Suddenly the Roosters aren’t so cocksure
At this point in time in rugby league, if the Bulldogs put up a better show than you do on the weekend, then you are in strife. The Roosters are in strife.
Beaten 30-6 and then 20-0 in the last two weeks shows the sort of form that has teams looking at the wooden spoon not the NRL finals.
So what’s up Freddy?
It is not like they don’t have the troops. A pack full of internationals, the NSW halves combination, and plenty of zip out wide.
In fact, most people wonder just how they keep all that talent under the salary cap. Oh, that’s right, post-career prospects. Nice line.
But Brad Fittler is now finding out how tricky this coaching caper is.
It was all too easy when he took over from Chris Anderson: trips to the loo during matches, talk of no game plan and everyone told just to have fun. It was a dream.
This season he has even had the pleasure of mentoring Willie Mason.
I can just see him entering the changing room with some dog-earred classics of literature and putting them in Willie’s bag before saying, “I think you’ll really get something out of these William. Catcher in the Rye really helped me deal with the stress during the 2002 finals series.”
Just one big box of chocolates.
But suddenly it might be time to make a trip to the stationery cupboard and get a notebook and pen. Maybe the first note to self should be “Tell Willie to shut up.”
Mason has been back to his best recently, telling everyone how he was ready to aim up and become a leader, before promptly going missing and following.
The last few finals campaigns at the Bulldogs were marked by Mason talking big and delivering little.
Note two could be “Jovially advise Braith and Mitchell to stop kicking the friggin’ ball!”
There would be real irony if one of the most gifted attackers in the game became the coach whose team made the NRL change the rules about scoring from kicks.
In short, they rely too much on scoring from kicks and it is getting worked out.
The toughest thing about being a coach is that your reputation is forged by others.
Brad Fittler needs to come up with a way that his select group can enhance his before the doubters start to grow in numbers.
Free Email updates:
Our daily emails are only sent if there is content for the sport or that author. You can subscribe to multiple daily emails; or get the daily Roar email with all our content in it. We value privacy. More...
(36)
LeftArmSpinner said | August 26th 2008 @ 7:58am | Report comment
The dye is already cast. The Roosters are a medical first. They are suffering from Canine Distemper. It has jumped species, for the first time.
Anasta, overrated, over paid and over here. Mason, Overrated, overhyped and over here. O’Meley, overrated, Over the hill and over here. Myles, overrated, over blown and over here.
The distemper has infected and affected the whole team, and in particular, coach Fittler and Tupou and the younger players. The exception is “raw bones” Fitzgibbon but he can’t carry a whole pack.
Please release them, free up approx 50% of the cap and get some young goers to build around Pearce. Look for skillful players, who don’t talk much, are grounded, dont have alchohol issues and are passionate about their footy! It is called the no dickheads policy!
Steve Kaless said | August 26th 2008 @ 8:17am | Report comment
I agree with you Left Arm, it is amazing how every team needs a player like Craig Fitzgibbon but when they get them they are rarely given the respect they deserve, except by those with a shrewd eye.
Canberra have certainly followed your model with a bunch of work horses rather than a couple of flashy rockstars.
The Link said | August 26th 2008 @ 10:47am | Report comment
Steve, dunno about introducing Mason to Holden Caulfield!! That may be more trouble than its worth……
The Roosters best chance for progressing in the finals will be if they get Canberra / Newcastle first up. Everyone will want to aviod Dragons / Broncos in that first week. Hard to see Melbourne and Manly not progressing to prelim finals, it will be out of Roosters / Sharks / Broncs / Dragons to see who joins them.
cosmos forever said | August 26th 2008 @ 11:26am | Report comment
Link - you’ve been watching a different NRL to me. I know I’m a Raiders tragic but stay with me on this!
The Roosters and Sharks on paper will make it through, but guess what - on paper the Raiders are wooden spooners!
I for one hope that the finals are decided by teams like the Lime Greeners who pass the ball and score points.
As for the Roosters, when they came down to Canberra a few weeks ago they seemed to play completely the wrong game plan. When they ran wide of the centres with Tupou and Fitzgibbon targeting small players and offloading they looked like they could score from anywhere and then they kept going back into their shell and kicking the thing when they came up against some solid defence.
I agree that the “we don’t have a game plan and rely on natural talented instinct” works until the ego of those precocious talents gets dented. Then they need a plan to fall back on.
By way of measuring good coaching v bad it wasn’t that long ago that the Raiders were falling into a trap of five hits up and kick to the corner for Purtell and Monoghan. But to his credit, Henry saw defending sides backing away from the contest and simply waiting to tackle Big Red when he landed. I reckon it was the realisation that a one-dimensional game wasn’t enough for our blokes by the coach that has got us looking at the top four.
Roosters seem incapable of such drastic tactical changes.
Let’s hope Freddy doesn’t lead the Roosters into a decade of despair in the same way one of our great champions who couldn’t (and can’t) coach - the great Mal Meninga - did down here. Actually, let’s hope he does
Phil Coorey said | August 26th 2008 @ 11:30am | Report comment
I can’t see the Roosters losing another game this year. They are awesome and their luck will turn with all the hail mary kicks soon…
Go get em Willie- your awesome mate
The Link said | August 26th 2008 @ 12:52pm | Report comment
Cosmos, fair enough, however first week of the finals is a different beast to regular rounds. Raiders have the potential to make an upset I agree, however they’ll need to do it away from home. With Marc Herbert out this makes it harder.
I agree that other teams are working the Roosters out. What Freddy now comes back with tactically will be pivotal to their chances.
I always thought it was funny how Mal is now a coaching genius with QLD but didn’t cut it with the green machine. Albeit it was a tough job with the Raiders at that time with the transition from the gun teams of the late 80’s / early mid 90’s
cosmos forever said | August 26th 2008 @ 12:58pm | Report comment
And fair enough at your end too link - I have to provide full disclosure and point out that my Roosters Raiders opinions are one of those Big Brother Little Brother things (ie. my older brother has always gone for the Roosters and refused to give them up in ‘82 to follow the Raiders). I’m feel a direct sibling need to undermine them at all times!
Our feeling down here always was that Mal expected all of his players to be able to do the same things he could, and simply couldn’t ‘teach’ them how to be better players. By all accounts he found the whole thing very frustrating.
I think he is more capable at SOO level because he has a calibre of players that are as talented as he was so it’s more about getting them revved up to perform. And I reckon Neil Henry might be running the tactical element, but plenty has been written about that before.
Herbert is a major loss, Tongue at halfback will do but is not ideal. Agree this could be a major undoing for us (amazing that we talk about Herbie like this but three weeks ago no-one knew who he was)!
Phil Coorey said | August 26th 2008 @ 12:59pm | Report comment
Neil Henry is why Mal does well in Origin - and its a terribly small sample sample size…
LeftArmSpinner said | August 26th 2008 @ 1:29pm | Report comment
The Roosters will falter the moment someone turns up the Bunsen Burner! Not surprising. Can you imagine spending a whole season with Willie Mason and carrying Anasta and O’Meley while waiting for Myles to return from suspension!!!!!
LeftArmSpinner said | August 26th 2008 @ 1:33pm | Report comment
Phil Coorey, inadvertently, you have posted “Go get em Willie- your awesome mate” Technically, that means that you are Willie’s awesome mate so you comments and compliments are to be taken with a grain of salt.
If you meant Go get em Willie- you are awesome, mate! and presumably you refer to his footy prowess, then I suggest that you check in for an eye test because Willie has not been awesome for at least 4 years.
Phil Coorey said | August 26th 2008 @ 1:48pm | Report comment
Hey lefty - my post was dripping in sarcasm. I only hate the Yankees more than I hate the Roosters. It’s a running joke I have had with some friends where I kept saying they would not lose a game all year as Freddie was that awesome…
Forgive me
LeftArmSpinner said | August 26th 2008 @ 2:22pm | Report comment
Phil, I am very happy for you. I was worried that you must have fallen off your trolley. And sadly, I am a roosters fan!
Phil Coorey said | August 26th 2008 @ 2:27pm | Report comment
Souths fan here - so my hate is more jealousy to be honest.
I don’t watch many games especially with channel 9 so I am not sure how bad Mason is playing - I hear it ain’t good…
cosmos forever said | August 26th 2008 @ 2:31pm | Report comment
Phil - Roosters 2008 = Red Sox 1919 - 2003
Phil Coorey said | August 26th 2008 @ 2:41pm | Report comment
If the Roosters go 86 years without winning a comp - I’ll be real happy!!
Worlds Biggest said | August 26th 2008 @ 8:17pm | Report comment
Cooross, Mungo here mate, love your sarcasm and the correlation with the Rooters and Yankees, pure Gold. Geez I hope the Green Machine can get it going in the semi’s, already everyone’s second favourite team now. The sight of the Video Ezy Raiders lighting it up in the semi’s back in the day was magic. We need a couple of Smokeys in the semi’s to bring some excitment. Franky Melbourne v Manly is akin to Broncos v Dragons circa 92 & 93, predictable and boring stuff. Maybe these Dragons can overachieve for a change, do it for Browny lads and ” oust Doust “. Do we just give News Ltd sorry the Storm the trophy now and crown Cam Smith the Clive Churchill medalist.
cosmos forever said | August 26th 2008 @ 8:35pm | Report comment
Worldie - green machine quietly confident down here. The last game we played against them was in our keep until Mr Ref, Mr Video Ref and Misters Ref’s Assistants started looking after them.
With a game on actual free to air (meaning under the scrutiny of Phil Gould) we reckon we can do em…
Worlds Biggest said | August 26th 2008 @ 8:52pm | Report comment
Cosmos, the Raiders Toyota Cup Team are leading the Comp, couldn’t they throw in the young fella at halfback and see how he goes ?. Tongue going to halfabck reminds me of 93 when Sticky got injured, out for the season and they threw in Steve Stone a backrower. That didn’t work so they tried pint sized Trevor Schodel. GO RAIDERS !
cosmos forever said | August 26th 2008 @ 9:04pm | Report comment
Worldie - many many emails and texts have been exchanged between my mates on this very subject over the past 48 hours!
Under 20’s form has been built on very mobile and attacking forwards rather than an outstanding half combination (though they are very good).
So, moving Tonguey to half - which he has been playing on and off all season anyway, and bringing up a couple of the 20’s forwards to cover him in the pack seems to make more sense than bringing a young half up and expecting him to be a playmaker.
Anyway - the less 20’s that come up the better - that way we win two premierships this year
Long story short -just get the ball to Campo - the greatest revelation in the entire NRL this season!
cosmos forever said | August 26th 2008 @ 9:14pm | Report comment
BTW - Mrs Cosmos says all of the current 20’s have to stay in the squad so that they all continue to do their swim down at the same pool same time as my kids swimming lessons (which from next week I will be attending as well…)
Alan Nicolea said | August 26th 2008 @ 9:30pm | Report comment
Cut with the over-rated bull***. When NSW lost to QLD in the second Origin series, willie mason was our best forward by far, yet he recieves the criticism. Nate Myles can not be over-rated. Since he has been thrusted into Origin for QLD, the Maroons have not lost a series. Better yet, Myles was touted as a possible Kangaroo for the Anzac test such was his form. Mark O Meley is a warrior and tries his arse off everytime he gets on the footy pitch. Anasta has had his best season in a long while aswell. It maybe a Roosters thing. Fittler was once voted league’s most overrated player yet he finished his career with 34 tests for Australia and 31 Origins for NSW (15 as captain). He was later installed in league’s 100 greatest ever players.
Over-rated? anyone who plays test football ,wins a grand final, plays Origin, and wins a clive churchill medal - and wears a Roosters jersey is over-rated. Are you kidding me?
Steve Kaless said | August 26th 2008 @ 9:40pm | Report comment
World’s Biggest, I believe Trevor Schodel lasted one game, didn’t he get crucified at Belmore.
Just because someone is doing well at Toyota Cup is no guarantee they’ll do it at NRL level. Plus the Raiders are already using back up halfbacks at Toyota Cup seeing Marc Herbert got promoted.
It is interesting how everyone now thinks a Melbourne v Manly Grand Final would be boring. I find the same phenomenon occurs in the FA Cup. Everyone wants upsets but if its isn’t the two best teams playing in the final many neutrals (the same who wanted upsets) complain the big guns aren’t there to slug it out.
The Answer said | August 26th 2008 @ 9:46pm | Report comment
I agree Alan, you have to be rated to be over-rated.
Largely these players get a reputation for producing the goods but any slight let down, like if they don’t break the lien every time or miss the odd tackle has people screaming from the roof tops.
O’Meley is great prop and if Willie shut up and people just watched his play they would realise he is actually pretty good.
Marketing doesn’t help, they are built up to be superhuman which will only lead to disappointment.
Alan Nicolea said | August 26th 2008 @ 10:34pm | Report comment
the Answer
Players of Mason’s calibre are cast with huge expectation. At the end of the day, they are only human. Look at Johnathon Thurston this year. He might finish with the wooden spoon. Look at Benji Marshall and his current form with the Tigers. These players can be brilliant to watch. Just give them some space to perform, The good in this world comes with the bad. I have been disappointed with Mason’s form but i need not worry cause i know what he is capable of producing. At the end of the day, he is a match winner, and a good bloke off the field.
The Answer said | August 26th 2008 @ 11:26pm | Report comment
Exactly, if Inglis doesn’t score three tries you feel short changed.
LeftArmSpinner said | August 27th 2008 @ 5:05am | Report comment
O’Meley was, I repeat, was a great prop. No more. failed to carry the ball and then was sin binned for chatting back to the ref!!!
You dont hear from Benji or Inglis about what they are going to do and then see then not deliver. Willie, on the other hand, tells us frequently what he is going to do, and it is the bleeding obvious, and on the back of this, announces his interest in the captaincy of the respective team, then goes missing when it counts.
Myles spends more time on the exercise bike than the field. Anasta, well, after the tantrums at SOO and NRL, missed tackles and wrong choices in attack, enough said. Ship ‘em all out and get some young, quiet footballers.
Alan Nicolea said | August 27th 2008 @ 3:15pm | Report comment
Left arm spinner
you can’t judge O’Meley as a player from last week’s lost to the Sharks. It just wasn’t their night and the Sharks were more hungry. Myles just came back from a six week suspension in case you did not notice. Six weeks out of the NRL will cast anybody’s game into doubt. When Inglis came back from injury against the Roosters in rd 3 earlier this season, he did nothing and many suggested he was overweight. Now look at him. Wait until the season is over and then make your judgements.
LeftArmSpinner said | August 27th 2008 @ 3:25pm | Report comment
Alan, O’Meley was a very good player. He has crashed into too many tacklers. last friday, for an experienced player, he was dumb, really dumb, in getting yellow carded and had been looking for it all night. He and others gave away stupid penalties. Penalties have nothing to do with it not being their night or not!
They could never win doing this.
Myles was rested and should have been full of running! Nope. Just like last season. Never gets off the bike!!
The end of the roosters season is nigh!!
The bottomline is that they bought very poorly, and paid top dollar. Short termism, and ignoring the golden rule. No dickheads!!! A basic mistake, and to complicate it, they couldnt afford to retain Tupou!!!!
Alan Nicolea said | August 28th 2008 @ 11:00am | Report comment
Left Arm Spinner
Tupou is a huge loss no doubt. But best believe Anthony Cherrington has shown enough in my eyes this season that he will take his place in the second row. Mason and co. are not dickheads. They are great ambassadors of the game and really give their all on the field. It does not help when every opposing player targets Mason in defence. Deep down they know how dangerous he is with the football in hand. If he makes one good run, It sets the tone for the rest of the match and the chooks go on to win. It has not happened for him since Origin 3 but it will come. As for Myles, Ronaldinho should have been ‘full of running’ for the Olympics after missing many months of action. He failed to produce and still looks way out of touch. You need game time mate to prosper in the NRL or any sport for that matter. The more you play the more effective you will be.
LeftArmSpinner said | August 28th 2008 @ 12:13pm | Report comment
Mason is a walking, talking dickhead. The golden rules of elite sport are: don’t give the opposition anything to feed off, don’t say anything to the press that you can’t back up and deliver on the field and don’t annoy the ref.
Mason regularly breaks the first two rules. O’Meley, Myles and Anasta have that Bulldog arrogance that see’s them spouting off to the ref at every chance. Huff, Puff. Surprise, Surprise, O’Meley got sinbinned for it.
Roosters are 13 wins and 9 loses, have lost 3 of their last 4 games and that win was against the woodenspooners.
They will beat Souths, just, lose at home to Dragons and be out of finals in first week. If they lose to Souths, and that is dependent on which Souths team shows up, then the fox will really be in the hen house!!!
Alan Nicolea said | August 28th 2008 @ 12:56pm | Report comment
Mate, the next couple of weeks are going to be very interesting then. Everyone loves seeing the Roosters fall for some reason or another. Despite the bullshit, they remain the only club in history to have participated in every rugby league season in Australia. They have been there and done that before and best believe they have the potential to wrestle this premiership away from Melbourne. It all starts on Friday night against rivals the Rabbitohs.
Phil Coorey said | August 28th 2008 @ 1:01pm | Report comment
“Cooross, Mungo here mate, love your sarcasm and the correlation with the Rooters and Yankees, pure Gold.”
Mungo!!!
\How you been?
How goods this thread and the Sox just beat the Yankees 11-3!!!
Glorius week if Souths win tomorrow
LeftArmSpinner said | August 28th 2008 @ 1:27pm | Report comment
Alan, I’m a roosters fan, and have been since 1966. bought my sports equipment from Kevin Junee’s sports store, lived across the road from Greg Bandiera, John Berne, down the road from Mark Harris, visited the dressing rooms at the Syd Sports ground to shake Artie and Alan McKean’s hands. played in the lcoal juniors, wore my roosters jersey (with the V constructed of three layers of cloth to get the tricolour V happening)
Played Touch footy imitating Ron Coote’s raking cover defence!!!!
Need I say more. Does this put my comments into context?
Alan Nicolea said | August 28th 2008 @ 3:50pm | Report comment
Left arm Spinner
Regardless, you have to support them whether they have Willie Mason, O’Meley, Myles and Anasta or not. Did you always feel like this when the players above were guiding the Roosters to wins over the Rabbitohs, Bulldogs, Storm and Penrith earlier in the year? I think even most Mason haters would have appreciated his performances in the first half of the season. The Roosters under Brad Fittler are still growing mate. They have experienced three shocking years since his retirement. Actions needed to be done and if it means bringing the likes of O’meley, Myles, Anasta and Mason to the Bondi Junction club to ensure a finals birth, so be it. That is why the club has lasted for as long as it has. Sure, the chooks might not win it this year but the coming seasons show alot of promise. Just be happy that they are on the verge of playing finals footy again.
cosmos forever said | August 28th 2008 @ 3:55pm | Report comment
Alan - been in every rugby league season. That means, despite their best efforts to buy premierships over the years, they’ve managed 12 or 13/100.
Raiders - 4/26 - now that’s a strike rate
Steve I agree - I hate Melbourne and Manly but it would make a very tough grand final. Boring, in terms of expansive footy, but tough and exciting in terms of a contest.
Alan Nicolea said | August 28th 2008 @ 8:00pm | Report comment
Cosmos Forever
You say the Roosters buy premierships as if they are the only club that buys players for glory. Really, the only sides that still have a significant amount of home grown talent in their squads are the Dragons, Knights and the Raiders and Penrith. The rest have gone on spending sprees. 4/26 is a great strike right for a club that is so young. When the chooks were young, they won four premierships in 23 years. Can the Raiders reach 12 premierships before their centenary?