Extremely dissapointed to hear of
Paasi's suspension.
Not just because we need his grunt against a monster pack but because it makes way for Blairs inclusion which is not a like for like change
The team list
SK names tonight will go along way to determining how well we do this season.
Despite all of our berating of him early this season he has been really on point in the last 2-3 weeks. The victory vs Penrith was a coaches victory and I will tell you why.
In the first ten minutes of the game rather than focusing on completions and getting into the arm wrestle we spun it wide even from our 40m line. We went for early points. And it paid off we scored the first try. The camera then did a close up on the Penrith faces and they had their heads bowed and they simply gave up hope from that point onwards. That was our tactic.
SK knew how mentally fragile they were and we made a priority of playing expansively early doors to send a message to them. A coach's tactic and a coach's victory.
Today he faces a new challenge. The right thing to do is to ask Ligi Sao to play big minutes in Passi's absence and probably bring Satae or someone else in off the bench.
If he brings in
Blair then that sends a sign that it will be
Blair that picks up 40 minutes of game time instead.
Last season
SK stuck with his team all year because we were winning. Looking back on it we could have won the minor premiership if he had've broken the rule of always pick a winning team and had dropped
Blair and Kata back then. Nonetheless loyalty is not a bad fault. I would rather he erred on the side of loyalty than being erratic. Like the selectors of the English cricket team in the 1990s. At one point they went through 31 starting players during a 5 match ashes series.
Maybe
SK needed to grow in to the head coach role. It is an extremely complex and challenging job. In MBA school they taught us that leaders are not born they are trained and grow through experience. It took me 3 years to become an average team leader when I had direct reports and 5 years to master it. Perhaps
SK has needed time on the job as well and is now starting to flourish. If we can have the start we had and be 2-6 and somehow sneak into the top 8 at the end of the season or even heck, come close to it, then I think that
SK is not only a keeper, but we would have to concede would be in the top 30% of the coaches in the NRL. Yes it is too early to give him that credit but it will be due at the end of this year if he can turn this ocean liner around and get it pointed in the right direction.
All eyes on the team list tonight. It is very very important.
but I do see your point. Not only because SK is the only option for coach with this bunch, and everybody knows it.
