Barbed Wire wrote:
Not sure the club would be concerned, his team missed the play offs last year, and they still assessed that he was a good appointment. This year, despite the free fall, is more successful than last given the cup run.
As fans go, I think pressure will build on Powell, as I’ve said previously. From the end of the Smith era, there has been frustration re: recruitment and who was ultimately responsible for that. Smith had credit in the bank, but suffered from a poor recruitment pattern and frustrated fans blamed their choice of Agar, Fitzpatrick and Smith. Price has had similar stuttering signings, but has been saved by the ambiguity of signings to keep pressure off his back. I think it’s pretty widely accepted that Latu wasn’t wanted by Price, Sita has stuck around despite not being fancied by the coach, even BMM didn’t seem to fit in to his plans really, had the feel of a square peg.
But Powell has gone on record to say he is solely responsible for recruitment, he’s bringing his own men with him, coaches and players, he’s got Williams in, kept King and has been backed by showing a few big names the door who don’t fit in his plans (Austin & Mamo, plus Hill and Lineham if you believe the rumours). Expectation will build, quickly. The buck stops with him, he has a team that is 3rd or 4th best at the moment and demand to move up, and he has been backed to do that. We don’t need a ‘project’ coach, we need someone to get us over the line. Is he the man?
My position hasn’t changed on this. The recruiters can’t be surprised to see this happen, Powell and his teams have tendencies to blow hot and cold, and our fans expect a better team that the one we had last year, and rightly so given the continued investment.
We need to arrest this momentum and get a win, at whatever cost. But (from a qualified opinion, as I didn’t go last night) the players don’t seem to have that steel needed to just dig in a nick a win.
Powell needs to set direction now. With the players, not hanging them out in the media and having a pint with fans. He needs to get the players on side and get them on his team.
Jury’s out. Tough month coming up if we don’t snap this spiral