We surely can’t be blaming the ref for that loss. I get the theory that they were perhaps offside at the other end so it was a tough call, but we were the ones who gave them the chance to hit a field goal right in front of the posts with one minute remaining before we swapped sides. We play dumb stupid football and the key offenders in the team have never been punished for it. It is not surprising that we lose so many games at the death.
Hard to say who to blame. Clarke should never have been on the field in extra time. The Dolphins ran at him three times in the first set knowing he can’t win the tackle. That’s the coaches fault. There was little urgency in that final set before we lost the ball, even though it was our last set before the break and all we needed to do was kick deep and defend a few tackles. That’s the players fault.
We are fit enough this season and we have the talent to score points. Our defence is improving slowly too. What we need is the coaches to be brave and make hard decisions on players that are underperforming. We have a better squad than last year, yet somehow we are going to finish in a lower position than last year.
On Haas, I think we’ve been too trigger happy bringing our juniors through under Holbrooks watch. Iszac, Haas and even Kini would have benefited with a full season of Cup before coming into the NRL. I don’t think Haas was particularly bad today but he needs to develop so much more.