So what went wrong?

[roostersrule2]

Mentoring, coaching, call it what you want, Fittler is shit at it.

Chook.

He got us to 4th and almost into the finals from last.

I have no idea how though.

[Guest]

He got us to 4th and almost into the finals from last.

I have no idea how though.

We partied our way?.

[roostersrule2]

We partied our way?.

How many hotel room doors did we knock on?

[milanja]

Agreed and I think that's what's awesome about it. The comp is genuinely even and when you win, you're under the pump because you start losing players.

AFL? Yaaaawn... Hawks again! If you lost this year then you get first grabs at the up and coming juniors.

English and European soccer? Same teams every year. No regulations... you just sign whoever you want and the richest club wins. Also there's no knockout finals series, so teams don't go at you with tactics designed to break your team specifically (e.g. the Storm on us).

I'm happy that the comp let us go from 2009 to 2013. Has any team gone from last to first in such a short period of time? Whoever the hell is at the bottom of the AFL and English soccer can be guaranteed that they're gonna do about as well next year. GWS and Goldcoast might as well not be in the comp. EPL? Whoever's down the bottom will be relegated and won't be able to pay 1st grade players (as a result) so good luck. Man United and Chelsea will sign anybody who looks semi-good to ensure there's no hope of there being any serious competition.

Pretty sure penrith finished wooden spooners 1 or 2 yrs before we choked in another big game and gave them the trophy. Probably quickest turnaround i remember.

[Guest]

How many hotel room doors did we knock on?

How many hall_ways did we crap in?

[roostersrule2]

How many hall_ways did we crap in?

Not enough.

Bring back Nate!

[2026]

There's a little bit of Germania in all of us however untapped.

[JAF]

Our defence from rounds 1-26 was excellent, but in the finals it was really, really poor. I believe this is the main reason why we could not go further than we did ...

[Rooster_6]

Our defence from rounds 1-26 was excellent, but in the finals it was really, really poor. I believe this is the main reason why we could not go further than we did ...

I think we lost faith in our defence at some point along the way and it happened well before the finals series. Possibly before this season.

Whilst SKD's silly error in the opening minute can be put down to nothing more than a brain fart, RTS's reluctance to knock the ball dead and concede a repeat set speaks of a much deeper issue. The same thing happened in 2014 in the Panthers Semi when Mini refused to just take the ball out of play.

I think we've got the most intelligent coaching staff and their ability to come up with defensive game plans is second to none in the comp but when the best teams in the comp put some pressure on us the confidence we had in 2013 to back ourselves in defence for long periods of time just wasn't there anymore.

I just wonder if we set the bar so high in 2013 that our inability to reach those same heights since is resulting in a loss of confidence despite the fact that our defensive efforts are as good as if not better than any other team in the competition.

[Kelby]

I think once you win a premiership, you lose the hunger. You take things for granted, don't put in the hard yards and sit back waiting for someone else to come up with the big play. We sat back waiting for SBW to win it for us in 2014 and in 2015 it was RTS. We should have let a few go and brought in fresh recruits who would give their all to win a comp.

[Double]

This is what Robbo said after Rd 26;

"It doesn't matter who plays. People will go out for Origin or injuries and they've just got to know that we trust them and they have a role to do ... there were a lot of questions about how would we go without Jared and without Mitch. But I sort of brushed them off. Not because I was trying to do the coach thing, but that's how much we believed in the players who were coming in."

I have no reason to doubt the belief Robbo and the coaching staff had in our squad, but as we all know it didn't happen.

I think we should face the facts... when the going got tough we played dumb. We play dumb because we cannot adapt in games. We got towelled up by the Storm where we played one out over and over until the ref finally blew the whistle. We followed that up with a win against the Dogs... hardly an intelligent bunch, who came with a plan to play tougher than us and found they couldn't match it. Against the Broncos the screws were turned right from the opening minutes. Our response was to play catch up footy instead of showing a little composure and belief and working for the opportunities.

Let's face it. The Roosters 2015 was hardly the thinking man's football side.

[JAF]

Good post Double - you make some very valid points.
We never seem to have a Plan B if things are not working for us during a game - instead we tend to panic and then we beat ourselves ...

[Guest]

Not enough.

Bring back Nate!

Defecate Nate?! No way!

[Johnny.]

Defecate Nate?! No way!

Don't you mean DefaNate?

[Kingbilly]

Johns is an NRL prostitute who sells himself to any club, why do we need Johns when we have Fittler who imo was as good as Johns. No to druggies.

Thats funny Mr Cogburn. Not the comparison to Fttler and Johns as players. The other bit