If you could start Over

[Guest]

Ownership of this comes back on the players - there's forum members here who have watched the guys train and could make observations on what they see - I'm 100% certain they train hard and train well - we've got the right support staff, fitness, skills and strength are not the issue.

Mental aptitude on game day is the issue - I'm 99% confident of that. I reckon it's like a mental switch hits them on game day where whatever they have planned to do, goes out the window because they're too used to losing and believing they can physically match it with the top sides - and as a result we never see the effort upon effort scenarios where they back each other up and do the little things right. This mental aptitude has plagued the team for years regardless of coach. I believe Madge has the right mentality - for whatever reason it doesn't rub off on the players and I think that's more of a self-belief issue within each player.

 

[earl]

Mental aptitude on game day is the issue - I’m 99% confident of that.

This is what they have to learn as a group. They just need to apply themselves every game.

It's a coaching issue but I'm not convinced any coach can change the situation. The players need to play good smart footy for a while and learn how to perform on the big stage.

I'm less concerned about losses than I am with the team learning to play good footy. If they start executing well they will start winning games.

 

[happy_tiger]

Mental aptitude on game day is the issue - I’m 99% confident of that.

This is what they have to learn as a group. They just need to apply themselves every game.

It's a coaching issue but I'm not convinced any coach can change the situation. The players need to play good smart footy for a while and learn how to perform on the big stage.

I'm less concerned about losses than I am with the team learning to play good footy. If they start executing well they will start winning games.

This squad won't ....

 

[tig_prmz]

I'm not being pedantic, I am saying that it's very feasible to salvage a bad start to the season and go on a winning run. A betting man might say it's unlikely for Tigers 2021, but a betting man wouldn't have taken Sharks winning 15 straight in 2016 or Penrith only losing 1 regular-season match in 2020.

I'm sorry but you're looking at anomalies to make your point.

It's not about being a betting man or the odds. This team that we have assembled isn't going to get us to anywhere close to a premiership. By some miracle it might get us to Top 8.

And it's not the players that we have recruited either. It's the "culture". You need a few experienced "winners" in the team to lead it forward which I was hoping Tamou might be able to do but he has one more year with us and I don't think it's going to get us there.

Apart from him, we have Brooks/Nofoaluma/Twal (never played finals), Roberts/Leilua (off-field dramas), Joe O (coming off the worst year of his life). These guys are not the sort of role models that are going to lead the team around.

The gap between us and Top 4 is increasing but so is the gap between us and the 6th to 12th teams.

An anomaly can only be so if it does not turn up repeatedly. Teams that play finals football regularly have form slumps during the season. The point is that they do it less often and for less duration than the bottom 8.

You are predicting Tigers need a miracle to make the Top 8. That's fine, but it's a prediction only. I am pointing out the fact that plenty of sides have been lapped during a season and still played finals. Certainly almost nobody believes we can go anywhere near the premiership, that's only for the most optimistic amongst us.

Re "winners" - it's an interesting point. What do you mean by a "winner". James Roberts played finals football 3/4 seasons with Broncos and 1/2 seasons with Souths (Souths made the finals obviously but he wasn't playing any longer). BJ Leilua has played finals 4 times including 2 Grand Finals. Mbye played finals 3/5 years at Bulldogs before joining Tigers including a Grand Final. Heck even Rusty Packer has played in a Grand Final.

The only blokes who have consistently not played finals are players stuck at the Tigers!

It hasn't turned up repeatedly, hence it's an anomaly. WT will not make the Top 8- if they had betting markets on WT NOT making the Top 8, it would be $1.10. It's not just a prediction but the most likely scenario. You can take whatever meaning out of it.

As for "winners"- it's about the winners being leaders. Leilua and Roberts are far from being any type of a leader. Do you really see BJ as someone a guy like Laurie can learn of? Packer and Mbye can't even make the starting side.

Even teams favourite for the spoon in Dragons (Hunt, McCollough, Vaughan etc), Cowboys (Taumalolo, Morgan) have players that can lead with words and actions. We do have Tamou but he's only been here for 3 months.

And as we keep losing, guys like LL, Garner, Stefano will be in the same mould as Brooks/Noffa/Twal with over 100 games without any big game experience. This gap is increasing year after year.

Yeh there is a very slight chance I may be wrong, but this is the most likely scenario. You can have faith in the team and I still do hope for that miracle. I wouldn't be here otherwise.

 

[tig_prmz]

We haven’t just lost in these 2 rounds, we have been blown off the park. You need to put in consistent performances to be in the hunt but this team doesn’t have it in them.


It took us a while go get going in 05. We have a new team. We have had a complete overhaul of our spine.

I wouldn't start over. We have a good base to build on.

Do read the post above. I think we have a base but it's not as good as others. For every step we take forward, other teams are taking 2.

 

[TrueTiger]

If I had to start over and I was the coach,the first thing I would do is sit them down and have a long talk about the game and why each individual has been contracted to play in a particular position...this is a professional sport with high paying salaries,so I expect high quality input to every game...
All of you have different roles to play and we will put gameplans and structures in place so as to win the game,with each and everyone of you to stick to the plans,back each other up,support the lead runner and never hang your head when an error is made,good teams that play for each other move on from that error and play better to eliminate those errors...
I expect leaders to lead and learners to learn...
Its a simple game only complicated by incompetency,I do not expect the club to hire incompetent players,but if they have then State Cup is for them to hone their skills...
just my input and opinion,I have played the game,watched many changes to the game,seen brilliance within the game and sadly seen disappointment in the game...
To sum up it really is a team sport that requires a team effort and if you cant do your job in the big arena then dont demand a high salary or long contract...and always support your teammates....

 

[jirskyr]

Nofo worries me a lot right now
hes attack has completely gone since he got his contract

he had one great year...it was a myth

The only myth is the coach

We've tried just about every coach in Australia.

Replacing a coach who's won two premierships with yet another new coaching experiment would be madness.

One premiership In nrl and even the club he won that at got rid of him and there still making finals. When he started we were 9th his first year 9th again next year 11th
do we need to hit rock bottom.Maguire has recruited majority of the playing squad and assistants of his choice it rests with him as he whould say he must take ownership of the performance’s

So what you are saying is Maguire developed a roster capable of making the finals for the next decade? Or are you suggesting it was 100% Anthony Seibold's influence on the roster that got them from 12th to 3rd in one season?

Before Maguire, Souths made the finals once in 10 NRL seasons (once in 20 NRL/ARL/NSWRL seasons), including 3 spoons. During Maguire they made the finals 4/6 years and won a comp. After Maguire they have made the finals 3 more consecutive years.

Doesn't matter if Souths eventually outsted Madge, he was very successful in turning one of the most under-performing clubs in the NRL era into a powerhouse. If that's the least of what Madge can do at the Tigers, so be it, give him the reins.

Souths fans permanently indebted to Madge, nobody before or after has had Souths in a Grand Final since 1971.

The gladiator turned that place into a powerhouse not Maguire,he as an ordinary coach was just there at the right time

Is that right? The Gladiator being Rusty Crowe, who took over Souths in March 2006 and under whom Souths played one finals match in the following 6 seasons, before Madge joined?

It's funny how The Gladiator is responsible for turning Souths into a powerhouse at precisely the same time Madge was installed as head coach, but not the 6 years prior.

 

[jirskyr]

I'm not being pedantic, I am saying that it's very feasible to salvage a bad start to the season and go on a winning run. A betting man might say it's unlikely for Tigers 2021, but a betting man wouldn't have taken Sharks winning 15 straight in 2016 or Penrith only losing 1 regular-season match in 2020.

I'm sorry but you're looking at anomalies to make your point.

It's not about being a betting man or the odds. This team that we have assembled isn't going to get us to anywhere close to a premiership. By some miracle it might get us to Top 8.

And it's not the players that we have recruited either. It's the "culture". You need a few experienced "winners" in the team to lead it forward which I was hoping Tamou might be able to do but he has one more year with us and I don't think it's going to get us there.

Apart from him, we have Brooks/Nofoaluma/Twal (never played finals), Roberts/Leilua (off-field dramas), Joe O (coming off the worst year of his life). These guys are not the sort of role models that are going to lead the team around.

The gap between us and Top 4 is increasing but so is the gap between us and the 6th to 12th teams.

An anomaly can only be so if it does not turn up repeatedly. Teams that play finals football regularly have form slumps during the season. The point is that they do it less often and for less duration than the bottom 8.

You are predicting Tigers need a miracle to make the Top 8. That's fine, but it's a prediction only. I am pointing out the fact that plenty of sides have been lapped during a season and still played finals. Certainly almost nobody believes we can go anywhere near the premiership, that's only for the most optimistic amongst us.

Re "winners" - it's an interesting point. What do you mean by a "winner". James Roberts played finals football 3/4 seasons with Broncos and 1/2 seasons with Souths (Souths made the finals obviously but he wasn't playing any longer). BJ Leilua has played finals 4 times including 2 Grand Finals. Mbye played finals 3/5 years at Bulldogs before joining Tigers including a Grand Final. Heck even Rusty Packer has played in a Grand Final.

The only blokes who have consistently not played finals are players stuck at the Tigers!

It hasn't turned up repeatedly, hence it's an anomaly. WT will not make the Top 8- if they had betting markets on WT NOT making the Top 8, it would be $1.10. It's not just a prediction but the most likely scenario. You can take whatever meaning out of it.

As for "winners"- it's about the winners being leaders. Leilua and Roberts are far from being any type of a leader. Do you really see BJ as someone a guy like Laurie can learn of? Packer and Mbye can't even make the starting side.

Even teams favourite for the spoon in Dragons (Hunt, McCollough, Vaughan etc), Cowboys (Taumalolo, Morgan) have players that can lead with words and actions. We do have Tamou but he's only been here for 3 months.

And as we keep losing, guys like LL, Garner, Stefano will be in the same mould as Brooks/Noffa/Twal with over 100 games without any big game experience. This gap is increasing year after year.

Yeh there is a very slight chance I may be wrong, but this is the most likely scenario. You can have faith in the team and I still do hope for that miracle. I wouldn't be here otherwise.

Do you really want me to go back and pull out all the Top 8 football sides that lost the opening two matches of their campaigns?

A "most likely scenario" is a prediction.

I'm not sure of your point about "winners who are leaders"? I mean, sure, it's good to have those guys and arguably, yes, we lack senior players with a long back-history of winning. But then you go and provide examples to us of poor football teams, like Dragons and Cowboys, who actually do have some winners in leadership positions, and it's not doing them much good the past few seasons.

What, for example, is Michael Morgan actually doing for the Cowboys right now, to improve the side? He's battling; he has been battling since they last made the Grand Final.

 

[SeanT]

Maguire, first shown the door,he's done enough damage

Your right on the money and by season’s end many other’s will wake up to it

Aye lets get rid of him and get Seibold instead?

What damage has he done? He wasntissing tackles out there. The players where.

 

[Deleted member 3518]

Look , I hate to break it to everyone , but this year is the first year where we didn’t just sign average players , who would compete for 20 of 24 games for a win loss of 11 and 13 . **What we did do , is sign a whole bunch of 19-21 year olds , and watch them nurture together . Most of those guys , you’re Lauries , AD and Simpkin of the world are in key positions . It is now a waiting game .** Really our season for real starts this week . Many of us knew we would lose both these games , not to the extent that we did , but hey , as long as we get rid of BJ , we should have at least a feeling of trust that we arnt going to bleed 30 points before we even get started. As for the rest , I dunno , it’s going to be a bumpy ride , and there is going to be some bodies left on the side of the ride as we drive along . BJ is the first , Brooks needs to fix his kicking game pronto , and some of the middles and edges need to start looking over thier shoulder , as we do have Simpkins and Blore to come in and take a couple of jobs .
**The team that played on Sunday will not be the one that finishes the season.**

Most rebuilds need a full tear down , then build up . I’m praying that won’t happen to us , but I’m no longer confident . But really our first test as to where we are is this week . We played 2 teams with years worth of continuity , and we got torched . It’s a bit of a bull crap draw , but what can you do . I would have preferred to ease into the season and build confidence , even if it is false .

Great post. Probably the best post of the week.

It really is a waiting game now. The recruitment has been very good. Exactly what was needed. As was fixing the junior pathways etc.

The foundation has been set but unfortunately it might be a case of two steps back one step forward for a little while.

The depth we have acquired is also very good.

The issue was always going to be the halves.

As for the OP's question if i could start over id have a young half back much more ready for NRL than Jock Madden. Thats all, the rest is ok.

The halfback issue , is an industry wide one . Canberra went to the UK, the roosters got lucky , and poached the sneaky glue guy to the Souths premiership , who got into a biff with the owner on a booze trip , Souths kept the other half of that equation and stuck him with a guy , who spent the first 26 years of his life floating in reserve grade purgatory, and Melbourne just manufactured one , like they did the time before that.
After that every single other team has huge question marks over the bloke wearing the number 7 , including manly . What’s DCE win record without a gun fullback ? Stewart before turbo .


I dont do the every club has issues thing.

If you want to make the 8 you need a good half or 5/8. Very rarely are there exceptions. Most teams in this comp have a quality half on their books.

We have a bottom 5 halfback and an unproven 5/8 who may provide some hope.

I completely disagree with that statement .
Penrith - Cleary . Serviceable half . He’s definitely not in the Thurston , Cronk Johns Class , but the clear number 1 half , which proves what I’m saying .
Canberra- Williams - Does a good job of steering the team around , but you rarely see him , so once again a step below the previous generation
Roosters- Keary- The most skill full half in the game .
Eels - Moses - a Cadbury chocolate , melts when the heat is on . But a very strong personality , not afraid to tell players like BJ they are fat and lazy.
Knights - Pearce - I watched him the last 2 weeks and honestly his kicking game was worse than brooks . He was bailed out by individual brilliance , by players like Safiti and Best .
Sharks - Townsend - he could play 5 games and you wouldn’t even know he was out there . Yet his team still wins , which I don’t know what that says .
Titans-Taylor/ Fogarty - ask a titans fan thier opinion of these guys. Fogarty is like bully Walters for us .
Warriors - Harris Tavita- I’m yet to see him really do anything . His kicking game sux , in the fact he looks like he can’t kick it 30m and kicks with the wrong foot . Once again bailed out by the elite talent around him.
Dragons - Hunt- seriously he’s on 1.2 mil and spent the better part of the last 2 years wearing the 9 . He’s not an elite half .
Cowboys - Morgan - you think we lack direction ? The cowboys are in a world of hurt with him.
Manly - DCE- what has he won , without turbo or Stewart playing with him ? I bet his win % is like 30 %. He’s a myth .
Dogs - Flanno- still a kid , but early signs are he could go the way of brooks , if they don’t surround him with quality and start winning , I can see his ego just being bruised beyond repair .
Brisbane - Croft - LOL this guy must have nude photos of Brisbanes GM, because how he’s in first grade is unbelievable.
Storm - Hughes - mate the storm are such a smart club , they decide to invest Around a bloke who will tell everyone to eat crap , and do what he says , rather than the guy who ticks all the right half boxes . Just a smart club .
Souths - Reynolds . Mr consistency , never lets you down . He might not have the extreme highs of other players , but I wish the parallel universe happened where he chose us over Souths , which was in play early in his career.
Tigers - Brooks - I just feel sorry for him . He looks like we messed him up in the head . I think I back him so strongly because I feel guilty that we , the tigers club , ruined a kid who has more potential than the lot of those guys above him . If he came up in the roosters jersey , he would be the player that we all thought he should be . Which is a huge indictment on our club .

By my count that’s 11 clubs with ??? All around their 7 . There’s a real lack of talent at the moment.
We just arnt developing them anymore . Or the structures these kids are taught are all wrong and ruin them .

 

[tig_prmz]

I'm not being pedantic, I am saying that it's very feasible to salvage a bad start to the season and go on a winning run. A betting man might say it's unlikely for Tigers 2021, but a betting man wouldn't have taken Sharks winning 15 straight in 2016 or Penrith only losing 1 regular-season match in 2020.

I'm sorry but you're looking at anomalies to make your point.

It's not about being a betting man or the odds. This team that we have assembled isn't going to get us to anywhere close to a premiership. By some miracle it might get us to Top 8.

And it's not the players that we have recruited either. It's the "culture". You need a few experienced "winners" in the team to lead it forward which I was hoping Tamou might be able to do but he has one more year with us and I don't think it's going to get us there.

Apart from him, we have Brooks/Nofoaluma/Twal (never played finals), Roberts/Leilua (off-field dramas), Joe O (coming off the worst year of his life). These guys are not the sort of role models that are going to lead the team around.

The gap between us and Top 4 is increasing but so is the gap between us and the 6th to 12th teams.

An anomaly can only be so if it does not turn up repeatedly. Teams that play finals football regularly have form slumps during the season. The point is that they do it less often and for less duration than the bottom 8.

You are predicting Tigers need a miracle to make the Top 8. That's fine, but it's a prediction only. I am pointing out the fact that plenty of sides have been lapped during a season and still played finals. Certainly almost nobody believes we can go anywhere near the premiership, that's only for the most optimistic amongst us.

Re "winners" - it's an interesting point. What do you mean by a "winner". James Roberts played finals football 3/4 seasons with Broncos and 1/2 seasons with Souths (Souths made the finals obviously but he wasn't playing any longer). BJ Leilua has played finals 4 times including 2 Grand Finals. Mbye played finals 3/5 years at Bulldogs before joining Tigers including a Grand Final. Heck even Rusty Packer has played in a Grand Final.

The only blokes who have consistently not played finals are players stuck at the Tigers!

It hasn't turned up repeatedly, hence it's an anomaly. WT will not make the Top 8- if they had betting markets on WT NOT making the Top 8, it would be $1.10. It's not just a prediction but the most likely scenario. You can take whatever meaning out of it.

As for "winners"- it's about the winners being leaders. Leilua and Roberts are far from being any type of a leader. Do you really see BJ as someone a guy like Laurie can learn of? Packer and Mbye can't even make the starting side.

Even teams favourite for the spoon in Dragons (Hunt, McCollough, Vaughan etc), Cowboys (Taumalolo, Morgan) have players that can lead with words and actions. We do have Tamou but he's only been here for 3 months.

And as we keep losing, guys like LL, Garner, Stefano will be in the same mould as Brooks/Noffa/Twal with over 100 games without any big game experience. This gap is increasing year after year.

Yeh there is a very slight chance I may be wrong, but this is the most likely scenario. You can have faith in the team and I still do hope for that miracle. I wouldn't be here otherwise.

Do you really want me to go back and pull out all the Top 8 football sides that lost the opening two matches of their campaigns?

A "most likely scenario" is a prediction.

I'm not sure of your point about "winners who are leaders"? I mean, sure, it's good to have those guys and arguably, yes, we lack senior players with a long back-history of winning. But then you go and provide examples to us of poor football teams, like Dragons and Cowboys, who actually do have some winners in leadership positions, and it's not doing them much good the past few seasons.

What, for example, is Michael Morgan actually doing for the Cowboys right now, to improve the side? He's battling; he has been battling since they last made the Grand Final.

I still think you're missing the bigger picture. No point discussing as I have said all I need to and seems you have as well.

FWIW, I hope I am wrong and we can pull ourselves out of this hole.

 

[earl]

Mental aptitude on game day is the issue - I’m 99% confident of that.

This is what they have to learn as a group. They just need to apply themselves every game.

It's a coaching issue but I'm not convinced any coach can change the situation. The players need to play good smart footy for a while and learn how to perform on the big stage.

I'm less concerned about losses than I am with the team learning to play good footy. If they start executing well they will start winning games.

This squad won't ....

One thing I'll state about Happy is that he always puts a positive spin on things.

 

[The_Patriot]

Look , I hate to break it to everyone , but this year is the first year where we didn’t just sign average players , who would compete for 20 of 24 games for a win loss of 11 and 13 . **What we did do , is sign a whole bunch of 19-21 year olds , and watch them nurture together . Most of those guys , you’re Lauries , AD and Simpkin of the world are in key positions . It is now a waiting game .** Really our season for real starts this week . Many of us knew we would lose both these games , not to the extent that we did , but hey , as long as we get rid of BJ , we should have at least a feeling of trust that we arnt going to bleed 30 points before we even get started. As for the rest , I dunno , it’s going to be a bumpy ride , and there is going to be some bodies left on the side of the ride as we drive along . BJ is the first , Brooks needs to fix his kicking game pronto , and some of the middles and edges need to start looking over thier shoulder , as we do have Simpkins and Blore to come in and take a couple of jobs .
**The team that played on Sunday will not be the one that finishes the season.**

Most rebuilds need a full tear down , then build up . I’m praying that won’t happen to us , but I’m no longer confident . But really our first test as to where we are is this week . We played 2 teams with years worth of continuity , and we got torched . It’s a bit of a bull crap draw , but what can you do . I would have preferred to ease into the season and build confidence , even if it is false .

Great post. Probably the best post of the week.

It really is a waiting game now. The recruitment has been very good. Exactly what was needed. As was fixing the junior pathways etc.

The foundation has been set but unfortunately it might be a case of two steps back one step forward for a little while.

The depth we have acquired is also very good.

The issue was always going to be the halves.

As for the OP's question if i could start over id have a young half back much more ready for NRL than Jock Madden. Thats all, the rest is ok.

The halfback issue , is an industry wide one . Canberra went to the UK, the roosters got lucky , and poached the sneaky glue guy to the Souths premiership , who got into a biff with the owner on a booze trip , Souths kept the other half of that equation and stuck him with a guy , who spent the first 26 years of his life floating in reserve grade purgatory, and Melbourne just manufactured one , like they did the time before that.
After that every single other team has huge question marks over the bloke wearing the number 7 , including manly . What’s DCE win record without a gun fullback ? Stewart before turbo .


I dont do the every club has issues thing.

If you want to make the 8 you need a good half or 5/8. Very rarely are there exceptions. Most teams in this comp have a quality half on their books.

We have a bottom 5 halfback and an unproven 5/8 who may provide some hope.

I completely disagree with that statement .
Penrith - Cleary . Serviceable half . He’s definitely not in the Thurston , Cronk Johns Class , but the clear number 1 half , which proves what I’m saying .
Canberra- Williams - Does a good job of steering the team around , but you rarely see him , so once again a step below the previous generation
Roosters- Keary- The most skill full half in the game .
Eels - Moses - a Cadbury chocolate , melts when the heat is on . But a very strong personality , not afraid to tell players like BJ they are fat and lazy.
Knights - Pearce - I watched him the last 2 weeks and honestly his kicking game was worse than brooks . He was bailed out by individual brilliance , by players like Safiti and Best .
Sharks - Townsend - he could play 5 games and you wouldn’t even know he was out there . Yet his team still wins , which I don’t know what that says .
Titans-Taylor/ Fogarty - ask a titans fan thier opinion of these guys. Fogarty is like bully Walters for us .
Warriors - Harris Tavita- I’m yet to see him really do anything . His kicking game sux , in the fact he looks like he can’t kick it 30m and kicks with the wrong foot . Once again bailed out by the elite talent around him.
Dragons - Hunt- seriously he’s on 1.2 mil and spent the better part of the last 2 years wearing the 9 . He’s not an elite half .
Cowboys - Morgan - you think we lack direction ? The cowboys are in a world of hurt with him.
Manly - DCE- what has he won , without turbo or Stewart playing with him ? I bet his win % is like 30 %. He’s a myth .
Dogs - Flanno- still a kid , but early signs are he could go the way of brooks , if they don’t surround him with quality and start winning , I can see his ego just being bruised beyond repair .
Brisbane - Croft - LOL this guy must have nude photos of Brisbanes GM, because how he’s in first grade is unbelievable.
Storm - Hughes - mate the storm are such a smart club , they decide to invest Around a bloke who will tell everyone to eat crap , and do what he says , rather than the guy who ticks all the right half boxes . Just a smart club .
Souths - Reynolds . Mr consistency , never lets you down . He might not have the extreme highs of other players , but I wish the parallel universe happened where he chose us over Souths , which was in play early in his career.
Tigers - Brooks - I just feel sorry for him . He looks like we messed him up in the head . I think I back him so strongly because I feel guilty that we , the tigers club , ruined a kid who has more potential than the lot of those guys above him . If he came up in the roosters jersey , he would be the player that we all thought he should be . Which is a huge indictment on our club .

By my count that’s 11 clubs with ??? All around their 7 . There’s a real lack of talent at the moment.
We just arnt developing them anymore . Or the structures these kids are taught are all wrong and ruin them .

You completely disagree with the statement because you misread the statement.

A 5/8 is a half as well.

I repeat

"Most teams in this comp have a quality half on their books.
We have a bottom 5 halfback and an unproven 5/8 who may provide some hope."

I agree with you on the lack of quality number 7's however.

 

[happy_tiger]

Mental aptitude on game day is the issue - I’m 99% confident of that.

This is what they have to learn as a group. They just need to apply themselves every game.

It's a coaching issue but I'm not convinced any coach can change the situation. The players need to play good smart footy for a while and learn how to perform on the big stage.

I'm less concerned about losses than I am with the team learning to play good footy. If they start executing well they will start winning games.

This squad won't ....

One thing I'll state about Happy is that he always puts a positive spin on things.

Do you want my spade for a moment or two ??