Waratahs 2011 post mortem

[Langthorne]

So what happened?

They have finished their equal lowest in 5 (?) years. They managed a qualifying finals position, but with a starting team severely depleted by injury.

Were the injuries just plain bad luck? In some cases I'd say yes, but in others I am not so sure.

Was the squad just not good enough? I think the squad was remarkably good. Quite a number of 2nd and 3rd choice players showed themselves to be up to the task, and the first choice team could beat anyone.

Skills? Execution? Mental preparation? Game plans? Coaching? recruitment?

In terms of the table, they were not far off. With one different result - a win against the Cheetahs at home - they could have had a home qualifying final. With a second different result - a second win over the Reds in that very close match - the could have had a week off.

In terms of planning to win the competition I think they were no where near. Making the top 6 should not be the aim - winning the competiton by reaching the finals with their best team available should be the aim. I know I have banged on about this since writing a blog post in the pre season, but the lack of a rotation policy was a big contributing factor to the way the season panned out. Until there is a whole squad mentality, meaning that fringe and squad players are made fundamental to season planning, I think the Waratahs will keep coming up short. No 15 players can be expected to play every match (including finals) and remain uninjured. This is not the whole story, but certainly a part of it.

 

[waratahjesus]

I think squad rotation is bullshit to a large extent. If hickey had tried and the team lost he would have been drawn and quartered. Ewen did it in wellengton and it backfired but no one remembers that.

The injurys were luck, last week, Baxter got a concussion and TPN picked up a brand new injury by getting caught under a falling player, ad to this burgess breaking his hand at training and three players of experience are gone from the semi. It's hardly a planning issue is it? Drew mitchel broken ankle due to a freak accident caused by a grub, it's nit planning it's luck, it's a contact sport and injuries happen.

Ad on top barnes concussions and all of a sudden the tahs have had to use three different fly halfs and combinations suffer. Again, it's hardly a planning issue, it's the reality of contact sport.

The reds go into next week as favorites with there two best players at 9 and 10 barely missing a minute of match time, no surprise the reds have great combinations.

 

[Tangawizi]

I think the Tahs showed in Week 2 they had the ability to win the comp this year when they absolutely smashed the Reds off the park.

But due to all the injuries they have been unable to live up that potential. Didn't the Brumbies use 24 players all season when they won in 2001 or something like that? How many did the Tahs use this year?

 

[rugbysmartarse]

I think Elvis and foley were 37 and 38.

Injuries certainly didn't help, but I think the season suffered from moments of softness, particularly the cheetahs loss, but also in other moments. The blues game was a shocker, and they should have done the sharks. Only beating the brumbies and rebels by a handful mid season was another example.

What I hope they focus on for next year is keeping ball in hand developing or rediscovering the support play and continuity game they had in 2010, and stop the aimless kicking.

 

[TSR]

Bad luck to the Waratahs and supporters - it would have been great to see an all Australian Semi, but it wasn't to be. In all honesty though - I think credit should be given to how well they did given the injuries they suffered - particularly at the end of the season. Lots of teams had injury worries, but the Tahs seemed as badly affected as any, and lost most of their 'point of difference players' - ie TPN, Palu & Mitchell. To win a final with their injury toll would have been something of a miracle.
There may have been other issues - I'll leave that to others to point out. But I hope that the recriminations over their exit are kept in perspective. No matter what your thoughts were on the Waratahs style of play, I can't believe that the level of criticism levelled at them this year was warranted for a team who finished in the top 6.

 

[#1 Tah]

The Waratahs were the Waratahs. We hyped ourselves up
Preseason and failed to fire. With some younger players coming in next year, i hope we can break that cycle and live up to our own expectations.

 

[Aussie D]

I think squad rotation is bullshit to a large extent. If hickey had tried and the team lost he would have been drawn and quartered. Ewen did it in wellengton and it backfired but no one remembers that.

But everyone remembers the games the Reds won after that. One of the criticisms of the Hurricanes game amongst Reds fans was he didn't rotate enough. There was an article on rugby heaven yesterday about Anthony Fainga'a and he said Link made the call on players on the Monday before the game on whether the player would be in or not which led to teams training together all week which gave all squad players confidence (they knew they had the coach's faith in them) and enabled others that extra week to overcome injury worries.

A rhetorical question but how many of the 'tahs injuries over the past two seasons could have been avoided if Hickey had shown faith in his squad players?

 

[fatprop]

As when the last time the Tahs were smashed with injuries, it gave a lot of guys, a lot more game time than they could have normally expected. The bench next year will be much more seasoned and benches win or lose big matches to me.

We need another 10 in the mix with Beale leaving and Foley looked good enough to be given an opportunity. We also need another young winger to groom, someone who can be a threat someone like Grant. He would make mistakes at times, but can also change games.

 

[waratahjesus]

But everyone remembers the games the Reds won after that. One of the criticisms of the Hurricanes game amongst Reds fans was he didn't rotate enough. There was an article on rugby heaven yesterday about Anthony Fainga'a and he said Link made the call on players on the Monday before the game on whether the player would be in or not which led to teams training together all week which gave all squad players confidence (they knew they had the coach's faith in them) and enabled others that extra week to overcome injury worries.

A rhetorical question but how many of the 'tahs injuries over the past two seasons could have been avoided if Hickey had shown faith in his squad players?

I would suggest not many, as I said above, it's a contact sport, injuries happen. The three this week where all the result of contact not of poor management.

To ask a question back, if quade who has played pretty much the whole season goes down with a knee injury next week, would the question be asked of Ewens squad management as it is of hickeys, or would it be put down to luck. I think perception plays a very large part in it.

 

[Groucho]

People think that 5th is bad. But the four teams above have just as many internationals. Consider the playing roster of the Crusaders and Stormers. Given the injury toll, 5th is a good result. Sure we want to win the thing, but only one team can. That isn't accepting mediocrity, it is giving opponents their due. They are damned good teams.

But personally, I'm following Beale to the Rebels. It's not because of the way the Waratahs played, however. They produced some fine football in the second half of the season, and until they lost their locks last night were full of running.

 

[antipodean]

So what happened?

They lost to the Cheetahs. At home. That's when I knew it would be another of those seasons.

 

[Sully]

freak accident caused by a grub

A bit rich when Ryan Cross is the worst offender in the entire comp for blocking player running lines.

 

[vidiot]

They lost to the Cheetahs. At home. That's when I knew it would be another of those seasons.

Yup. They started well and to lose to the crusaders is an understandable setback. The cheetahs were the oh no moment.

The last few weeks or even almost the second half of the season have been so injury cursed that building to anything has been impossible.

 

[Slim 293]

Drew mitchel broken ankle due to a freak accident caused by a grub, it's nit planning it's luck, it's a contact sport and injuries happen.

It's just one of those unfortunate accidents that occur when an outside back collides with his opposite number...

 

[tigerland12]

Drew Mitchell was the biggest loss for the Tahs this year, forget Palu, Barnes and Tatafu. The backline (apart from Beale) looked less potent with out him, he was the best performing player in the comp.

 

[qwerty51]

Disagree. Horne was the biggest loss and it showed defensively right from the Crusaders game. Right until Horne was injured in the Crusaders game the Tahs had not let in a try all season.

 

[vidiot]

I thought the uncertainty at 10 with Barnes, Beale and Hangers stymied any consistent structure/combinations in the backline, and only encouraged the grinding approach that helped precipitate the angst mid year. It also meant that none of them were (Beale/Barnes/Hangers) found form at 10 and the composure/handling and in Hangers case defensive errors made there are very costly.

Even Kurtly, who had a superb super year, wasn't able to settle into steering them around the park and finding touch when they really needed it.

 

[Gnostic]

I fully expected the appologists to trot out the injuries excuse. The facts are that apart from three games this year, Rebels, Reds (Wk2) and Chiefs the Tahs were sadly lacking in skills execution. They played the risk averse game throughout which would have been fine if they displayed the defensive intensity they displayed in those three games I nominated. The big issue is that when the chips were down this year as in last year when the Tahs were required to play a more expansive attacking game they were unable to do so with any accuracy. It happened again last night, the forwards got parity and better than parity for long periods last night but there was no structure in attack. Nobody knew what to do with the ball in attack or counter except give it to KB (Kurtley Beale). When KB (Kurtley Beale) got smashed a few times or had a lack of support he reverted to the kick and hope (hope because the chase was average). The Tahs pigs were (apart from the Cheetahs) the best in the competition IMO, they provided consistant ball and dominated their opponents in many games and achieved parity where they did not. I said pre-season with the pending retirements and tranfers this was the Tahs best chance of a title, but I doubted with Hickey's coaching and game plan if they would do any better than last year. It seems to me to be a carbon copy.

To those who blame injury, just look at the Crusaders and Blues games early in the season, before the injuries they played abysmally and were never in those games until the last 20 of the Blues fixture. The medicrity of the result lies at the feet of the coaching staff and their inability to do more than just "meet" their KPIs.

 

[tigerland12]

Disagree. Horne was the biggest loss and it showed defensively right from the Crusaders game. Right until Horne was injured in the Crusaders game the Tahs had not let in a try all season.

Ahhh good point, I forgot about him....probably because I've seen him play about 5 times in 2 seasons haha

 

[Tahfan]

It was certainly an interesting ride this year for us long suffering Tah Fans. A couple of things I noticed.

1) When they ran the ball the looked the goods. When they didn't they looked awful. Look at the first two games of the season and the last 4. Ball running fearless rugby. Unlucky in Sth Africa to lose either game and smashed the last two. Then compare that to the mid season performances where defensive poor kicking was the order of the day. The flip in how we played away vs Force and Rebels compared to the home games is testament. That's a coaching issue plain and simple.

2) Injuries and Squad depth. Injuries are part and parcel of the game but the Tahs have been just smashed ridiculously this season. That said the positive to take from that is most of the players who have been asked to step up have done so brilliantly and it will hold them in good stead for next season. Also remember the last time we had this sort of injury crisis we finished second last and made the grand final the following season.

I for one am somewhat positive about next year, we were not a million miles off the pace this year with nearly 40 players used and key players playing very little (Barnes, Horne, Cliffy & TPN never 100%) a bit of a rub of the green injury wise next year and it could be a good one. Need to take the shackles off though and let them play. KB (Kurtley Beale) will be a huge loss though.