Lee Grant said:
Let's all hope that you are right but they keep bleeding experienced players and I think they will be pushing the proverbial uphill again.
Even in 2008 they had a lot of good players but as a team they couldn't get certain things right like: winning a winnable game, playing as individuals and not as a team, and having more than their share of bonehead, or naive, plays.
To redress those matters you need experience. The loss of Moore, Horwill and Croft, and even Blake and Roe, will hinder that process. Having Homes and 3M healthy will make a difference, but of all the Oz S14 teams, Qld will be the most vulnerable to injuries to their best 22 players. Again.
I know that the Reds have some fine young players. People may point out how they benefited from the exuberance of the likes of the young Horan and Little yonks ago, but you need the old heads to direct the youngsters, and Qld have lost too many of them, too soon.
As usual, I hope that I am wrong.
you mentioned the loss of Moore, Horwill, Croft, Blake and Roe as hindering the process, this is something which continue to annoy me.
IMO the best game the Reds played all season was the loss to the crusaders, do you know what the lineup for that match was?
Chris Latham,
Clinton Schifcofske
Morgan Turinui
Berrick Barnes
Peter Hynes
Quade Cooper
Ben Lucas
Leroy Houston
David Croft/Daniel Braid
Poutasi Luafutu
James Horwill (c)
Van Humphries
Dayna Edwards
Stephen Moore
Ben Coutts
Roe, Cordingely and Blake didnt even play this match and Latham went off injured after 8 minutes into the match with Digby Ioane replacing him.
So out of that side, the Reds lose Moore and Croft but have Hardman and Braid to replace them. I have being saying this for a while, Lathams career at the Reds finished in 2006, he played only several games since then and he never reached his 2006 form at S14 level.
Croft, whilst i love him for all the effort he showed, he wasnt a leader, and i dont know how much i should read into it, but in the Reds biggest win of 2008 against the Bulls, Croft was on the bench.
btw, Horwill isnt a loss, he is only injured for the first few games