It has been naive of me not to think this was in he works, but there is genuine hope

[rooster_booster]

I've been thinking about this since half-time..

We let RTS and Maloney go - planning to introduce Latrell and Hastings to 1st grade, a reasonable amount of youth to expose to the top level. In August, JWH then does his ACL and his recovery is delayed for whatever reason. We enter the offseason and at the 11th hour Jennings walks to Parramatta, Cordner does his pec and Pearce ****s his life up. We literally lost our entire leadership group bar Friend and our 6 best players in the space of 6 months, 3 of them just a few weeks before kickoff.

We then face the 2014 and '15 premiers at full strength (bar Keary and George Burgess) in the opening 3 weeks and get flogged accordingly.

Round 2 against Canberra was a little different, we outplayed them but unfortunately lost due to goal kicking, if you step back and have a good look at the situation it is actually quite a bit achievement.

Currently, we have no on-field leadership at all. This was demonstrated emphatically with our captain’s 40/20 attempt 90 seconds before half-time which he kicked out on the full. This turned 12-0 in to 18-0 which became 40-0. A leader would recognise the situation, find the grass and get us in to the sheds with an unlikely sniff, unfortunately this is the best we have. Along with Jake, Guerra has been so disappointing in both his general play and his reluctance to step up as a senior player and Origin rep that I believe not only his place in the team needs to be questioned but his place at the club.

I digress.

We may lose a few more games, hell we may lose all of them before Cordner, JWH and Pearce return but I can guarantee you this is as bad as it will get. I will be watching our exciting young talents slowly improve and realise what it takes to be successful. The signs are there - just watch Niko launch himself in to dirty work, finishing with 23 tackles for the night, trying to lead the team with effort.

We couldn’t have had more go against us since last season, in a way we are lucky this tough luck has chosen to hit now as it was always a transition year, we were never going past a week 1 exit in the finals. Plans are in place for our future but setbacks have taken place. We have an exciting young core and cash to bring in a star or two or three next year. Its easy to lose all hope after a loss like this but try and see the positives. I have no doubt that we will be in another Grand Final by the time Latrell turns 21.

Go Chooks, through the good and the bad.

[Guest]

I've been thinking about this since half-time..

We let RTS and Maloney go - planning to introduce Latrell and Hastings to 1st grade, a reasonable amount of youth to expose to the top level. In August, JWH then does his ACL and his recovery is delayed for whatever reason. We enter the offseason and at the 11th hour Jennings walks to Parramatta, Cordner does his pec and Pearce ****s his life up. We literally lost our entire leadership group bar Friend and our 6 best players in the space of 6 months, 3 of them just a few weeks before kickoff.

We then face the 2014 and '15 premiers at full strength (bar Keary and Georg Burgess) in the opening 3 weeks and get flogged accordingly.

Round 2 against Canberra was a little different, we outplayed them but unfortunately lost due to goal kicking, if you step back and have a good look at the situation is actually quite a bit achievement.

Currently, we have no on-field leadership at all. This was demonstrated emphatically with our captain’s 40/20 attempt 90 seconds before half-time which he kicked out on the full. This turned 12-0 in to 18-0 which became 40-0. A leader would recognise the situation, find the grass and get us in to the sheds with an unlikely sniff, unfortunately this is the best we have. Along with Jake, Guerra has been so disappointing in both his general play and his reluctance to step up as a senior player and Origin rep that I believe not only his place in the team needs to be questioned but his place at the club.

But I digress,

We may lose a few more games, hell we may lose all of them before Cordner, JWH and Pearce return but I can guarantee you this is as bad as it will get. I will be watching our exciting young talents slowly improve and realise what it takes to be successful. The signs are there - just watch Niko launch himself in to dirty work, finishing with 23 tackles for the night, trying to lead.

We couldn’t have had more go against us since last season, in a way we are lucky this tough luck has chosen to hit now as it was always a transition year, we were never going past a week 1 exit in the finals. Plans are in place for our future but setbacks have taken place. We have an exciting young core and cash to bring in a star or two or three next year. Its easy to lose all hope after a loss like this but try and see the positives. I have no doubt that we will be in another Grand Final by the time Latrell turns 21.

Go Chooks, through the good and the bad.

Good post!

[eddie]

But I digress,

.

Mate , lol , had to hi-light those three words coz it's the only bit of your post I contest.
You nailed it.

[rooster_booster]

Thanks guys.

[mightyrooster]

Great post.
It's a shame more posters don't see this. We planned to lose RTS and Jimmy.
We did not plan injuries to our best two forwards and forward leaders in Cordner and JWH. We did not plan on Pearce being an idiot and getting himself suspended for 8 weeks.
Jennings was a last minute decision to allow him to leave due to salary cap pressures which would hit next year. I don't believe either of Cords or Pearce were out at the time we decided to let Jenings go??
This is not the same team from the last 3 years. The sooner people accept this, the easier it will be to deal with our current situation. Comparisons to our brilliant defence of the past 3 years etc is useless as it is a completely different squad. The sooner the fans and the media comprehend this the better.

[Moose]

Agreed. excellent post.

[Pass the Ball]

Is it fair to say we now have over $2M of our salary cap on the sidelines?
JWH - $600k ?
Cordner - $500k ?
Pearce - $650k ?
Copley - $350k ?
Henderson - $100k ?

I have no real idea how much players are on so I am only guessing...

[Mickie Lane]

I was never alright with the Roosters losing RTS & not replacing him with someone like Peta Hiku for 2 years, Robbo, POS & Nick should have had a better look at that situation instead of doing nothing. Since they did nothing they had to move 1 of the most potent centres in the game to FB over the off season & then they let Jennings go, wrong decision.
I can understand letting Maloney go because the plan was for Hastings & Pearce to be the halves but when Pearce farked up it has put Nikorima in a very hard spot. He was not bought by the club to play 5/8 he was bought to interchange with Friend. Once the fullback experiment went pear shape they bring in another teenager to play in the spine along with 2 other rookies. And even if all of this didnt happen I believe they would still be struggling because they need JWH fully fit & intimidating the opposition which then gets the best out of Moa & Napa..

[Johnny.]

I've been thinking about this since half-time..

We let RTS and Maloney go - planning to introduce Latrell and Hastings to 1st grade, a reasonable amount of youth to expose to the top level. In August, JWH then does his ACL and his recovery is delayed for whatever reason. We enter the offseason and at the 11th hour Jennings walks to Parramatta, Cordner does his pec and Pearce ****s his life up. We literally lost our entire leadership group bar Friend and our 6 best players in the space of 6 months, 3 of them just a few weeks before kickoff.

We then face the 2014 and '15 premiers at full strength (bar Keary and George Burgess) in the opening 3 weeks and get flogged accordingly.

Round 2 against Canberra was a little different, we outplayed them but unfortunately lost due to goal kicking, if you step back and have a good look at the situation it is actually quite a bit achievement.

Currently, we have no on-field leadership at all. This was demonstrated emphatically with our captain’s 40/20 attempt 90 seconds before half-time which he kicked out on the full. This turned 12-0 in to 18-0 which became 40-0. A leader would recognise the situation, find the grass and get us in to the sheds with an unlikely sniff, unfortunately this is the best we have. Along with Jake, Guerra has been so disappointing in both his general play and his reluctance to step up as a senior player and Origin rep that I believe not only his place in the team needs to be questioned but his place at the club.

I digress.

We may lose a few more games, hell we may lose all of them before Cordner, JWH and Pearce return but I can guarantee you this is as bad as it will get. I will be watching our exciting young talents slowly improve and realise what it takes to be successful. The signs are there - just watch Niko launch himself in to dirty work, finishing with 23 tackles for the night, trying to lead the team with effort.

We couldn’t have had more go against us since last season, in a way we are lucky this tough luck has chosen to hit now as it was always a transition year, we were never going past a week 1 exit in the finals. Plans are in place for our future but setbacks have taken place. We have an exciting young core and cash to bring in a star or two or three next year. Its easy to lose all hope after a loss like this but try and see the positives. I have no doubt that we will be in another Grand Final by the time Latrell turns 21.

Go Chooks, through the good and the bad.

If I could like this more than once I would like several dozen times. Thanks for being one of the sane ones.

[JAF]

Hooray for the voice of sanity! Good post.
We are rebuilding this year to set us up for success in the future years.
I just hope the youngsters will not be mentally scarred from some of the heavy defeats ...