ThePrinter wrote:
But his mates Ablett and JJB haven’t regressed or been responsible for diminishing standards and they’re staying on. Along with the coaching setup it’s looking very much “jobs for the boys”
Of course players had a poor season last year but to just say that’s it off you go is silly and the challenge should be to get them back to 2017 form. Cuthbertson struggles with us being really short on props and his style of game isn’t suited to being the big yardage heavy hitting prop but what he does offer you when playing well and has other props doing the aforementioned traits is an X factor that you can’t find anywhere else in the league that can crucial. In 2015 & 2017 he had 125 & 121 offloads, to put that into context the next best single season total was 73. When on form he offers you something no one else in the league can match in what can be a crucial area in attack.
Again with Parcell look at the lack of forwards throughout the year, hookers need a pack to work with.
I don’t buy the diminishing standards stuff from Sinfield either. The team won the GF last year after being massively written off and coming back for all the issues of 2016 and got off to a good start this year and put up a credible effort in the WCC and even when the losing streak came in it was usually very close scores against the better teams with plenty of injuries to cope with so definitely showed something was still fine with squad and club even if results weren’t quite going our way. Sinfield came in and said as the weeks went by that the standards at the club were improving yet the efforts on the pitch told a very different story especially considering the level of opposition most of his games were against. Think it was nothing more than a cheap shot to the former coach and getting himself over including saying he won’t be using injuries as an excuse, another clear dig at McDermott. Funnily and hypocritically enough it wasn’t long until he was complaining about too much of his salary cap sat in the stands.
What kind of standards is it to have players hanging around for several weeks not knowing if they’re going to be moved on whilst the club run around chasing fantasy signings? Aiming for big NRL signings might be exciting to fans but put yourself in the players position, not knowing where you could be playing next year whilst some NRL player takes his sweet time debating whether he wants to come over or wait for a better offer Down Under. Compare that to McDermott who backed his players even when they were at their lowest in 2016 and the Cas hammering early 2017 and he said they could win the GF.
I think the view on JJB is that he wont play that much but he is a link for a year to the glory years. I agree about Ablett can't see the value especially as we have alternatives.
Cuthbertson has been in decline since 2015 - 2016 he was dire, 2017 not a lot better and 2018 he was again dire. This is a player that will not improve he is 32 and well past his best. His offloads may be as numerous but nowhere near as effective. He offers little and as such should be gone.
Parcell had a very good year 1 but he was found out in year 2 and could have been difficult off the field. There has to be a reason why Dwyer a rank average player was preferred to him. There has to be reason why he had played so few games in the NRL and why there seems no takers for in there
Sinfield highlighted the cultural behaviour issues - these subtle changes can have significant impacts on the field - could well have been a factor in why the team kept losing tight games.
These players put on notice will still be paid their contract as long as they stay at Leeds. The club is in effect giving them the length of their contract to find another club not telling them at the end of their contract it will not be renewed.
Maybe I didn't hear it but I never heard him do a Wane about injuries - he talked about committment desire and will to win as reasons for losses.
Your support for McDermott is noted - he may have won trophies with quality players he inherited - but the play on the field was turgid but one man's pleasure is another's poison
