Or not

There are no certainties but I still feel confident that we will start to build for the back end of the season.   We have been here before, even in the middle of last years clean sweep we were soundly beaten in a few games.

Of course I'd like to win everything, and I'm sure the players would too, but as we've heard from Peet in the past the focus in training will be very different now to the last 2 months of the season.    


French is an interesting case, and has been joked about in the past likes his time off in the off season, and imo this is one of the reasons he probably wouldn't be in such demand back in the NRL as he comes across as too casual at times.  He certainly seems to have been playing at 3/4 capacity this season, but again he's a player who if managed the right way can do things other players can't get near.        


Re teh Wakey game, hats off to them, they've been great since the start of the season which is no mean feat on their first season back in the SL.   They are playing some great rugby and have a committed attitude across the park making them hard to beat.   Easily the better team last weekend.  

Jai Field was on Sky Sports News with Jenna Brooks and Jon Wilkin a few months ago and I thought his jokey comments about French were a bit revealing. They asked something like if things got competitive between them for most trys in the season or who was the fastest (something along those lines) and Field laughed and said the team have a job on to get French to be competitive in matches, let alone with things like that. Ultimately the lad can do as he pleases, as long as he turns up when it matters and he will do that and has done that in spades. He's quite comfortably the most talented player in the league and if he did have that week to week competitive edge, he likely wouldn't be here and would be in the NRL (as you suggest). 

Not that you're saying there is, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with that IMO. Everyone is different and a truly top coach will find the right buttons to press.  If I was French, I'd struggle for a game at some backwater hole too. 

Going back a bit, but it's apparently still a lesson not learnt - this issue was one of Madge's biggest coaching flaws. He struggles with anyone who isn't 100% in, all of the time. Safe to say, he'd have probably have had a run in with French 

The point on French is well made - one of the straws that broke the camel's back in the NRL was a game where he had a total of one carry throughout the entire 80 minutes. He's clearly not the best trainer and there are clearly games which he coasts through. I guess opinions will vary on that. Some would say as a professional sportsman its your job to be giving 100% every game, others might say that as long as he performs in the bigger games then does it matter too much. Maybe there are others in the team who fall into this category - those who struggle with the week to week because they believe they will finish in the top 2 regardless or perhaps there's a lack of motivation given what was achieved last year and all of the big games that came with that. 

Regardless, its no mystery as to why French's best games this year have been Vegas and Hull KR away. He needs something to inspire him and I can sympathise that in SL you don't always get that every week.

Yup, says more about the league imo than it does of French. I'm a paying customer and it can be hugely frustrating - I get it tho. 

MOM in the WCC, CC Final, Grand Final and Vegas. 


I just wish the rest of the league understood it. Consecutive games in Dewsbury, Wakey and Cas aren't good for anyone (unless you hate Wigan).