Quote: Carlos Alberto "Too many players have been here too long now. Wellens should really be used only as a squad member now, not the starting FB and captain. Meli should have been binned, Wilkin too. He is just a penalty machine. Hohaia is a waste of money that could be used urgently elsewhere.
This isn't a knee-jerk reaction on the base of today's performance. Anyone with 2 eyes could see this happening last season, and nothing has changed, apart from the aging players getting older.
What is worrying was the absolute lack of energy, urgency, cohesion and teamwork. Considering we've just come out of a full pre-season with a new coach, and no players called up for the England squad, that is not good enough by any stretch of the imagination. I notice the crowd was already down on last season. That has to be a worrying stat for the club.
Also - and yes, this is flogging a dead horse - but the stadium looks a right mess without cladding. Like some rubbish Subbuteo ground.
I expect them to receive an @rse kicking of the highest order this week.'"
Some of us have been saying all this for past three years, the grand final appearances paper over the cracks.
The team is stale, it needs to be freshed up most years to keep the team competitive. The recruitment has been shocking for a long time.
When you lose players of the calibre of long, scully, Cunningham, gidley and Jammer, you need to bring in quality to replace them. We will never get players that good but we needed the best possible.
Example - we've replaced Jammer with a 32 year old backrow to play prop. We replaced Eastmond with a 29 year old fullback to play at 6. Shocking recruitment!!!!!
Bad I agree, our brand new stadium looks rubbish!