Nick Taylor reviews Western Force's 2008 season
Nick Taylor reviews Western Force's 2008 season
Nick Taylor
May 17, 2008 06:00pm
A HORROR draw, Matt Henjak, quokkas and injuries ... Nick Taylor reviews season '08 for the Western Force.
IT was a season that looked like offering so much, but delivered little.
Nobody can write the script in sport, but when the Force were sitting pretty in fourth spot after six rounds, the last few pages were looking good.
But they struggled to maintain the momentum and the idea of a happy ending was soon despatched to the bin.
It shows just how quickly fortunes can change in Super 14 rugby, demonstrates how tough the competition can be and that sides cannot take their foot off the pedal for even one game.
Some blame for the slump can be laid on the huge injury toll, which at times exposed a lack of experience that forced coach John Mitchell to send 10 players out on debut.
The side had a particularly tough opening to their itinerary, but that is something players have to learn to live with.
But there is no escaping the blame that can be laid squarely on the shoulders of disgraced halfback Matt Henjak. His sacking hurt the side. How much is difficult to gauge, but "severely'' is a word that comes to mind.
His experience and defence around the base of the ruck and scrum were lost to a rush of blood, compounded by other unsavoury incidents. It was as severe a blow to the side as the one he laid on Haig Sare's jaw.
Mitchell had stressed from day one that he wanted a big, strong halfback who could fill the role of an extra loose forward.
He does not have that now.
The Rottnest quokka-abusing affair was undoubtedly unsettling and is a chapter the club will want to put behind it, but episodes like that tend to take a long time to disappear.
It was not all doom and gloom. There were high moments and encouraging performances that Mitchell, his captain Nathan Sharpe and the side can take from the otherwise disappointing year.
There were two wins in South Africa and it broke its losing jinx in New Zealand.
There were positives in the performances of the new breed: Tom Hockings, Sam Wykes, Nick Cummins, James O'Connor, Dane Haylett-Petty, Kieran Longbottom, Josh Tatupu and Pek Cowan.
But on-field there were also deep lows, none more so than the demoralising performance against the Reds.
The error-ridden 32-16 loss at home to the Stormers was not exactly a night to remember, either, and there was a missed chance to deliver an after-the-siren knockout blow to the Waratahs.
So the curious conundrum remains: how they could they have left South Africa with two wins from three - and very nearly an unblemished tour;- play so well against the Crusaders at Subiaco, albeit in a loss; and beat the Blues and Highlanders in New Zealand, only to turn in the poor performances.
There will be regret over lost chances, but on reflection some players may well admit that in the end they were not ready for a place in the semi-finals.
New chief executive Greg Harris will take a long hard look at many aspects of the Force, on and off field.
Top of his must-do list will be re-signing the likes of Matt Giteau and David Pocock.
Mitchell says he is not one to dwell on the past, but he will scrutinise every game, every player, as he plans for next year.
He has shown that reputation counts for little when it comes to selection and he will wield the axe with devastating effect.
He is looking at new blood for some key spots, notably halfback, front row and on the flank.
Whether those players come from outside or surface from within the club, only time will tell.
http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/stor...005401,00.html
Head above the parapet ...........
The article appears to me to be pretty superficial and doesn't present any new and pertinent facts, it just regurgitates the bad news from the season.
The reality is that the Force played reasonably well for the first five games (the two games lost were against the two best sides in the competition, Crusaders and Sharks, both by 7 points) and then did not for the next five. They played their first ten games without a break and along with the Bulls were the last to have a bye. After defeating the Blues in Auckland in round 5, the demise started at Queenstown the following weekend with a scrappy performance against the Highlanders. That poor performance might be easy to overlook since the Force won the game by eight points.
From there it got progressively worse. A thumping by the Stormers the next week when the Force appeared almost incapable of breaking down a strong defense. This was followed by a one point win against the Bulls - who were not in good form at the time - and a win should not lead us to forget that it was a poor performance. Then defeat to the 'Tahs (albeit by a narrow 5 points) followed by the abject embarresment in Brisbane the following week.
It just got worse as that five weeks wore on.
Then came the bye. The last three matches after the bye were far better with two good wins and a brave defensive effort in atrocious conditions.
So, in my humble opinion, it's a matter of not having the strength in depth to withstand injuries and/or ten weeks of unrelenting and unforgiving matches that places the front line players under too much pressure. It's something that has to be remedied by having the guys who can step up and cover for the front-line members of the team for 80 minutes, not just off the bench (it used to be called "rotation" although I gather that's now akin to swearing). It takes some time to build a strong squad that can provide this level of cover and there are promising signs that it's not too far away.
Keep the faith. Here's to 2009.