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We're all obviously bitterly disappointed by the start to this season, even though the truth is we could easily be 2 or 3 from 5.
I think we all need some perspective, we've had 3 brilliant seasons at the top and the way the NRL is run makes it near impossible to spend much longer there. The only exception is Melbourne, who have had some once in a generation spine players together for a decade.
It took us a long time to recover post Freddy from 2005 until 2012 we had two finals campaigns to show for our efforts. We went for the quick rebuild in 2008 and that resulted in the 2009 wooden spoon. In 2010 we made the big dance on the back of a freak Todd Carney. Our 2013 premiership didn't happen by chance, as Carney went off the rails in 2011, they re-build had started. Young players like JWH, Guerra, Pearce, SKD and Friend become seasoned. A couple of other youngsters were blooded in 2012/13 and enough room was left for 3 superstars. It was perfection.
But the way the NRL works is you're punished for success. A number of players have been upgraded (including Guerra, who most of us were happy with at the time). We were blindsided with RTS and the great leveller (aka salary cap) meant we couldn't match the Warriors offer. The Sharks offered Maloney longer terms than we would and the club rightly or wrongly chose to back Hastings. The clearest indication that a re-build was happening was the punting of Jennings.
I don't recall a time when a club has lost half it's spine due to the salary cap. Add to that our 3 most experienced/influential players are missing.
I'm not happy that we're 0/5 and I expect more from our team. But some perspective is needed... 05, 06, 07, 09, 11 & 12 were all pretty painful years, but under POS the club really got it's foundations back in order. This year might be bad, next year could also be bad, but we're going to have one hell of a footy team in a few years time.
I think we all need some perspective, we've had 3 brilliant seasons at the top and the way the NRL is run makes it near impossible to spend much longer there. The only exception is Melbourne, who have had some once in a generation spine players together for a decade.
It took us a long time to recover post Freddy from 2005 until 2012 we had two finals campaigns to show for our efforts. We went for the quick rebuild in 2008 and that resulted in the 2009 wooden spoon. In 2010 we made the big dance on the back of a freak Todd Carney. Our 2013 premiership didn't happen by chance, as Carney went off the rails in 2011, they re-build had started. Young players like JWH, Guerra, Pearce, SKD and Friend become seasoned. A couple of other youngsters were blooded in 2012/13 and enough room was left for 3 superstars. It was perfection.
But the way the NRL works is you're punished for success. A number of players have been upgraded (including Guerra, who most of us were happy with at the time). We were blindsided with RTS and the great leveller (aka salary cap) meant we couldn't match the Warriors offer. The Sharks offered Maloney longer terms than we would and the club rightly or wrongly chose to back Hastings. The clearest indication that a re-build was happening was the punting of Jennings.
I don't recall a time when a club has lost half it's spine due to the salary cap. Add to that our 3 most experienced/influential players are missing.
I'm not happy that we're 0/5 and I expect more from our team. But some perspective is needed... 05, 06, 07, 09, 11 & 12 were all pretty painful years, but under POS the club really got it's foundations back in order. This year might be bad, next year could also be bad, but we're going to have one hell of a footy team in a few years time.
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