General Season 2024 summary and thoughts
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Bluecat
Contributor
I have started a post on this thread a couple of times but I'm struggling to get it down in a way that makes any sense.
We just didn't get there for some reason. Or for a whole lot of reasons.
Our players performances were less than average for most of the season. And there are some very talented professional players at the Warriors so it wasn't a lack of skill or even effort or determination. But I think attitude had a lot to do with it. And that's a man management issue. For the same group to go from top four to the bottom four within 12 months is a problem with the top 6 inches.
For me management let us down this year.
I'm sure they expected another finals appearance and home semis. Very early in the season we were aware that there were issues and they didn't seem to be able to correct them. Possibly a coaching thing with an inexperienced coach but there is a professional group at the club (I hope) to help him. And an experienced network of other coaches and possible mentors outside the club. But maybe too many old boys at the club and not enough professional management?
I think team selections and the use of the bench caused us more grief than it should have. We had injured or out of form or out of position players getting selected week after week after week. Even I could see that it wasn't working and that changes needed to be made and I don't have a great footy brain.
And then when selection changes were forced on the selectors through injuries and we won a couple of games the winning combinations got changed back to allow the return of the players that were causing the issues. Just WTF?
As for the bench. Egan getting bashed for 70 minutes and Lussick getting 10 at the end. Players not even used. Our forwards getting run into the ground and not rotated. Just a debacle
We didn't manage the players that were struggling well. I'm sure the club tried to get everything to gel for them but I guess when you're in a losing team it's hard to create confidence and attitude. But you can see the players aren't engaged. And they are not improving so something is being missed. Can you imagine the Storm or Penrith players being allowed to go off the boil and stay there? It wouldn't happen.
Losing AFB was a cock up. And I'm sure the club tried to placate his missus. But whatever they tried didn't work. See above. Top clubs don't very often lose top players due to "compassionate grounds"
Input from our attack coach seems to have gone missing for the season. Game after game we got into great position and came away empty handed. There seemed to be no cohesion. And the same on defence. Yes we had injuries but we also have professional players in a professional team who train to be ready to step in when they're needed. Like CNK playing 5/8. Not where he wanted to be and not the best but he did the job and didn't let anyone down.
I think too much has been made of Johnson and RTS this year too. Both have shown all year that they're not up to it and they should have been managed out as soon as it became obvious. Along with a couple of others like Ford and Monty but I think these two in particular became an issue. RTS also stopped up and coming players getting more experience for next year.
And on next year it would have been good to see the younger guys getting a bit more managed game time this year. Having experienced players on the bench that get a couple of minutes or even no minutes on the field while a player with a future doesn't get a look in is just a waste. I hope Webby has learned some lessons this year that he can put in place next season. But I'm not confident because nothing seems to have changed over the last month or so. Hopefully he's keeping his powder dry for next year
We just didn't get there for some reason. Or for a whole lot of reasons.
Our players performances were less than average for most of the season. And there are some very talented professional players at the Warriors so it wasn't a lack of skill or even effort or determination. But I think attitude had a lot to do with it. And that's a man management issue. For the same group to go from top four to the bottom four within 12 months is a problem with the top 6 inches.
For me management let us down this year.
I'm sure they expected another finals appearance and home semis. Very early in the season we were aware that there were issues and they didn't seem to be able to correct them. Possibly a coaching thing with an inexperienced coach but there is a professional group at the club (I hope) to help him. And an experienced network of other coaches and possible mentors outside the club. But maybe too many old boys at the club and not enough professional management?
I think team selections and the use of the bench caused us more grief than it should have. We had injured or out of form or out of position players getting selected week after week after week. Even I could see that it wasn't working and that changes needed to be made and I don't have a great footy brain.
And then when selection changes were forced on the selectors through injuries and we won a couple of games the winning combinations got changed back to allow the return of the players that were causing the issues. Just WTF?
As for the bench. Egan getting bashed for 70 minutes and Lussick getting 10 at the end. Players not even used. Our forwards getting run into the ground and not rotated. Just a debacle
We didn't manage the players that were struggling well. I'm sure the club tried to get everything to gel for them but I guess when you're in a losing team it's hard to create confidence and attitude. But you can see the players aren't engaged. And they are not improving so something is being missed. Can you imagine the Storm or Penrith players being allowed to go off the boil and stay there? It wouldn't happen.
Losing AFB was a cock up. And I'm sure the club tried to placate his missus. But whatever they tried didn't work. See above. Top clubs don't very often lose top players due to "compassionate grounds"
Input from our attack coach seems to have gone missing for the season. Game after game we got into great position and came away empty handed. There seemed to be no cohesion. And the same on defence. Yes we had injuries but we also have professional players in a professional team who train to be ready to step in when they're needed. Like CNK playing 5/8. Not where he wanted to be and not the best but he did the job and didn't let anyone down.
I think too much has been made of Johnson and RTS this year too. Both have shown all year that they're not up to it and they should have been managed out as soon as it became obvious. Along with a couple of others like Ford and Monty but I think these two in particular became an issue. RTS also stopped up and coming players getting more experience for next year.
And on next year it would have been good to see the younger guys getting a bit more managed game time this year. Having experienced players on the bench that get a couple of minutes or even no minutes on the field while a player with a future doesn't get a look in is just a waste. I hope Webby has learned some lessons this year that he can put in place next season. But I'm not confident because nothing seems to have changed over the last month or so. Hopefully he's keeping his powder dry for next year
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I was watching an EPL game, wolverhampton vs Chelsea. The wolves look to be a team that are going to be battling this season.
But I couldn't help but admire the fans at the game! Just diehard football fans! I liken it to the NRL in the same sense that nrl fans are prerty diehard as well!
We are always going to be a battling club! No one in this league has it worse then us!
• The Travel Factor: How much we travel needs to be looked into. Oh how good it would be to be a sydney club that travels to wollongong, Newcastle, canberra, Cronulla, and inner sydney and west sydney.
• Kiwi Team in a Australian comp: We will forever be battling referees with unconscious bias, forever! We need to find a way to combat that. I would seriously hire Richie McCaw to talk to our leaders on the subtle art of approaching refs, He was the best I've ever seen! (And cam smith).
I hope the crowds love for the warriors remains next year, it's the one positive the club has had. But as a diehard fan, I'll be there every fucken week no matter what! Even though I get fucked right off!
But I couldn't help but admire the fans at the game! Just diehard football fans! I liken it to the NRL in the same sense that nrl fans are prerty diehard as well!
We are always going to be a battling club! No one in this league has it worse then us!
• The Travel Factor: How much we travel needs to be looked into. Oh how good it would be to be a sydney club that travels to wollongong, Newcastle, canberra, Cronulla, and inner sydney and west sydney.
• Kiwi Team in a Australian comp: We will forever be battling referees with unconscious bias, forever! We need to find a way to combat that. I would seriously hire Richie McCaw to talk to our leaders on the subtle art of approaching refs, He was the best I've ever seen! (And cam smith).
I hope the crowds love for the warriors remains next year, it's the one positive the club has had. But as a diehard fan, I'll be there every fucken week no matter what! Even though I get fucked right off!
Thing is EPL dosen’t have a salary cap so there will always be battling teams either way.
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JustLikeStartingOver
Contributor
Once Tohu and SJ fell off as hard as they did, and SJ was showing signs from week 1, that was the end of top 4 hopes.
Once the attitude went south (titans game, only those in the camp could answer why that was) that was the end of top 8 hopes.
Refs and goal kicking/field goal kicking and general luck wrapped things up earlier than expected, but the team did not have that dog in them to make the late charge.
I know the ladder says we are the 4th worst team in the comp but we are also 11th in points scored and 9th in points conceded, the dragons who are odds on to make the 8 are 14th in attack and 12th in defence – us and the broncos should be seething if a team that mud makes it.
Very poor year on the road, likely 2 wins out of 12 after this weekend. Last year was 8 and 4, speaks to the team needed the home advantage to be competitive.
Once the attitude went south (titans game, only those in the camp could answer why that was) that was the end of top 8 hopes.
Refs and goal kicking/field goal kicking and general luck wrapped things up earlier than expected, but the team did not have that dog in them to make the late charge.
I know the ladder says we are the 4th worst team in the comp but we are also 11th in points scored and 9th in points conceded, the dragons who are odds on to make the 8 are 14th in attack and 12th in defence – us and the broncos should be seething if a team that mud makes it.
Very poor year on the road, likely 2 wins out of 12 after this weekend. Last year was 8 and 4, speaks to the team needed the home advantage to be competitive.
Lets Eat (YeahNah)
Contributor
Are we skilled enough with everything from game plan A and B, discipline, attitude, fitness, footy IQ, creating pressure, patience, kicking, attacking structure and defence.
Do we have the right qualified support staff in the club.
Fine tuning these areas make us a professional outfit with professional standards.
Get these components fixed, results will follow.
Are we a top 4 club or a bottom 4 club
Do we have the right qualified support staff in the club.
Fine tuning these areas make us a professional outfit with professional standards.
Get these components fixed, results will follow.
Are we a top 4 club or a bottom 4 club
Whats weird is we had this "next man up" philosophy until it came to these two. Then we didnt have a ball playing 13 or a game managing 7, nor did we try to bring the next man up. It was constant reshuffles to try and accomodate.
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Didn't Walker more or less immediately adopt that ball playing 13 role?
Shocking how we somehow ended up with too many halves yet no plan B for a game manager though.
Dont know how many times I have to say it; Walker is not a 13. He can fill in there but hes not a 13. We lost all his impact off the bench by moving him into the 13. He was kiiling it off the bench last year, impact on both sides of the ball.
And this is kind of my point, we took a guy who had a great 2023 season in one position , move him around because we actually don't have the "next man up". We should have had a 13 in cup ready to go (I thought that was Ale but clearly I was wrong)
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Of course he looks better against a tiring defensive line. Thats where he excels as hes smaller and lighter.
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Maybe but I'd rather see him reprise Walkers role off the bench and play a genuine backrower at 13. the Kikauas, Fifitas and Katoas are the protoype backrowers now.
The main way to sum up this season is disappointing.
They started with a lot of hype and confidence after last year. The hype doesn't traditionally sit well with the Warriors. If we want to win a premiership that needs to be sorted as the most likely way to win a premiership is to make the 8 consistently. That would then build to hype and expectations. The confidence the side had from last year you could see eroding.
Last year probably exceeded expectations. But making the 8 was still a reasonable expectation.
A lot went wrong compared to last year. Defensively they couldn't hold the opposition out for multiple sets. Our attack a lot of the ball playing was done too far out from the defensive line compared to last year. The support runners were all on point last year, this year as the season went on the structures seemed to get worse.
Injuries didn't help. Last year was bad as well but seemed like someone would become available to replace the injured player. This year it seemed to keep piling on. Some games were affected by some bad luck injuries like losing two wingers. Hopefully our luck changes next year.
A lot of work to do over the off-season.
They started with a lot of hype and confidence after last year. The hype doesn't traditionally sit well with the Warriors. If we want to win a premiership that needs to be sorted as the most likely way to win a premiership is to make the 8 consistently. That would then build to hype and expectations. The confidence the side had from last year you could see eroding.
Last year probably exceeded expectations. But making the 8 was still a reasonable expectation.
A lot went wrong compared to last year. Defensively they couldn't hold the opposition out for multiple sets. Our attack a lot of the ball playing was done too far out from the defensive line compared to last year. The support runners were all on point last year, this year as the season went on the structures seemed to get worse.
Injuries didn't help. Last year was bad as well but seemed like someone would become available to replace the injured player. This year it seemed to keep piling on. Some games were affected by some bad luck injuries like losing two wingers. Hopefully our luck changes next year.
A lot of work to do over the off-season.
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I've been keeping a sheet following the halves pairings and results. Looking at it this way seems to shows some trends.
Started the season quite well, two close losses to top four contenders, followed by 3 wins and a draw. I think this was an adequate start to the season. When Metcalfe was injured the SJ/TMM combination started off with a really good looking win over a poor Souths team, followed by a draw with Manly (that from memory I thought we should have won).
I don't know what brought this on, but the SJ/TMM lost the next 6 they played together, starting with four in a row here.
Enter new halves combos - that pull off our best wins of the season during this period.
SJ returns. We lose to the Storm which is to be expected but then the most demoralising defeat of the season comes via a 60 point trashing by the Titans.
Back to TMM/CHT. Another solid period here, 2 wins and 2 narrow losses (that easily could have/should have been wins).
SJ returns and for the first time starts a game partnering CHT, losing to the last place Eels. SJ announces his retirement and misses the next round. TMM/CHT are back and narrowly lose to the Dolphins in extra time. SJ is then back for his "swan song" with two more losses (making him winless in his last 10 games).
In hindsight, I wonder if the coaching staff would have stuck with the pairing that managed to get results. Only one pairing has had multiple wins.
CHT has copped a lot of crap here, but results-wise he was our best half, and if he had just kicked a couple more goals...
Meh season. Pretty disappointing for me. I look forward to watching the game all week. Will be back next year. #upthewahs
Started the season quite well, two close losses to top four contenders, followed by 3 wins and a draw. I think this was an adequate start to the season. When Metcalfe was injured the SJ/TMM combination started off with a really good looking win over a poor Souths team, followed by a draw with Manly (that from memory I thought we should have won).
I don't know what brought this on, but the SJ/TMM lost the next 6 they played together, starting with four in a row here.
Enter new halves combos - that pull off our best wins of the season during this period.
SJ returns. We lose to the Storm which is to be expected but then the most demoralising defeat of the season comes via a 60 point trashing by the Titans.
Back to TMM/CHT. Another solid period here, 2 wins and 2 narrow losses (that easily could have/should have been wins).
SJ returns and for the first time starts a game partnering CHT, losing to the last place Eels. SJ announces his retirement and misses the next round. TMM/CHT are back and narrowly lose to the Dolphins in extra time. SJ is then back for his "swan song" with two more losses (making him winless in his last 10 games).
In hindsight, I wonder if the coaching staff would have stuck with the pairing that managed to get results. Only one pairing has had multiple wins.
CHT has copped a lot of crap here, but results-wise he was our best half, and if he had just kicked a couple more goals...
Meh season. Pretty disappointing for me. I look forward to watching the game all week. Will be back next year. #upthewahs
Been thinking about his a bit more and as a team, ie an NRL team, yep, this year has been crap for various reasons.
But as a club, this could still end up being our most successful season ever: We've won the Harold Matthews competition (U17s) and we could win the Knock On Effect NSW Cup and if we win that, we could beat whoever wins the Hostplus Cup (QLD) and win the NRL State Championship.
Okay, that's not what we pay our ticket season monies for and not what we sit down on weekends to reaaly care about, but winning and getting that winning attitude has to start somewhere...
Also, maybe we need to be smarter about giving our fringe NRL players more time in the KOE Cup (to meet the NSWRL rule about a player only being eligible to play in the KOE Finals if they've played a certain amount of time in/number of games in the regular season) so we give ourselves a better chance of success there? In other words, maybe making a hard call on LM or CHT early in the season that he is only going to be an injury pick for the NRL, so he's always going to be in the NSW otherwise, no chop and changing...
But as a club, this could still end up being our most successful season ever: We've won the Harold Matthews competition (U17s) and we could win the Knock On Effect NSW Cup and if we win that, we could beat whoever wins the Hostplus Cup (QLD) and win the NRL State Championship.
Okay, that's not what we pay our ticket season monies for and not what we sit down on weekends to reaaly care about, but winning and getting that winning attitude has to start somewhere...
Also, maybe we need to be smarter about giving our fringe NRL players more time in the KOE Cup (to meet the NSWRL rule about a player only being eligible to play in the KOE Finals if they've played a certain amount of time in/number of games in the regular season) so we give ourselves a better chance of success there? In other words, maybe making a hard call on LM or CHT early in the season that he is only going to be an injury pick for the NRL, so he's always going to be in the NSW otherwise, no chop and changing...
