SJ I have already mentioned.
They said something should be released within 24 hours. My impression is he is a goner, and considering he is in so much promotional advertising it seems a relatively recent decision. Something must have happened to piss the management because the impression I got is they are disappointed in him.
I got the impression that
SK, George and Brian Smith are all on the same page, which is interesting and positive. They also admitted the balance of the squad is not what they would like it to be.
I thought some questioners were right on the button e.g.
Kata's passing.
SK didn't dodge this. I think he said he is working on it and to expect some improvement this season. There was some applause for this question and
SK looked a little surprised at that. He obviously doesn't log on here. He summed up by saying defences expect Kata not to pass, so when he does pass this season tries will be scored. That was bloody good news but I don't know the meeting believed it.
Line and goalkicking.
SK didn't dodge this either and mentioned
Shaun Johnson's 75% conversion rate this season. Considering that our points deficit compared to the Storm was only 3 points per game (did I get that right guys??). My guess is that was at least one factor in
Shaun Johnson not being worth the money.
Why did they let Mason Lino go?
SK said they were not in a position to offer him a contract at the time Newcastle offered him two years, end of story. He added that by the time they were able to offer him a contract he had already decided to go.
Somebody asked about
Jazz Tevaga. Clearly
SK is a fan of
Jazz and mentioned his Dally M. He mentioned that
Jazz had a big heart.
SK is also clearly a fan of Kata and Ken Maumolo.
SK greeted our Mount Wellington by calling him Bunty
!! Take a bow Mount Wellington
Also,
SK mentioned that the fitness levels of the squad are way ahead of this time last season
, also that improvement on skills targets is also ahead. So he expects further improvement on 2018. He dodged the bullet on whether he thinks we are GF material but he thinks we can make the top four and wants to be there.
For the record
SK s not stupid and is not a dumb speaker. Sure he wouldn't win a top award at Toastmasters, which doesn't concern me because we have already had the likes of Matt Elliott and John Monie, say no more. Somebody asked about his family being in Brisbane still, so although he didn't raise it clearly he is sacrificing a lot to be at this club. That leaves me in no doubt he wants to succeed and sure has a good team around him to help him do so.
There was no mention of God Doyle, and I get the impression he will be a distant memory before long. This outfit seem an entirely different proposition to those days.
Somebody questioned
SK about the poor performance of the under 20s. He said that is because the best of the Kiwi kids are paying in Sydney because they believed they would get a better chance at playing NRL over there. He didn't say too much about the former regime but did say they were not getting enough youngsters to stay here. They clearly intend to address that. Smith and O'Sullivan have been doing a lot of travelling seeking out talent.
Avoided questions included a replacement half. Just IMO but I thought that was well and truly dodged. Lips were tight but the body language indicated to me something might happen here. Watch this space.
All in all a very positive meeting.
