I think we find out a little bit about where we are heading under Taylor the next 2 weeks.
He has been here 36 games now and 18 months. It is about the sort of time that it becomes fair to judge his results and progress overall come in to sharp focus. 8-16 win/loss ratio last year was pretty poor season however his first season with a lot of upheaval. However 11th defensively was a minor acheivement.
This season I think most fair judges set the bar between 10-12 wins and be fighting for a Top 8 spot in the last 1-2 weeks of the season. After 2 weeks every thing looked fantastic, then after 8 weeks we looked like a club in meltdown again. We have managed to scramble 3 wins in the last month which has kep the season afloat. Now with Parra being deducted their points it is virtually a Top 9 in 2016.
Assuming the boys pull through Origin we will have a full strength side to tackle Round 12 against a under performing Easts.The have had the wood on us for years even when they were poor and we were good. Then its another mid table struggle against the Bunnies who will want to respond to the hiding we gave them a month ago. These for me are 2 must win matches if we want that 8th spot which is really up for grabs.
Its the first time we would be able to put all our supposed gun players alongside new signing Elijah Taylor who has added a new dimension to this team. We have won a couple in a row and the last game we should have gained a great deal of belief from. However we need to go 7-7, heading into our 2 byes. If were 5-9 its pretty much curtains and battling to match last years record of 8 wins.
I think we will learn a lot about how the players are responding to Taylor in the next 2 weeks. Like I said, we are at full strength and are playing 2 former glory teams playing some pretty average football. Our time to make a charge has to be now. There cant be excuses.
Both Easts and Souths are going to be desperate here. We need to match them with our intensity and there are 2 wins and a whole lot of momentum up for grabs.
He has been here 36 games now and 18 months. It is about the sort of time that it becomes fair to judge his results and progress overall come in to sharp focus. 8-16 win/loss ratio last year was pretty poor season however his first season with a lot of upheaval. However 11th defensively was a minor acheivement.
This season I think most fair judges set the bar between 10-12 wins and be fighting for a Top 8 spot in the last 1-2 weeks of the season. After 2 weeks every thing looked fantastic, then after 8 weeks we looked like a club in meltdown again. We have managed to scramble 3 wins in the last month which has kep the season afloat. Now with Parra being deducted their points it is virtually a Top 9 in 2016.
Assuming the boys pull through Origin we will have a full strength side to tackle Round 12 against a under performing Easts.The have had the wood on us for years even when they were poor and we were good. Then its another mid table struggle against the Bunnies who will want to respond to the hiding we gave them a month ago. These for me are 2 must win matches if we want that 8th spot which is really up for grabs.
Its the first time we would be able to put all our supposed gun players alongside new signing Elijah Taylor who has added a new dimension to this team. We have won a couple in a row and the last game we should have gained a great deal of belief from. However we need to go 7-7, heading into our 2 byes. If were 5-9 its pretty much curtains and battling to match last years record of 8 wins.
I think we will learn a lot about how the players are responding to Taylor in the next 2 weeks. Like I said, we are at full strength and are playing 2 former glory teams playing some pretty average football. Our time to make a charge has to be now. There cant be excuses.
Both Easts and Souths are going to be desperate here. We need to match them with our intensity and there are 2 wins and a whole lot of momentum up for grabs.