LIVE GAME Round 21 v Raiders

[Droppy05]

Releasing Luai, putting Douehi to lock, Andrews debut. They were absolutely the right calls for the future of this team.

But to me that doesn’t scream ego at all. It screams someone who will make tough calls.

Is he the best tactical coach? No.
Is the team performing well? No
Does he have a top 8 roster? Hell No.

It’s the playing roster that’s the issue. Always has been.

Pick holes in Benji’s tactics or selections sure, that’s fair game, but calling for Benji’s head when we all know that this squad is not top 8 calibre?

Show me a poor lineup that Bennett succeeded with. Or Bellamy or Gibson.
We had Madge, we had Cleary. They did FA.

To be fair, if Bennett were here I don’t think we’d be this bad, but neither would we play finals.

I don’t think another coach would make such big calls and put himself on the line for the team as much as Benji.

You can't be serious. He's been coach 2 and half years. Much improved roster this year and we have regressed. Will miss spoon only because saints were terrible for 14 gweeks.

 

[krissy]

We’re the first team to have 50+ put on us 3 times this season.

There is still time to break that record before the season ends.

 

[Tiger Woods]

Was there talk of Twal to Canberra?

He seemed to have a friendly chat with Sticky after the game, wonder if there is anything to the rumor.

Sticky was congratulating twally for slapping salmon

 

[Tucker]

Releasing Luai, putting Douehi to lock, Andrews debut. They were absolutely the right calls for the future of this team.

But to me that doesn’t scream ego at all. It screams someone who will make tough calls.

Is he the best tactical coach? No.
Is the team performing well? No
Does he have a top 8 roster? Hell No.

It’s the playing roster that’s the issue. Always has been.

Pick holes in Benji’s tactics or selections sure, that’s fair game, but calling for Benji’s head when we all know that this squad is not top 8 calibre?

Show me a poor lineup that Bennett succeeded with. Or Bellamy or Gibson.
We had Madge, we had Cleary. They did FA.

To be fair, if Bennett were here I don’t think we’d be this bad, but neither would we play finals.

I don’t think another coach would make such big calls and put himself on the line for the team as much as Benji.

BENJI BUILT THIS ROSTER.

 

[bptiger 0]

This will not be are , big scores against us , benji has not bloody idea how to fix the defence, I have been a coach for 25 years , I could fix that in 3-4 weeks , what the hell is benji doing , just giving us dribble

 

[innsaneink]

Good news.
4 of our last 5 games are on free to air so everyone gets to see us

 

[GNR4LIFE]

Probably a little thing, and I know you can’t take a three second clip out of context, but what the hell. At half time they showed inside the sheds. Stuart sat in the middle of his players, all of them with his attention. Cut to our sheds, and Benji is standing up close, looking down talking to a couple players . Hodgo is on the other side talking to a couple of others. Just looked really disjointed compared to the one seemingly unified vision of the Raiders.

 

[king_sirro]

There's no specific advantage or intention to go against Tigers, it's not as if NRL HQ are plotting against us. Rather it's just the by-product of a bully's game, where the top dogs get the better calls and the fortunate interpretations.

I didnt say it was against the Tigers. You made that assumption. Its not about being against teams, its about being for teams. Canberra's are a chance of congestion that bottom 8 in the final rounds so they got the calls. I didnt mention a conspiracy against the Tigers

 

[GNR4LIFE]

I didnt say it was against the Tigers. You made that assumption. Its not about being against teams, its about being for teams. Canberra's are a chance of congestion that bottom 8 in the final rounds so they got the calls. I didnt mention a conspiracy against the Tigers

It’s a conspiracy theory nonetheless to make the run home more exciting. It’s not a conspiracy, it’s just how the game has always been officated. Bottom teams don’t get calls. You notice it more, cos we’re always at the bottom of the ladder.

 

[king_sirro]

It’s a conspiracy theory nonetheless to make the run home more exciting. It’s not a conspiracy, it’s just how the game has always been officated. Bottom teams don’t get calls. You notice it more, cos we’re always at the bottom of the ladder.

Bottom teams dont get the calls equals conspiracy

 

[bigsiro]

You can't be serious. He's been coach 2 and half years. Much improved roster this year and we have regressed. Will miss spoon only because saints were terrible for 14 gweeks.

Have we actually regressed? I don’t think the results support that.

2022: 4 wins.
2023: 4 wins.
2024: 6 wins. Benji’s first year.
2025: 9 wins.
2026: 7 wins with five games to play.

If we finish with fewer than nine wins, I’ll concede we’ve gone backwards.

I think our start to the season distorted expectations. By Round 8 it felt like we’d all forgotten where this club actually is. We were never a genuine playoff side. Reverting closer to our baseline was always a likelihood.

And saying we’ve got a much-improved roster? I’m not convinced, and even if we have, many of those improvements haven’t been on the field for large parts of the season.

That doesn’t mean Benji is above criticism. The predictable one-out attack, poor fifth-tackle options, defensive frailties and the disappearance of our second-phase play are all legitimate criticisms - amongst others. I also agree he should be reviewing his coaching staff. Every good coach should.

Where I disagree is the @lathami ego argument.

Every successful coach has some ego. You need confidence to coach at this level. The question is whether that ego serves the team or protects the coach.

To me, Benji has repeatedly shown he’s prepared to make big, unpopular calls that put himself on the line. That’s not someone protecting his ego. It’s someone prepared to wear the criticism if he believes it’s in the club’s long-term interests.

If next year he refuses to strengthen his coaching staff despite the obvious shortcomings, then I’ll happily question that. But I don’t think we’ve seen evidence of it yet.

Supporting Benji doesn’t mean giving him a free pass. It means giving him the best chance to succeed while holding him accountable. That responsibility also falls on the Board and CEO to surround him with stronger football people.