John Worsfold

Maybe, … do they have internet over there yet??

That is very biased reading right there.

You would be one of just a handful of people in the country that truly believes we were capable of finishing top four last season. Most people had us outside the eight.

Even in the two seasons that James has been gone we have turned over a big portion of our list so it’s difficult to compare our playing list from then to now.

You could argue though that the players have continued to develop and that’s all you can ask for.

As mentioned on here many times, I would be p!ssed if we went with coach number 5 in a ten year period when its recognized that the best way to win flags is through persistence and hard work.

If he wants to go home that’s a different story but if he doesn’t sign an extension until the end of the year then its going to be a media circus that could become distracting if we are pressing for finals.

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He could just do a quick Skype call before each game, to reinforce the four golden rules:

  1. Don’t tag
  2. If a defender is getting beaten by his direct opponent, don’t move him under any circumstances.
  3. Lose to Brisbane.
  4. Kick it to Orazio.
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Of course they do. The place is peopled by Poms in Union Jack underpants. They want instant contact with the London HQ of their Brutish Empire.

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There’s been lots of speculation about Woosha & his family in this thread, so here’s some more:

Maybe Woosha’s wife has given him the flick…

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Yep I’m biased. I rate my club highly… won’t bother denying it.

However I don’t think you can suggest that because ‘most people’ though we would finish out of the 8… that makes it true.

Our list last season was very good on paper. I didn’t expect us to be a top 4 side last year… I thought we would be in the scrap for 5-12th BUT I thought we should have/could have done better than we did. We lost several games tactically last year and it really hurt us.

Yes completely biased but a list that has talents like Heppell, Hooker, Hurley, Daniher, Walla, Fanta, Merrett, McGrath, Parish, Zaka, Baguely and Kelly on it should never have missed the finals.

FWIW we have been underrated by the media for a long time, with just cause, but surely that doesn’t change my point that we should now be aiming for top 4 and surely waiting another 6 months to actually confirm Woosha is on the right track is better than jumping too early?

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I consider myself pretty tactically minded but even I know that I would not have anywhere enough knowledge to judge whether we were beaten tactically last year.

What I do know is though that changing tactics regularly in whats effectively his first season makes no sense. It’s about training repetition and building an understanding between the playing group so they know what their teammates are going to do at any given time. This pre-season they have been very vocal about the introduction of a more defensive mindset and added midfield tactics to compliment the attacking football we worked on last season.

Teams take years to learn all the plays and to be getting impatient before the commencement of year two makes zero sense to me.

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Our list last year was on paper.
You got that bit right.

The rest is your anti Worsfold bias and “hindsight being a wonderful thing” overpowering a legitimate point.
2014 or 2017 Jobe?
Is Hurley / Hooker sick of football?
Will Stants, Howlett, Hocking stop Parish, Walla and McGrath from getting significant game time?
Will there be “buy in” ( to use a horrible cliche) about a unified approach, not just to game plans, but to improving? By your own argument if we were so good in 2014 why not just repeat it in hope?

Last year was a definite plus on many areas that are relevant to the coaching role.
There is still work to be done.
It’s legitimate to wait a bit and see if it can be taken further by Worsfold, or if we need to change coaches.
But overrating where we were at, and narrowly focussing on game day tactics / one finals loss actually denigrates what the players and coach did achieve.
In hindsight getting thrashed by Sydney May well be a coaching master stroke.
The equivalent of losing a Prelim in 1999.

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That’s a fair enough assessment to make re us not being a genuine wooden spoon to finalist team, however the club was at a low ebb when Woosha took on the job, and on it’s knees come January 2016 when the WADA suspensions kicked in. I know all the backroom staff did a sterling job to right the ship and stop a mass exodus of players, but if we had’ve appointed a hack coach, there is no way those boys who re-committed to us would’ve stayed. He played a major hand in keeping our list together, and through it all, to make the finals last year, however a fleeting appearance that it was, was a pretty decent achievement. Our off-season recruiting was refreshingly aggressive, we have improved our list, it has an age/experience demographic that suggests we should be in contention for top four with a good run with injuries, etc.

The discussion is all white noise until we know for sure what is happening regarding his medium-long term future. The narrative has changed somewhat since December even, when he talked about renewing his contract and it pretty much being a formality and that he was in for the long haul. So either his family moving back to the West was always happening and he is comfortable with that, or it has happened in the last 6-8 weeks and there’s been a shift in his personal circumstances.

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Thats ok. … neither does anyone else here.

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It’s far more complex than most would admit to, that’s for certain.

There it is.
The ultimate in theory-saving.

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We really do need a sarcastica font don’t we?

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Maybe it was because she asked him to make changes in their relationship and he sat on his hands and didn’t make any changes until 5 minutes before she left and it was too late

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I was just kidding, too!
rolls eyes

ayyyyyy lmao

If he’s torn he needs to tell the club asap that he’s going that way the club can put in place a succession plan.

Will getting Caracalla satisfy the “dudes who think Woosh has nfi about tactics despite the fact that he captained two premierships and also coached another premiership and have you noticed he doesn’t tag much and he’s also getting old and he has a boring haircut and what’s the farking fark is plan B faaaark”?

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Sorry

(Excuse Typography joke

  • font is called Fragile Bombers Attack - legit!)
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Uh-huh.
Righto.