I do see positives in his game, and it’s disappointing that we haven’t seen them this year. My strong suspicion is that he’s missing Cleary’s controlling influence and finding the responsibility a bit overwhelming right now...but saying that usually invites a pile-on, so I tend to keep that opinion to myself.
I haven’t given up on him, though I’ll be honest, I’ve never really liked his style. To me he’s always been a bit of a showpony and a serial agitating smartarse....not my kind of player. That said, he’s played in a lot of big games now: a World Cup final series, 5 NRL grand finals, and five finals campaigns. Not many halves in the comp can boast that résumé. Surely he’s learned something from those experiences and it’s time we started seeing it.
I don’t really buy into all the talk about “creating cultures.” The family-club stuff is nice enough, but I’d rather win footy games with a pack of ruthless competitors than a group who just talk about how close they are. What frustrates me most is that he refused to delete his contract clauses...real leadership would have been doing that when the Galvin situation blew up. We need a hard-nosed leader, and so far he hasn’t supplied that.
Hopefully he can have some honest conversations over the break and come back in 2026 refreshed, focused, and ready to rip in. There’s still a good player there, we just need to see the mature version step up.