Quote Kosh="Kosh"He said they expect the squad to be top 6 but as the season went on some deficiencies became apparent. Basically the poor performances of the halves reading between the lines. Don't see much controversial there? Oh - and he specifically states that we've underachieved (at around 30 seconds in) and then goes on to call the season 'awful' at around 2mins 50secs.'"
What I have a bit of a problem with is the saying the squad should be top 6, but then saying they realised that it wasn't capable, when it's not all that different to a squad that did indeed finish 6th. I don't see how that claim works alongside blaming the previous coach, it's inconsistent. Either the squad is that good, and the current coach is doing something wrong, or the squad is pants, which would mean the last coach did a very good job with poor resources.
Quote Kosh="Kosh"This is the bit of the interview I struggle with TBH. I don't see any evidence of a general reluctance among Aussie coaches to playing youngsters where required/appropriate and not specifically with Gentle either. Very odd. The comment about loan players could be taken as meaning he was asked to provide them, refused, and youngsters were used reluctantly instead I suppose.'"
It's a lot of nonsense that I personally find a little insulting if he thinks we're daft enough to believe it.
Loan players, if he refused then he's not really backed the coach. Just didn't ring true to me anyway though with Gentle's selection policies. He wasn't frightened of playing the youth at all. He even did it without injuries, look at the Yeaman furore. And as also said, why is signing Colbon & Carvell on 1 year deals not the same sort of thing?
Quote Kosh="Kosh"At no point does he hold this year up as being better than last year. He mentioned the poor performances at the end of last season - including the losing run - as a reason why despite a top 6 finish and a CC final appearance he still felt that things were not right.'"
I never said he said it was better. I just don't understand the inconsistency of finding a 5 game losing run and some thumpings so offensive last year as to warrant sacking the coach, but have so much unshakeable faith in Radford after an even worse season.
Quote Kosh="Kosh"I think they're better in so far as they haven't wasted as much cap on ordinary players. In terms of quality there are still some question marks I agree.'"
I'll not guess at what they earn, I'm just bothered about quality and IMO they're not better as he claimed.
Quote Kosh="Kosh"This simply isn't true. All through the interview he brings up poor game management and a sub-standard kicking game as the main reason we've struggled and specifically states these as the reason we lost so many close games. The only two games where he mentions the refs calls as factors are Wire and Saints.'"
He also hinted at Paea's ban being a factor in the Widnes debacle. He just needs to drop it for a bit. Concentrate on getting our house in order for a bit.
Quote Kosh="Kosh"He also blamed himself for letting Gentle/McRae make such a mess of things.'"
As he should. I just think he's over-attributing problems to them. There are plenty of things this year that are nothing to do with them, but he seems to be wanting to lay everything at the door of their tenure.
