It was reported in the SMH yesterday morning that ‘Waratah’s captain Phil Waugh fired a broadside at critics of his team, saying his players have been unfairly subjected to cheap-shot attacks all season.’
This demonstrates a disturbing level of paranoia and a lack of understanding of what is required of a ‘professional’ sportsperson.
From what I have seen from this blog and the comments all season, while there were some personal attacks on some players, the vast majority of the commentary was focused on the direction and strategies of the team, not the players.
In most discussions it was recognised that the forwards were going very well and that the team as a whole was trying its guts out. The criticisms were mainly focused on the coaching of the head coach (strategy), the attack / backs coach and the attaching skills and strategies being displayed.
Almost all would agree that there was a change in direction and strategy for the last three games and most were happy to see this but predicted (correctly as it turned out) that it was too late in coming.
On the whole I did not see any greater level of ‘cheap-shot attacks’ being focused on the Waratahs than any team would, and probably did, receive during a season.
A professional sportsperson, who earns significant financial reward from the paying public, needs to understand that their performance will be scrutinised and when they do not fulfill their potential, there will be disappointment and frustration voiced by the paying public.
This team had the potential to reach the finals and even to win the competition. The supporters could see this and could see the coaching limiting that potential.
Instead of criticising the passionate supporters, Waugh should have had the guts to say something along the lines of: we did develop as a team this year and in hindsight should have looked at adjusting some of our structures and strategies earlier than we did.
As a passionate and long time Waratahs supporter, I would like to congratulate the team on a fantastic African leg.
I particularly enjoyed the Sharks match (once the kicking eased off) and the Lion’s game showed just how dangerous the team can be. Demolishing the Sharks pack, which had destroyed the Highlanders pack the previous week, while the Murray Mextead still tried to blame the Tah’s for the resets, was great to behold.
I believe that there would be a collective sigh of relief from the finals teams that the Tahs did not make it as finals footy is completely different to round robin footy and I strongly believe that the Tahs would have done really well.
The worst thing that can happen now is that the team goes into its shell and blames the public and media.
If they learn from this season and build on it next year, I believe they should be a real chance to go all the way next year.
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