On the evidence of recent weeks, as well, players who are nowhere near as fit as their peers from any other team you could name, so they are (or look to be) fscked at 60 minutes.
I am also sure that a big part of the state of the squad is our disastrous transfer policy, where guys like Wardle, Atkins, Patrick are let go yet walk straight into starting spots at a top-4 sides; lunatic decisions like those to release Morrison and especially Menzies. I know that this has been going on for years, but it doesn't make me feel any happier when I see old boys of ours doing the business on the telly week in week out. One of our biggest mistakes, Jamie Peacock, may be past his best now but he would never have left. (Old timer Ian Henderson is doing OK!). Herbert may be quietly playing OK, but he isn't what we need right now yet week after week Deacon has still been doing it for Wigan. We can't find a stand-off for love nor money but Chris Bridge is doing it for Warrington, and Leon has done OK at Saints.
I am not even arguing that every single one should still be here, obviously circumstances change and you can't please everyone, or keep everyone, but even with just Morrison and especially Menzies still on board, our team would be a different proposition, and the young players would have had the best examples to follow, and top on- and off- field leadership. I have never seen either Menzies' or Morrison's heads go down, and our defence wouldn't be leaking like an incontinent donkey.
So end of season clearouts there may be - but the job of replacing who we've lost with players of at least some quality is not going to be an easy trick. If we somehow managed to do it, and had a season with a top 6-7 finish (say) - would that make Potter a good coach?'"
I believed SM should have been sacked earlier but otherwise this is a fair assessment. Whilst coaches must have a strong say on the overall composition of the squad there must also be a level above them which has a longer term or broader remit. This level has failed catastrophically, not as you say in every single situation where there are always mitigating circumstances, but viewed in the whole over many years. The financial issues have imnpacted but alongside the players who have left Brough, Myler, Robinson, Orr, Brown have all been available cheaply I suspect, prior to establishing themselves as very good players at other clubs and this is only in the halfback position. We simply called it wrong.
I don't see what's to be gained from another wholsesale clearout or changing coach unless we have a real vision of what we're replacing them with and to be honest, I don't think we have that skillset at the club.
