People have been saying 'the standard this year is poor' for as long as I can remember. It tends to be the fans of teams that are poor or inconsistent that spout it the most. Rosy retrospection is a real thing.

apart from saints the standard has been poor for a good few years now. only going to drop further imo.

What do you attribute it to?

poor youth development.
standard of overseas players dropping mainly due to aussie salary cap rising.
poor coaches.
it's a shame but how many really enjoyable, good quality games do we get a season? not a huge amount.
it used to be nearly every side had decent overseas players. good English talent. you always had poor sides but you also had entertaining games. the days of a webb, lyon etc coming over are long gone

If the true barometer of the strength of domestic competition us the international game you could argue that standards have been in perpetual decline since the mid 90's. Somebody mentioned the Bulls game from 2002 on a thread the other day. I caught it too. Great atmosphere, great game with some super players - but absolutely littered with errors that would have driven this forum into a frenzy. General standards have improved markedly since those days, but crucially the level of talent our clubs can attract from the NRL hasn't. When you were watching the likes of Trent Barrat, Lyon, Vainkola, Webb etc, you knew you were watching players of genuine world class. That's what I miss, but the rosy lens of nostalgia is conveniently blind to some up the absolute rubbish which was also served up.

Who is Rosy heard his name mentioned a few times?

Rosy Lens. Cross her palm with silver and she will tell you all.

1 win in 6 now. Little chance oft play offs. Today’s performance one of the worst I’ve ever seen. Just not good enough unacceptable to be were we are.

Taxi for smith thats enough now not good enough for a club our size his poor signings and repeatedly picking utter c*** like Olpherrts will cost him, he cannot be allowed to be here next season and recruit more dross.

I agree but do you trust hetherington to make the right decision? Time he moved over too

Hetherington is well past his sell by date and needs to step aside with someone who understands the modern game.
We have not moved on in what 8 years yet each year we are rebuilding.
Blumin heck Wakey will get a new ground before we have built a top 3 team again.

We’re on the road to Amarillo……

Smith out now (please). How long is a transition process?

We’re on the Road to Nowhere.
Has Olpherts ever played fullback?

Longer than a year.

Short term thinking is part of the reason we got into a mess squad wise.

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No, he’s consistent in making poor choices in terms of playing and off field personnel. He’s starting to stink the place out.

Being brutal GH hasn't made many good choices for almost a decade, with respect to coaches or major signings.

We got into a mess when JJB went squealing to Hetherington about Furner.

This.
Bar a few spurts in half’s we’ve been very ordinary all season.

Was a very odd dynamic, agreed.

Adrian Lam started this season with practically a new squad most of which are players no one else wanted whilst Smith had a full pre season with his team that he took to the grand final by this comparison I can't for the life in me understand what the problem is at Leeds, out of the cup and if we finish lower than Leigh will we stick with Rohan or get the check book out and get Lam in?

To make the playoffs, over the rest of the season we will need to win 2 games more than St Helens, 3 games more than HKR, Salford or Leigh. We are in 8th place now, with Hull right behind us, who is confident that we will make it?

not a hope

Consistency in spine positions is what is hurting us.

Leigh are a good example of that, sky mentioned they’ve had something like 10 ever presents so far this season including Lam, Ipape and O’Brien I believe.

Hulls uptick in form has coincided with them getting Clifford, Hoy and Trueman back on the pitch consistently.

We’ve had to chop and change. Wigan have had to chop and change and they’ve also been inconsistent. Hudds almost have too many options and haven’t found a settled combination.

It’s not the only reason, and it doesn’t completely get Smith off the hook, but there’s a definite correlation.

And yet Wigan were awful in their last year with Lam.

It’s almost as just looking at the coach as the main reason a team does well is too simplistic isn’t it!

Lots of things have to fall into place for a team to be successful.

And yet Wigan were awful in their last year with Lam.

It’s almost as just looking at the coach as the main reason a team does well is too simplistic isn’t it!

Lots of things have to fall into place for a team to be successful.