But for starters 5 of the 8 players you mentioned should not be being selected due to the poor form or are just past it / unable to perform at this level.
I'll go to bat for the players here. Everything I ever hear from the players is a total lack of faith in the system. They knew McKellar was going to be appointed and that he wasn't up for the job, but now he's here and it's worse than they thought. It's clear that Fisher and Palmer are good at their jobs: I doubt Folau Fainga'a just magically learnt to throw in the lineout over the last two weeks, that was certainly a coaching success; likewise, it's really only been JP Smith who has managed to dominate our scrum, and I won't begrudge him anything.
Players are good. Compare this team to the team that team Larkham started with:
Front Row:
Sio -> Sio
Moore -> Mann-Rea
Alexander -> Ala'alatoa
Sio is better than he was, Mann-Rea is as dependable as Moore (if a level below), Ala'alatoa is an improvement on Benny A.
Second Row:
Rory -> Rory
Carter -> Carter
Exactly the same with years of experience, now playing in their prime years and some of the best lineout options and scrummaging locks in the competition.
Backrow:
Fardy -> McCaffrey
Butler -> Pocock
Mowen -> Naisarani
McCaffrey isn't as good as Fardy, but definitely the same type of player, while Pocock and Naisarani are improvements (and you won't find a bigger Ben Mowen than me fan outside his family).
Halves:
White -> Powell
To'omua -> Hawera
Definite downgrade in both positions, with a complete change in the type of scrumhalf, but similar style between To'omua and Hawera.
Centres:
Lealiifano -> Lealiifano
Kuridrani -> Kuridrani
Literally the same pairing that took us to a Super Rugby final and two semi finals.
Back Three:
Tomane -> Peni
Speight -> Speight
Mogg -> Banks
Speight is worse than he was, downgrades in the other two positions.
In the forward pack, we've definitely improved, and I wouldn't be messing around with that set up (either the players or the coaches). In the backs, we're worse than we were, but definitely not bad. It's clear there's no plan for how they attack, and the narrow defensive line constantly leaves players exposed out wide. I'd like a scrumhalf with a better kicking game, but otherwise I'm happy with this group. I'm not happy with the coaching, and that needs to be addressed ASAP.
I will criticise Carter's captaincy. He's clearly a respected player, and definitely leads from the front, but you don't need him to be captain to get the benefits of that from him. In terms of working the Ref and making good decisions, we've fallen a long way from Mowen. But lord knows who should replace him.
I mean, long story short, I blame McKellar and (kind of) Hewett, some extra blame going to Ryan, but mostly it's on the board; I know the ARU had their hand on the scales with Dave Wessels, but we didn't even try to sign him. We knew Larkham was leaving, but we didn't even approach guys like Colin Cooper or Leon MacDonald when they were still at their NPC teams, or get in touch with someone like Vern Cotter, who knew he was losing the Scotland job. These are guys who build a culture of respect and hard work, who know how they want the game played but make changes to accomodate the available players, who have a track record of developing young players and guiding teams through a rebuild, and we didn't even try. We did what the Reds did every time they rehired Graham and then when they moved on to Stiles, we checked the car park and took the guy who was already here.
