I agree with your thoughts on Wane. I'm grateful for the success he brought, but I'm also happy to see the back of him for a number of reasons too.

That's also not to say that I'm happy with the current coaching setup either. In a league that has a tiny salary cap, the gains / advantage Vs other teams need to be made off the field. There's no cap for coaching staff and, for me, we're missing a trick. I'd love to see someone like Flanagan incharge and have a few assistants around him too - much like under Madge when we had a proper number 2 in Wane and then Deacon or Harris. Let's stack the coaching dept with some real talent and then see what happens on the pitch.

In regards to Cronk - do we really need someone at that level? Don't get me wrong he's the best 7 out there and he'd easily be the best player in the league, but he's probably 'too good'. In a league where guys like Coote and Austin are ripping it up, but neither have played Origin, do we need to fight for a Cronk level player?

Have you had your eyes shut for the past 20 years? We have had a very clear case study of what happens when you continually pay over the odds for aging antipodeans, versus what happens when you invest in youth. Clue - one method won us 1 major trophy in 12 years, the other won us 7 major trophies in 8 years.

Aging antipodeans like Pat Richards, George Carmont, Brett Finch, Jeff Lima, Ryan Hoffman, Matt Bowen, Mark Riddell?

Which of those was 36 years old, and taking up anything like the cap space Cronk would command?

Richards and Carmont - from back before the NRL dwarfed ours
Finch, Lima and Hoffman - Came with Maguire at bargain prices following the Melbourne cap issues
Bowen - Was probably on a decent wage, fair enough, nothing like what Cronk would command though. We're talking about a guy who played 1 game for Aus v a guy who has been an automatic selection for them in the halves for a decade.
Riddell - Seriously?

That's the balancing act isn't it.

All the great SL era teams have had a good balance. I always look to the Leeds side from 10 years or so back as a perfect example. That was a great side that had a real mix of quality club produced lads, quality British players like Senior and Peacock that they brought in and then good/realistic overseas talent like Leuluai or Webb.

Maybe the NRL cap has changed that. The quality British lads go abroad more often than not these days.

Cronk won a grand final without touching a ball, kicking a ball or making a tackle, he could play Superleague until he was 83.

If you think Cooper Cronk is a realistic acquisition you are living on another planet. He left Melbourne to go to Sydney to be with his wife. If he wishes to carry on playing (which I highly doubt) there will be plenty of NRL clubs who could spend more than us.

The NRL cap now means our marquee money is a run of the mill contract for one of their youngsters. The days of superstar signings are long gone, unless they have a drug ban or the like (ala Barba)

And I still doubt we could afford his salary.

He moved to Sydney because he was away from his TV personality girlfriend too much. What chance do we have of him moving over here.

Yeah true, Adam Reynolds wouldn’t be out of our reach though.

Didn’t mention Hamlin and Mullen. I agree that player welfare, education and support is one area where the club get it right. And re: Edwards, don’t be daft - fault on both sides there.

No, the slopiness I alluded to is more to do with how the club markets itself, how it sells itself to new and existing customers, how it engages it’s fanbase, how it handles and communicates information and statements, the public perception and trustworthiness of the club, how it generates cash and commercial agreements, how it grows, how it presents it’s product on match days, the value for money it delivers. I could go on.

I really don’t know how you “can’t see” how sloppy they have got in these areas - comparative to 5-10 years ago. They are miles off at the moment.

I'm often accused or perceived as a happy clapper.
Earlier I alluded to a post is made a month or so ago and this is exactly what I meant.

Our direction off the field commercially has gone.
I've not spoke to Simon collinson for a couple of years (about a year after he left). I never asked him "why" and assumed it was his own decision and new challenges.
When I found out that Paul Macloud had moved on it shocked me, again he will have his own reasons and I'm all for new challenges etc and people looking after their own interests and their own lives and careers.

What I ask myself is why aren't we creating those challenges internally for these people?
It's not like were at the pinnacle of sports marketing and the only way is down, the opportunities are almost never ending.
So why did these people feel the need to move on?

Who's replaced them?
What are their qualifications and aspirations?

That's what I'm more worried about.
Not throwing ridiculous money at 30 somethings for a quick fix because we've lost a few games after losing 6/7/8 players to injuries.

If we don't commercially get the business right in that area then the money to fund the youth system will be the next thing to go, and guess what, at that point we will have to start spending money on short term fixes because we won't have an option.
That's why the youth system way is the right way.
That's why the commercial and marketing positions and getting it right are so important and my big concern.

Having been a season ticket for many years I've had to stop buying one in 2018 due to my business commitments. (I still pay on the gate when I can).

For the last two years I've fully expected the club to at least give me a call why I haven't renewed, ask me why.... "Is there anything they can do to win my business back"?

Why not? OK in my circumstances they wouldn't be able to change my mind unfortunately but there must be loads of supporters who are hovering in whether to purchase or not who are not getting called.

We're talking one person on a phone for a few hours a day throughout January.

That's true. I occasionally buy groups of tickets for games, never hear from them trying to get me to buy more even though they have my details.

I have had a think about this since my last post and the term sloppiness is quite broad, so I’ve tried to expand a little.

Lack of innovation & vision
Fans taken for granted
Half ar$ed
No eye for detail
No long term plan
No aspiration to define the meaning of “the best”
Secretive
Stale
Unfocused
Disconnected

I hate having to think about our club in this way. We have no divine right to win trophies but we have every right to demand that our club is striving to be the best it can be. I just feel like we’ve hit a point where all the chickens are coming home to roost and dithering is only going to see things spiral downwards.

Not even having the SL trophy in the cabinet can paper over these cracks.

Adam Reynold is definitely out of our reach both financially and career-wise. He’s on the verge of origin. He isn’t going to take up a starting spot in a top 4 team, the possibility of an origin place and take an enormous pay cut.