Re: Club Rebuild : Sat Mar 16, 2019 12:08 am  

7 games is plenty of time. Too many players are showing that 2018 was not a fluke.

Re: Club Rebuild : Sat Mar 16, 2019 1:07 am  

BrisbaneRhino wrote:

7 games is plenty of time. Too many players are showing that 2018 was not a fluke.

Really 2017 was the fluke. We came through in a poor comp, cas aside. So have been garbage and on a serious slide since 2015 when our 2 greats hung up their boots.

Re: Time to Go. : Sat Mar 16, 2019 1:13 am  

BrisbaneRhino wrote:

Most of those left years ago and it was right to do so. The problem is the collapse of youth development and utterly dreadful succession planning in terms of replacement signings from 2015. All down to complacency and vastly overestimating the quality of a lot of players who were given ridiculous long term deals.

Agreed. JP carried that pack and it has shown big time since he went. Others were able to 'do a job' with him in the team but have been shown up when asked to shoulder more of the work load. We are a soft team, lack any leadership and most of all lack desire these days to fight for the shirt.London are a poor team by SL standards but fight for every inch and that's what this team has to do now because they are not even half as good as what some of them seem to think they are.

Re: Club Rebuild : Sat Mar 16, 2019 3:21 am  

LeedsLurch wrote:

What i have come on to say though is that i'm sick and tired of reading all the bashing of JJB & Ablett before they have even pulled a shirt on. Their experience is not to be underestimated, give them a chance to still prove their worth before rubbishing them. If they don't perform go ahead and criticise but they haven't caught a ball in anger yet! If they don't add value to the squand then i will admit it myself and say that it's a season too far but at least wait to see

Why wait? They've been great servants over the years but last year showed they are no longer up to it.
Experience is all well & good when you still have something to give both are way past their best to be in the 1st choice 17 or should be.
Its not bashing its fact we've lost better players over the years & their time has been & gone.

Re: Club Rebuild : Sat Mar 16, 2019 3:48 am  

Agree with Biff. 2016 was not recognised as what it was by the club, and we literally recruited nobody for 2017 as a result of buying into the excuseathon. 2017 was probably the nadir of SL, and we beat cas in a dreadful game. So onto 2018 and no real quality recruited. And now this year.

It says a lot that over this past awful period only Walker has come through the juniors of any quality. Whilst Furner needs to show he can do the job the rot set in well before he came, and most of the squad - including Lolohea - were not his picks.

Re: Time to Go. : Sat Mar 16, 2019 5:24 am  

newgroundb4wakey wrote:

Meanwhile at Cas we have Leeds rejects Gale, McShane, Foster, and the latest Chris Clarkson, who are all going great guns.
So who decides who to keep and who to let go from the youth section.

And they'll forever be known as just that - Leeds rejects. As they'll never win anything!

Re: Club Rebuild : Sat Mar 16, 2019 5:42 am  

To be vaguely fair to the club though they have paid out for some new bodies: Merrin is proven, Hurrell has been relatively good/entertaining but Lolohea has shown limited quality and only in patches. But how many times have we brought fringe NRL players across and it's worked out? There's always an element of chance, but at least the club recruited and many of us were pleased with that.

The real issue is that home talent hasn't been addressed, and we've relied on players of insufficient quality or advancing years (players already at the club or recruited) to supplement the imports and bridge the gap between the present and the arrival of a large batch of the U19's. This is what we have failed to address and there's no quick fix.

Re: Club Rebuild : Sat Mar 16, 2019 5:54 am  

I don't remember fringe halfbacks ever amounting to much. Especially if they've never actually played there.

Re: Time to Go. : Sat Mar 16, 2019 5:59 am  

I said at the start of the season we were looking at 10th position and last week i replaced that prediction with 11th with an option of relegation if we lost to London and some bright spark came on and said we could finish in front of Wakey and Wigan . .Make no mistake we are now looking down the Barrel . These are desperate times ! Nothing has been learned from the last few years of Macs reign , we are still signing absolute dross and retaining over the hill forwards as we have for the last 4 years . Myler , La La , Donaldson ,Luke Briscoe ,prop from wire who is so good i can never remember his name in the first camp , Ablett , J.J.B , Cuthbertson , Ferris in the second camp . Then we have the not good enough Suttcliffe and Handley and whilst Merrin and Hurrel are two of our best players they are not worth Marquee money .
So what does that leave us with
.
Goulding never going to be good enough , ridiculous contract on the back of showing enthusiasim
Walker yep more than happy with him
Tom Briscoe ok
Watkins yep once he gets fit and confidence back will do for me
Singleton Just seems to have gone backwards
Parcell Club seems to want get rid of him
Ward Love him to bits but never plays
Polish Kid Will be a fantastic player as he gets older
Dwyer ok for me as an interchange , but coaching staff do not seem to want him

And a load of promising kids who will probably not improve playing with that lot above

If i have missed anyone that probably tells you all you need to know about them .

So our team

Walker
Tom Briscoe
Watkins
Hurrel
??????
??????
??????
Oledski
Parcell
??????
??????
Merrin
??????

I Think that shows where we are

Re: Time to Go. : Sat Mar 16, 2019 6:08 am  

Hopefully Crosby can be a plus when he gets back, and Peteru is going OK. Smith has potential as well and Ward is good when fit. But other than that its hard to argue that our forwards are dire.

In the backs Handley just looks nothing like a winger - not really that powerful and too slow. But the real problem is halfback.