For me the standard had been in decline for around 10 years. Even when we did the treble, it was already sliding. Being good and being competitive aren’t the same thing, the league is becoming more competitive but the standard of play is noth8ng like what it was in the 2000-2013 era.

People have been saying 'the standard this year is poor' for as long as I can remember. It tends to be the fans of teams that are poor or inconsistent that spout it the most. Rosy retrospection is a real thing.

apart from saints the standard has been poor for a good few years now. only going to drop further imo.

What do you attribute it to?

poor youth development.
standard of overseas players dropping mainly due to aussie salary cap rising.
poor coaches.
it's a shame but how many really enjoyable, good quality games do we get a season? not a huge amount.
it used to be nearly every side had decent overseas players. good English talent. you always had poor sides but you also had entertaining games. the days of a webb, lyon etc coming over are long gone

If the true barometer of the strength of domestic competition us the international game you could argue that standards have been in perpetual decline since the mid 90's. Somebody mentioned the Bulls game from 2002 on a thread the other day. I caught it too. Great atmosphere, great game with some super players - but absolutely littered with errors that would have driven this forum into a frenzy. General standards have improved markedly since those days, but crucially the level of talent our clubs can attract from the NRL hasn't. When you were watching the likes of Trent Barrat, Lyon, Vainkola, Webb etc, you knew you were watching players of genuine world class. That's what I miss, but the rosy lens of nostalgia is conveniently blind to some up the absolute rubbish which was also served up.

Who is Rosy heard his name mentioned a few times?

Rosy Lens. Cross her palm with silver and she will tell you all.

1 win in 6 now. Little chance oft play offs. Today’s performance one of the worst I’ve ever seen. Just not good enough unacceptable to be were we are.

Taxi for smith thats enough now not good enough for a club our size his poor signings and repeatedly picking utter c*** like Olpherrts will cost him, he cannot be allowed to be here next season and recruit more dross.

I agree but do you trust hetherington to make the right decision? Time he moved over too

Hetherington is well past his sell by date and needs to step aside with someone who understands the modern game.
We have not moved on in what 8 years yet each year we are rebuilding.
Blumin heck Wakey will get a new ground before we have built a top 3 team again.

We’re on the road to Amarillo……

Smith out now (please). How long is a transition process?

We’re on the Road to Nowhere.
Has Olpherts ever played fullback?

Longer than a year.

Short term thinking is part of the reason we got into a mess squad wise.