We are certainly playing poorly atm. I was going to say that the loss of Monas as a key player was a critical factor, but last year he had knee problems and was nowhere near his best. We have lost Briers this year, but we are going to lose him permanently in the near future anyway. Hodgson is slower, and is making more mistakes. Despite the fact that he has played a lot of games, he could be approaching the end as well. And finally there is Morley, he is missed as he is still one of our best forwards, and provides leadership. But he is also close to the exit.
So we have 'lost' or are close to losing 4 key players in the team. These three / four provide the creative plays that lead to tries, and they provide leadership (as a team, we look like a 'headless chicken' at times). Add to this the loss of confidence due to the manner in which we are playing, (not simply the defeats) and I think you can account for a lot of the problems.
We are not quite at the half way point yet, and the return of Briers and Morley will certainly provide a significant boost to the second half of the year, but at the moment I am starting to question the wisdom of retaining some of our ageing stars quite this long. Hopefully, the likes of Currie, 2 x Evans and Dwyer will come through this year and become regular 1st team players next year. But that will still need a gap to be filled. We need some top class replacements.
