Many would agree since Hartigan joined WT, our recruitment and salary cap management has seen a major improvement compared to previous seasons yet he we are again looking at another missed opportunity of playing finals football. The consensus is we lack the roster of other teams.....or do we?
We are all aware of the talent we've lost over the years whilst we seem to pay overs for plodders who we can't wait to get rid of. We are at both opposite ends of the spectrum.... a retirement club for the NRL and a development club for players who want to attract attention from other teams, lured away with the promise of more money, the chance to play finals footy or both.
Despite our past incompetence, we currently have a more rounded roster with a focus on developing players who excelled in their juniors. Though the elephant in the room for me is our inability to develop our players into the best possible version of themselves.
Looking at the 2021 roster the general observation is many wouldn't make the starting 17 of any NRL team. We've established: Talau, Hoffman, Cini, and AJ are not first grade quality. Garner, Nofo, Lucy, Stefano, Twal, and Blore either lack consistency or have obvious areas of their game requiring improvement. We've also established Packer, Tamou, Roberts, and Joey haven't replicated the form they once did for their previous clubs whilst Doueihi and Mybe have been shuffled around like a pair of deck chairs on the Titanic unable to nail down the one position. Finally, Luke Brooks has the most divided opinion regarding his ability however no one can argue he hasn't lived up to the expectations of being our #1 Playmaker.
That is a sad reflection of where we are as a club however did we get our recruitment wrong? Is Ikin right about our roster being poor?
Personally I feel it is less to do with the players and more to do with how the club are developing them.... how can so many players individually be underachieving? The club has failed our players. Their development is poor. Madge often talks about not having a winning culture at the club and thought Tamou would make a positive and changing impact to our pack however what else is the coaching team doing to make them better footballers? The club has responded to our poor start to the season by bringing Sheens and Kimmorley into the fold. This is hopefully the catalyst the players need however I hate to concede we are a long way off reaping the benefits.
Therefore whilst we struggle to recruit the top echelon of the NRL, even if we were able to sign the best available players I tend to think it would only give us minimum improvement any way. TPJ for instance can't inspire the Broncos from last, how will he improve our team?
Once we start seeing players becoming the best version of themselves only then we should look at recruiting the elite. However for now we have a lot of development work we need to address.
We are all aware of the talent we've lost over the years whilst we seem to pay overs for plodders who we can't wait to get rid of. We are at both opposite ends of the spectrum.... a retirement club for the NRL and a development club for players who want to attract attention from other teams, lured away with the promise of more money, the chance to play finals footy or both.
Despite our past incompetence, we currently have a more rounded roster with a focus on developing players who excelled in their juniors. Though the elephant in the room for me is our inability to develop our players into the best possible version of themselves.
Looking at the 2021 roster the general observation is many wouldn't make the starting 17 of any NRL team. We've established: Talau, Hoffman, Cini, and AJ are not first grade quality. Garner, Nofo, Lucy, Stefano, Twal, and Blore either lack consistency or have obvious areas of their game requiring improvement. We've also established Packer, Tamou, Roberts, and Joey haven't replicated the form they once did for their previous clubs whilst Doueihi and Mybe have been shuffled around like a pair of deck chairs on the Titanic unable to nail down the one position. Finally, Luke Brooks has the most divided opinion regarding his ability however no one can argue he hasn't lived up to the expectations of being our #1 Playmaker.
That is a sad reflection of where we are as a club however did we get our recruitment wrong? Is Ikin right about our roster being poor?
Personally I feel it is less to do with the players and more to do with how the club are developing them.... how can so many players individually be underachieving? The club has failed our players. Their development is poor. Madge often talks about not having a winning culture at the club and thought Tamou would make a positive and changing impact to our pack however what else is the coaching team doing to make them better footballers? The club has responded to our poor start to the season by bringing Sheens and Kimmorley into the fold. This is hopefully the catalyst the players need however I hate to concede we are a long way off reaping the benefits.
Therefore whilst we struggle to recruit the top echelon of the NRL, even if we were able to sign the best available players I tend to think it would only give us minimum improvement any way. TPJ for instance can't inspire the Broncos from last, how will he improve our team?
Once we start seeing players becoming the best version of themselves only then we should look at recruiting the elite. However for now we have a lot of development work we need to address.
