Thing is with recruitment is that it needs to be done far in advance to get decent results. Yes there’s always the opportunity to score an unsettled player mid season but the best deals are done in advance. We for some reason seem to really struggle with this and end up scrabbling around for bargain bin project players who more often than not never make the grade.
It isn’t Sinfield or Furners squad no, I agree and we’re obviously trying to replicate the emergence of the next “golden generation” from within the academy which takes time. We’ve lost the ethos and mentality that made us so successful and we are now desperately trying to get it back, again this takes time.
I would rather the club did their homework on players and make sure they are willing to buy in to the ethos and history of the club much like Kylie and Delaney did, this again takes time to do.
Unfortunately, time doesn’t wait and despite two corking marquee signings we are still struggling to erase the horrors of 2016 & 2018 mentaly. It’s hard going from everyone patting you on the back to everyone criticising you and some of the players are really struggling to live up to the standards needed and required.
The transition has been bungled, there’s no other word for it. We’ve taken our eye off all fronts and lost our edge. We have players in our team who just can’t live up to the pressure of wearing the shirt, we’ve got players in the team who have lost the appetite and fire for success probably due to the amount of it we’ve had for 15 years. It’s not an easy fix, but it is being looked at I’m sure, KS & DF can’t afford not to.
I’ll admit after watching that sublime 30 mins against saints I, in a refreshed state boasted “we’re back!” Which obviously in hindsight, I was wrong, though we have shown in spurts we are getting our ruthless streak back. We were so good against Salford and Saints that I think we maybe got carried away with just how good we are, when there’s obviously heaps of work still to be done.