It's amazing revisionism going on with the 2022 season. No matter how you dice it - whether you isolate the games with Hastings at halfback, or lock, it was one of the worst seasons ever and this guy was supposed to be one of our key leaders / ball handlers.
I'm not anti-Hastings and I would have been just fine keeping him on, but claims of him being our best player or compulsory to a turn-around in fortunes are an incredibly long stretch.
Certainly Hastings was one of our more vocal and earnest players in 2022, and I think that's what's convinced a portion of the fanbase that he was indispensable. But as you say - 4 wins from 16 is horrendous, no matter how one might try to analyse-out Hastings' culpability.
Anyway we'll have a very good litmus test 2022, because Knights aren't much better a side than Tigers and Hastings is being given the keys to that ship. If Knights have a red hot run 2022, or not, we'll have much more data for the discussion.
Agreed. I personally like Hastings but we were hardly a powerhouse when he played. Overall we nudged up from abysmal to woeful when he played.