Let’s hope his trajectory continues upward.
What is/was extraordinary is that the proven-as-woefully-incompetent QRU should consider this undeveloped and fragmented Reds base squad as best HC-ed by a totally unproven (at senior provincial level) person like Thorn. This was an utterly mystifying decision and strategic policy - but yet again the QRU is expert at doing precisely the opposite of what is best required in any particular set of circumstances.
Then on top of that super high-risk call - vs recruiting a proven, top-flight pro coach from overseas - they needlessly compounded the error by indulging Thorn's recklessly puritanical streak in jettisoning QC (Quade Cooper), Slipper, Hunt etc when what the QRU's credibility and finances desperately needed was not personal off-beam HC ideologies and pretty PC values statements but Reds' Super wins and lots of them.
Nonetheless we were fed the 'Brad will bring the better culture, culture's been the Reds biggest problem' line - and numerous posters here and our pathetically lazy ruby media bought all that superficial nonsense hook, line and sinker.
The Reds core problems were not 'cultural', they were exclusively about
continuously poor elite coaching (all aspects), idiotic recruitment policies and poor player and skills development (of course these all go together). Culture may have deteriorated _because_ of these deep problems - endless losses with no respite will drive any team to 'cultural' decline - but such was if true a symptom and not a cause.
I said at the time of Thorn's appointment this could all prove yet again another of the QRU scandalous and almost never-ending sequence of coaching blunders and so it is proving as we open the 'promising' 2019 season with 3 straight losses and only 1 of those where the Reds played well. Horrendously, the Reds' current multi-year loss record vs the Waratahs is now at humiliating proportions.
And FFS: how on earth does Thorn think a Super title - or even making the finals - can be attained with a 10 like Stewart or even a worn utility player like Hegarty. Super titles are _never_ won by teams with weak 10s, the evidence is overwhelming. Worse, poor Stewart is now being replaced by Hegarty who's been with the Reds for 10 minutes - this is just farcical.
The 2019 Reds team is performing little better than, say, some of R Graham's better games (there weren't many) when the Reds still lost but had at least a sniff of coherence about them (which promptly vaporised next game).
There is very little evidence that, in his crucial second year, Thorn has even mastered the basics of sound elite rugby game planning let alone anything finer on top. And what is doubly alarming is the paucity of evidence that any of the new Reds ACs are adding demonstrable value to the team; why this is so is at present a disturbing mystery.
