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Despite having the best squad - 2013-2015 the Roosters only have appeared in one Grand Final in 2013. 2016 can be considered a lost season although the lack of development of players can also be attributed to the demise- sure having Pearce/JWH/Cords out affected the team but the lack of development of their replacements was even more staggering - One has to say the three players out are not match winners nor have they showed this match winning aspect of their game on the big stage ever- Takes 17 players to win a game in any case- except Robbo often only used 16 players
Tonight's performance was insipid to say the least with the same mistakes made by the same players which surely the coach needed to address during season and other seasons but hasn't - As an example -Surely after scoring a try the focus should be on finishing your next set of six tackles - but not so- not coached into them to do this obviously- did this 2 or 3 times tonight I recall
The Roosters only through individual players play have managed to win 9 or so close games during the year and not through superior coaching either one has to say - the teams attack is very predictable and to win those games it took something outside the norm to achieve the win or ability to win - i.e Mitchells try vs Broncos and Gordon's conversion for an example.
Team selections and player usage have been baffling all year to say the least and not unlike tonight when Toops was selected in the 17 when clearly not fit to play as well as a clearly unwell Keary selected to play as 5/8. Why would a coach select players who were unfit to play - Watson should have started at 5/8- Evans on the bench in place of Toops and another forwarded added to the 17. Watson has been underutilised all year by the coach which ended up with Watson signing with another club - Manu was dropped during the late rounds of the season but returned to the NRL in round 26- not selected again for NRL - Instead Coach Robbo continued selecting Aubusson and Matterson in the centre's who maybe be good defence players but certainly not good in attack- thus limiting the teams scoring opportunities.
Robbo has been coaching for 5 years - achieving 3 minor premierships/ 4 finals appearances (including 4 prelim finals with only 1 win and 3 losses) and a non finals appearance in 2016 with only 1 premiership to count for having the best squad for 3 years (2013-2015) and second best squad (2017).
Some may say Tedesco will be the magician to win the next premiership but I really doubt it - Roosters have lost or are losing SKD/Guerra/Watson/Evans and have only signed Tedesco for an example thus weakening the NRL Squad - A number of players are also at or are coming up to their use by dates including Gordon/ Friend/ JWH/ Pearce and some others whom I don't expect can go to another level in the NRL based on their currently ability - Aubusson / Lui//Toops/Ferguson/ T/ etc.
For the Roosters to improve and be a GF chance they need a review of the coaches and current squad to ascertain if changes are required to the coaching staff and player roster and the way the team plays- As I said previously winning all those close matches doesn't mean the team is playing well- a deal of luck was involved - lose those close matches instead and finish 15th like 2016.
Robbo will need to win a premiership in 2018 to remain as coach beyond 2018 - he also needs to refresh the squad and make some hard decisions on player retention for 2018- obviously the squad has not been good enough to win a comp since 2013 and it may be a while before another premiership win if changes are not made including in the coaching ranks. A major review is required as the Roosters cannot afford to drop out of being a genuine GF Contender since membership number and home game crowds are dwindling- Sure people will say the Roosters had the 4th highest crowd averages but this is rather inflated considering the crowd attendances at the Anzac Day games ( 40k plus)/ Adelaide (23 k plus) Central Coast (20k plus).
Over to you Uncle Nick
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