For me it's quite simply player motivation. It's got to be hard for such a successful set of players to motivate themselves for the bread and butter of another 27 regular season games, knowing the highs they have at the END of so many seasons.

We were excellent at the back end of last season, including the CC final, and we're showing signs that we may do a similar thing this season, now that the big games are coming thick and fast. We've already won the WCC this season. This for me is where McDermott deserves credit. However good this set of players is and however much they've won, they simply can't go into a big game poorly coached and with a poor game plan and still win. So when the players are up for it, the coaching team, for me, certainly has the ability.

Incorrect. A combination of the two would be more accurate I think

McDermott is in charge of subsitutions, so that's credit there.






Ok didn't use the words 'The coach deserves credit' because i'd use that line for the Bailey point early so didn't want repetition, but he put Hardaker there, he could've of gone for Smith or BJB instead, so again credit.

''he's getting closer'', credit again that's he's moving in the right direction.

JC -All i 'd like to have seen is out of the the dour performances is us been competitive getting beat is never a problem for me and never will be.
As for selections there has to be a line where players don't become "undroppable" it worked fine under TS and also in terms of rotation Bluey was happy to give the younger lads gametime some of which that aren't anywhere near as good Singleton ,D.Smith etc etc.
You yourself point out how our greats aren't getting any younger which imo when we have situations like the Exiles ,Easter the Wakey game etc is the perfect time to rotate and rest 1or 2.
I'l also say when we have such a fantastic player like Sinny geting mullered defensively for weeks on end not just once or twice then surely there's a valid point in there for structural changes no??
We will disagree on many things i've no problem with it at all but just saying we are scapegoating ,knee-jerking ,disloyal showing low tollerence or should just accept p!sh poor efforts because some of us aren't SL coaches isn't the answer either.
I know how GOOD these lads have been and can be but i still think it's reasonable to expect us to be competitive in most games.
After a WCC or a big CC game again it's obvious there'll be a downturn in terms of intensity and we won't always be as sharp again that's a chance to freshen things up rest 1 or 2 utilise your full squad and bench and still compete isn't a massive ask.
The competiting for trophies are and always will be the ambition of the club and fans winning them is a huge bonus which i think we've been more than spoiled with and it's great but that doesn't mean we couldn't/shouldn't be offering opinions when things also go wrong and if that includes questioning a coach or certain players so be it they rightfully get the praise when they do so well and i just want us to be more consistent in that we at the very least compete in 99% of our games whether thats CC or SL.
At the start of the season we have a 25man squad which is pushed up to 30 with the addition of some promising juniors i see no reason whatsoever not to utilise that squad and also reward good performances whilst also showing that certain standards won't be acceptable we are a huge club and the U20's are doing great so why not reward 1 or 2 from time to time?

Can't we just leave it at this to sum it all up?