I've no doubt that we are all disappointed with how this season is panning out. The issues are numerous, so rather than spit the dummy and declare everything is ****ed, I think it would be better if we instead offered our constructive thoughts on what the priority areas for improvement are. Our most active threads are signings & recruitment and match threads but we lack a general discussion thread, so hopefully this one can fill that void. Below are my immediate thoughts with more to come later.
1. The Clark Conundrum
Erin Clark is not our long-term 9. However, the guy has heart, a huge motor, and appears to be very much a team player and good for culture/morale. He's our budget Cotter and I would like to see the coaching staff identify him as such and move him to being a big minute, mobile, ball-playing lock. Obviously, that means Tino moves to prop, which is what many of us have been calling for anyway.
I don't know where this obsession with playing Tino at 13 comes from, but he plays like a prop and the modern game is not suited to the three prop strategy like the pre-6 again era. With Tino and Clark both playing big minutes in the middle, it would help with our unbalanced roster of middles (Jolliffe, Lisone, Liu and Mo are all signed until the end of 2024) and allow shorter stints for our bench rotation.
2. A Hooker Drought on the Gold Coast... Surely Not
Following from (1), if Clark is moved to lock, obviously we need a new 9. Tanah Boyd ain't it, unfortunately. Booth could be it, but we won't know until he gets a run in first grade (I don't blame the coaching staff for this as he is still coming back from injury). I'd like to see us prioritise a top quality 9 for recruitment as it would address several of our key issue areas (ruck control/speed, distribution/yardage).
Reece Robson is my #1 target as he is from Murwillumbah and the Cows could potentially consider moving Cotter back to his natural 9 role, but with him going so well as a mobile prop/tackle bot maybe not. Who else is there?
- Adrian Trevilyan is a Queenslander and looks a good prospect at the Raiders but is now stuck behind Starling and Woolford. He's also largely unproven.
- Cam McInnes is playing a Cotter-like role at the Sharks but his best position is hooker. Would he move from Sydney? Seems unlikely.
- Jayden Berrell is another option at the Sharks. He's not young (26) and has apparently been a stand-out in reserve grade. There's no chance he's getting a run ahead of Blayke Brailey, and I suspect that McInnes would probably play hooker in the event of an injury to Brailey. The only issue with Berrell is that he is managed by Mat Rogers, who I believe is not on good terms with the club.
- Matt Parcell is out as he recently re-signed with Hull KR until the end of 2024.
- Could Jayden Brailey be a left field option? The Knights are apparently chasing Turpin and may view Brailey, despite his ability and leadership qualities, to be too much of an injury risk. He would be a gamble but could pay off, assuming the Knights would entertain letting him go before his contract expires at the end of 2025.
3. Mental Fragility
We can score points, but we are mentally fragile as shown by us blowing huge leads against the Raiders and Broncos. This is unfortunately a continuation of last season. It is true that we are a young team, but so were the Panthers in 2020 when they made the grand final. It's not a valid excuse and we need to develop grit in defense. Usually, that comes from senior players (particularly middles) leading the way and I think Liu was brought in to do that. While he controls the ruck well, unfortunately he does not appear to be a strong enough personality to play that leadership role for the team. Proctor is another defensive specialist who is supposed to play that role, but he's well past his expiry date and I've never fully forgiven him for the disrespect he showed his new team with the cocaine saga. So, what do we do about it?
Better coaching is the obvious answer. Someone posted here recently that Holbrook is seen as a weak coach who struggles to give his players a spray (apparently a current player mentioned it on Triple M?). "Nice guy" coaches generally don't work out, see Garth Brennan and Trent Barrett, but at the moment it's just hearsay. Overall, I think Holbrook has done a lot of good for our club to date, so my inclination would be to replace the assistant coaches first. Does anyone have any info on how Dymock is around the dressing room? He always looks half asleep in the coaches' box but that doesn't necessarily mean he's asleep on the training paddock. However, for an apparent defensive specialist, he sure does seem to be struggling to get us to defend. Replacing Dymock would therefore be my first change in the coaching department.
Do we need a sports psychologist to assist the coaching department? I don't know if we actually already have one, so if we do, then do we need a better one, or even a whole department of them? In general, I see psychologists as lefty hocus pocus BS peddlers who try to push feminine methods onto men, and I personally prefer the stiff upper lip approach of yesteryear, but I can't deny that sports psychologists appear to have done wonders in the NBA and NFL (Tom Brady has apparently had the same psychologist/life coach since his college days). Is it a placebo effect? Is it correlation rather than causation? I don't know, but I think sports psychology is worth considering at this point.
On the field, Tino is the obvious pack leader and he leads by example, but he can't do it all. He's also not yet experienced enough to keep us calm and steel us in defense when the going gets tough. Our young spine obviously lets him down in that regard too, but with Foran coming next year I think that problem is already being addressed. As much as it pains me to say it, I'd be looking to let Fifita go at the end of his contract (I assume he already has one foot in Redcliffe given his recent dalliances with Wayne) and bring in a hard-nosed hitman in Liam Martin. I would honestly be willing to pay 700-800k for Martin, I rate him that highly. He's only 25 so won't help on the experience front but he would give us that defensive steel that Fifita the Human Highlight Reel doesn't.
Finally, I think addressing the Clark/Hooker problem in (1) and (2) would help us to regain the ruck and stop those enormous momentum swings that contribute to (3).
Anyway, that's enough of my rambling for now. Keen to hear others' thoughts on how to fix what is obviously not working this year.