Who improved and who disappointed

[Tommy Smith]

He is just behind SBW on the disappointment list for mine. Came back from the offseason fat and never found form. We really needed him to stand up (esp against Souffs) and he gave us cheap shot penalties instead.

Nothing he did warranted a penalty.

The Burgess brothers are able to do far worse with impunity, eg. the high shot on SBW with no penalty.

That's not JWHs fault. He has been put on report 3 times in the finals series despite doing nothing wrong. He was cleared every time.

It's the NRLs greatest witch hunt.

[Johnny Tobin]

Being binned against Newcastle took the cake.

Leave aside the penalties.

He went from best prop in the game to outside top ten.

[Johnny Tobin]

How would anyone know the "real story" about what Cordner got up that night with Pearce?

Unless you were there yourself you are only going by a story from someone who thinks they are in the know.

That's true.

But if we are going to bring in a rule that only eyewitnesses can comment about anything this place will change drastically.

[Tommy Smith]

Being binned against Newcastle took the cake.

Leave aside the penalties.

He went from best prop in the game to outside top ten.

I agree.

Whilst SBWs effort and famous 1%ers never dropped off this year; JWHs did dramatically at times.

That's why he was by far my biggest disappointment this season.

Ftr. I don't disagree that SBW was disappointing compared to last season. His lack of execution and match winning brilliance in 2014, like the entire teams, is truly a great mystery I would love to solve.

I just find it hard to be mad at him because he was unbelievable in 2013. The best season by a forward I've ever seen. He was like a Super hero - doing things never seen and never to be seen again by a forward.

Where did that go in 2014? I don't know but it wasn't lack of effort.

But more so where did the Bondi Brick Wall go? I mean 30 and 32 points conceded in consecutive finals games! You're ****ing kidding with that shit.

That's the true story of our failure this year. Far more so than the form of any one player. The masses of points we gave up in clumps.

**** I'm sad again now

[Guest]

But more so where did the Bondi Brick Wall go?

The game-managers spent the past 12 months taking to it with sledge hammers.
(amongst other lesser things)

[Guest]

The game-managers spent the past 12 months taking to it with sledge hammers.
(amongst other lesser things)

Exactly!

[Tommy Smith]

They did.

But that still doesn't excuse 30 points in 20 minutes vs the Cowboys and 30 in 45 minutes against Souffs.

A lot of that is on us. Souffs first three tries were like watching the Raiders defend.

But it wasn't the Raiders, it was us. In a Prelim no less! Inexcusable.

[Johnny Tobin]

Sonny won us game after game last season. He didn't do it once this season.

That's pretty drastic.

[Guest]

Sonny won us game after game last season. He didn't do it once this season.

That's pretty drastic.

Sonny was very heavily marked this year. Although SBW didn't look like a match-winner, his presence created opportunities elsewhere. Take a close look at this Pearce try from last week and note the gap Pearce runs is due to SBW attracting multiple defenders.

[The Rooster Oracle]

Being binned against Newcastle took the cake.

Leave aside the penalties.

He went from best prop in the game to outside top ten.

Can you imagine if that very same thing happened to a womanly player, Toovey's head would have exploded and he would have called for the Mt Everest of investigations, and rightly so as it was a f***ing disgraceful decision!!

It was the perfect example of the corruptness of the NRL refs, game set match, I rest my case to all the DC's who beg to differ!!

[TheLoneRooster]

I'm not going to go into a long diatribe as it has all been said by others and in particular from posts 94 to 100 above. In a nutshell, this season is opportunity lost as far as I'm concerned and it strikes me that the Roosters very rarely hit their best form and couldn't turn it on in the finals as they hadn't done it throughout the season.

Back on topic. Biggest disappointment was JWH. Testament to JWH's fall was his price in the daily telucrap's SuperCoach competition. I had him ALL year, he started at ~$297,000, got as low as ~$200,000 and ended not much higher than that. Watched him closely throughout the season and found he turned in bad game after bad game with the one against the knoughts a lowlight. Most improved, Guerra.

[Johnny Tobin]

Sonny was very heavily marked this year. Although SBW didn't look like a match-winner, his presence created opportunities elsewhere. Take a close look at this Pearce try from last week and note the gap Pearce runs is due to SBW attracting multiple defenders.

Do people think he wasn't heavily marked last year? It really was chalk and cheese.

He was doing that last year too - plus magical offloads and match winning breaks.

I am convinced that with SBW 2013 we win it again. That's how good he was last season.

[Spanner in the works]

Maybe JWH is targeted, but you become targeted for a reason. Since penalties and maintaining possession is so critical to a team's success, JWH is now a liability, particularly when he is out of form.

[OMR]

JWH was disappointing but he was heavily spotted by refs . That sin bin was a prime example. That ref went looking for him again when it was some one else who infringed and the d'head of a ref kept asking " is it jarred? Was it jarred?" I feel for him because he plays with so much passion if only he can control it a bit he will come good for us sooner than later.
Cordner disappointed me because I thought after his breakout year in 2013 , he will stamp himself as THE 2nd rower of the comp, but IMO he was overtaken by Guerra at the club. But I believe it's the 2nd year syndrome and Boyd will serve us well for the next decade and will eventually captain the roosters .
RTS disappointed only because we had extreme high expectations of him and he wasn't given enough opportunities to show what he can do. The constant shuffle with Mini did more harm than good, but it was an invesemt in the future which will pay dividends over the next 3-8 years.
The rest of the team performed up and down like our season, but special mention to 3 players:
SKD for having a very solid year.
Aubs for being Mr reliable
FPN for being the laziest fkn forward in the com

[Guest]

Daily Telegraph Super Coach...... Lol