It is clear to me that CC and Gus will stick to the plan, they are not after quick fixes.

The coach has a style he wants the team to play in attack and defence. We have seen glimpses of it, they will stick to that style and try to find players who can play well in that system.

The start of the season, the first 7 weeks or so was what we expected, the last 10 rounds or so things have gone off the rails. Moving on from Flanno in the halves was the right call.

In the case of Rajab, they probably still see him as part of the future. They will decide what is best for Rajab and the team. They can't 100% judge on reserve grade form. Rajab knows what he has to work on. Most players produce good consistent NRL performances after 50-100 games.

They are looking to win, but also trying to develop players with a future.

We will not front load contracts or sign players who will take up more cap than they should. A top 4 side chasing a premiership win might do that. No quick fixes this season, but we can sign players for 2024.

Mostly the players are not playing the style that the coach wants. We have a marginally higher chance of winning with Flanno in the halves, but there is no future in that path.

We need to sign quite a few decent players. And let go of the rest. 

If they think a young guy has potential they will keep him even if he isn't ready for NRL.

Most important is to get quality and experience  in the key positions where we need it. 3 very good players is more important than 5-6 players who are marginally better than what we have. Halfback, props and perhaps a second rower.

Foxy, Burton, TPJ, King, RFM and Sutton still considerably down their best form.

Many orher players lacking fitness and experience. Some not good enough or depth signings only.

I've said many times that he doesn't get anywhere near the credit he deserves.

Gus may have done a good job setting the junior systems in place, but you can only pick 30 players in your top 30 and 17 players in your first grade team at any time. You can have 5000 good players. But the coach is the decision maker and he deserves all credit for their success.

I'm not convinced Ciraldo is the guy to lead to us to success. It was a horrible decision to sign him up for 5 years. To have this questioned within 3/4 in the first year is a black mark against Gus's judgement.

Not sure where to from here....
I'm not even convinced we've hit rock bottom yet

We have too many spine players with little or no IQ
We haven't fixed this problem and we will continue to occupy the last few spots on the ladder until we fix it

Every year that the Bulldogs can't make the top 8 before the 3/4 point of the season is a complete failure.

Some of us figured it out last year.
Afew others have finally come to realise it this year.

The rest will figure it out by seasons end.

But the real question is....when the fvck will Burton himself realise it?

Like I said earlier, they will stick to the process,. People that don't like that don't have to stick around.

Never. I don't expect this to change for a few seasons. 

There is not half in the game that could shine behind this badly beaten pack… 

Just saw the press conference ,  The reporters seem stunned by the response from coach and captain .. CC telling everyone the club is going in the right direction. 

Though in all honesty more than half of our side are either inexperienced and need to return to cup to learn or are not first graders and belong in cup only. Ciraldo has no one to choose from, what he has is as good as it gets. Where to from here?... that's what CC is getting the big bucks to work out.

They will not make radical changes.

Guys like Pele will work on fitness in reserve grade.

Top 17 selected on form, work to improve the defence.

We might see team changes aimed at improving the defence. Replace Okunbor with a specialst second rower, etc.

Kicks and Tommo apparently 2-3 weeks away. Might need a run in reserve grade.

Geez now a guy can't wander off to the pub for a beer without being run out.

Cummo handled the whingy winey pom journos brilliantly..

Did you hear the one about the dumb pommy and the smart Aussie?

Yeah, but we are  only smart in comparison.

Final thought on the Knights loss, lots to work on.

The team shouldn't be falling down on the basics at this stage of the season.

I agree with Gus that the problem is 70% mental. But they will not get more confident if they can't trust themselves and their teammates to do the basics.

End of set kicks are an issue that includes the kick and the chase. 

A young coach can atleast admit when he made mistakes, with so much to work on CC has been tardy in addressing a few issues.

At this stage I would focus mainly on tackle technique, wrestle, line speed and covering for you mate. They need  to first close the gap between what they have been dishing up and NRL standard.

We need to recruit a player who is good at last tackle kicks, especially if we don't want to rush Hayward or put all our eggs in an unproven basket.

Agree very much with your second last paragraph.
Need to work on these basics and at this stage of the season we really shouldn't be so poor collectively. 

But I'd like to think yesterday was just a bad day at the office and that we can turn it around fairly quickly. 

We have some structural issues with our defence especially the peeling away and numbering up. Gotta get better at that and quick.

But I'm equally worried about our attack. I'm now firmly of the belief that Burton must be moved out of the halves at least in attack, although he should be used for the long distance kicks.

We really need ball players in the middle coz everytime we fail to score from good position when we are suppose to, we invite trouble at the other end.

Decided that yesterday would be annual attendance at an NRL game, Go early I said, we can see the NSW Cup. Bloody hell...104-12 all day. Truth is we were outmuscled all day. As crap as I think Newcastle are they are big fekkers . We are feeling the pinch for our small pack. Okunbur is perhaps the worse jersey pull tackler in the comp. Even Garry Hughes was better than he. In both games yesterday I was probably singularly impressed by Ethan Quai-Ward....he is big and very athletic...looks too classy for NSW Cup...Alamotti was a disaster all day so perhaps a game in NSW Cup may be needed. Pele was added to the NSW Cup team and was  not impressive. Oh yes...the pleasure of attending cost $50. 

The other reserve grade centre Semarni? Is also supposed to be good.

Patolo and Hughes were out with hopefully  short term injures, reserve grade pack definitely light on.

Okunbor will go better in the forwards with an offseason to prepare, he prepared to play wing.

To have a strong defence the middles need to work, but most importantly the second rowers and centres need to be good defenders. Preston is a good defender, Averillo is improving but not yet NRL standard, Allomotti is a fair way below Averillo. Allamotti probably should have been dropped a few weeks ago, to preserve his confidence, give him a spell and freshen him, IMO CC got that wrong.

Okunbor was thrown into the forwards becuase we had no one else, I think he is ok in the middle, but suspect in defence on the edge, especially when teamed up with another suspect defender.

As a defender and kick cleaner up, Perham isn't in the frame often enough for me. Perhaps he is defending in the line, but the better fullbacks drop out of the line and cover.

Our middle forwards are not moving enough that is where all defensive systems start. Allowing fast play the balls and opposition momentum seems to drain their energy.

Apart from the basics and getting some big boys fit, that is what I would consider.

I never expected Kicks, Tommo, TPJ, Patolo, Pele and Hughes to be out injured for so many games. We would be an even smaller pack without Okunbor.

It isn't just the forwards, sometimes we struggle to handle the size of the opposition wingers.

Put that on the list... plenty to work on.

Damn shame that you were at that game, I went to a lot of games in 2008, after that trauma my desire to be at games took a hit.

Stokes "I would not want to win a game like that"

Don't worry Ben, you didn't win, you lost. You also lost the first game when you told the curator what type of pitch to prepare. I assume that you think doctoring up the wicket is in the spirit of the game.

If Poms had any IT skills I would suspect that one of you hacked ball tracker.

No worries we won, even though we had the worst batting conditions day 1 and you had a road to bat on day 5 with our spinner out injured.

BTW Ben did I mention that you have lost the first 2 tests.

Thank you for your service…

Sex-ton sex-ton, you're my sex-ton....

Ok wrong song.....

Hopefully he's the right player though...

Big fan of Sexy… my historical SuperCoach sides will confirm this…

Gotsta admit I appreciate the effort with the Tom Jones link…

I can only but laugh at fans who say stupid shit like we haven’t or can’t sign any decent players…

I am too. I have been surprised the Titans haven’t used him more. He is the player we need unfortunately lacking the experience. But I see this working better than most other options. 

Not a bad signing , I think Sexton could be the one and if he plays well and becomes a star he will definitely get a lot of Sexton’s..
I will be singing the 80s song “Beats so Lonely “

Exactly what we need IMO.

Specalist half with a kicking game, organisational ability and a running game, some NRL experience.

Tits have a lot of talent to choose from and don't always get it right.

If he does have some flaws in his game, we will work on them.