my concern is that after the great pre season and the early promise of better days ahead, none of the glaring deficiencies in skills or execution have been addressed throughout the year.
scrum good to very good all year, for me about the only collective highlight.
line out really patchy and tellingly its the attacking line outs that have been consistently fucked up. either the calling or the throwing have been off on too many occasions. pat leafa for all his good work is a poor thrower, horie should have been the starting hooker all year.
the accuracy of the breakdown work has gone to shit. the plethora of penalties against them in the chiefs, sharks and hurricanes games seems to have also stifled the aggression shown earlier in the year.
the kicking game has improved but is coming off a very low base.
the defence, which was the best part of the improvement has faltered badly in the last few weeks, 15 tries in the past three games alone.
there is absolutely no cohesion in attack. last night they looked truly clueless.
individual performances have been great, but as a team they don't seem to have gelled into combinations that have brought reward. mcmahon, PAE, meehan, hegarty, jones, inman all have had good seasons, so some hope for the future, but only if we can hold on to them (which i doubt).
so who is to take the responsibility. some of the onfield decision making has been poor, i still cannot believe higgers taking a tap against 14 men in the highlanders game ! the selection and non-selection of certain layers is baffling and the early season game plan stupifyingly unbelievable. finally, at the moment i suspect the the long and physically demanding preseason is starting to the its toll on player fitness.
in short TT has a LOT to do. my optimism that this year would be a transition to a brighter future has faded to an acceptance that at least i have a team that tries hard and i can support. i really have given up expecting too much of them at this stage.