A mate of mine in the country has a mobile cattle prod that generates 12,000 volts of 'encouragement'. I would be more than happy to arrange for it to be transported to the training ground at Moore Park. A wave of said prod near the genetailia should quash any of these pricks complaining about pre season workload.
It is very clear that some of the contributors to this thread think that the senior players conspired to reduce their training loads so as to tank the Tah season. That's bollocks, but if it helps you to vent your anger issues then who am I to stand in your way.
Often in life we make bad decisions for very good reasons. At the beginning of the year I tipped the Force to have a very good year and go close to making the finals. I did so on the basis that their pack was very strong through every position, their backs were tradesmanlike though unexciting and they would get the chocolates most games playing an english style of forward domination. Turns out that was a very bad decision and totally screwed up my comp tipping, but I had perfectly good reasons for doing so.
At the end of last season, lots of Tahs were in rehab after horrific injuries; some of them had rushed back trying to make the WC. Then JON insisted that we head overseas to play some games because the coffers were empty, so everyone had had a big load of either games or injury. Thus, there were very good reasons for the lighter pre-season, and it wasn't just player-power stupidity. Turns out that that was a bad decision, but it was made for all the right reasons - the players wanted to be fresh enough to really make a drive for the playoffs and not be totally burnt out.
Turns out that what we should have done is give the test players and injury recovery crew time out but then put them through some really intensive work during the first six games of the season while they sat the games out. We would have had to pull players from a wider squad, against the specific direction of JON, but I'm coming round to the position that if JON says you should do something its better to do the direct opposite. We may have lost the first six while the crocks were getting up to speed, but we didn't win too many anyway.
One thing I have learnt from my own experiences with the press: if something goes wrong they will immediately look for scapegoats, the more they can find the better. And the truth of the matter is the last thing they search for, especially if the alternate is more sensational.