I actually believe that the Reds could be successful next year.
Its reasonable to think that Stiles and Thorn should have our pigs going really well at set piece and with the addition of Marsh they should be fitter and stronger which should have them going well around the park also.
O'Connor should be able to at the very least, get some shape and structure in our backs and with the pigs going well the lack of experience should be to some degree compensated by, hopefully clean front foot ball a lot of the time.
Graham is actually a good defence coach and if he can replicate the defence that we had when Link was in charge and D was his thing then teams will have to work to score points.
As said above, Marsh should improve the S&C in general and hopefully we should see a reduction in injuries, which is an absolute element of every successful Super Rugby team.
Which brings me back to my opening sentence. We could be successful in 2016; and I don't know how I feel about that. If we make the semis or better in 2016 then I guess that you would have to say that they got it right. Whether they did it in spite of RG or because of him doesn't really matter in the short term. And this is the thing. The Reds board seem to be letting it all ride on the hope of a short term gain. None of the decisions being made seem to be centred around long term sustainable success.
As a fan I need that short term success, but I would prefer a long term solution.
Weird rant over.
gel, nice, indeed inspiring, to see that faith hath no bounds
.
Well, it could well be a world rugby first if a proven very poor HC in Lazarus with a triple by-pass mode can be overcome with (a) superior Assistant Coaches and (b) a green and largely unproven squad, such that, from this aggregated transformation, a rapid rise back up to a Finals-level result is attained.
I posted months back when the RG as Lazarus scenario was first mooted - to vast hoots then of 'surely that'll never happen' - and the QRU 'Independent Review' was also announced that this whole situation paralleled remarkably that which occurred post RWC 2011 when JO'N in an anxious fluster promised a near identical 'independent review' of Wallaby operations and coaching.
That late 2011/early 2012 review (largely done by ex-Wallabies on the ARU board) resulted in (c) Deans keeping his job as the declared 'best man for it' whilst (d) all his Assistant Coaches from 2011 were sacked and a whole new lot were brought in. This was all billed as a crucial transformation of the Deans regime, and one that would rapidly improve the Wallaby performances under Deans.
Sadly, but predictably, no such thing occurred. Deans ultimately was sacked in ignominy as we went down badly in the 2013 BIL series.
