I think Moran has credit in the bank for the stuff pre 2009 however Middleton should be criticised as much as Karl IMO. As Wires71 said, we have gone backwards since he came in. As someone who loves to tell you how much money he's ploughed into the club having been in his company a couple of times, I'd be interested to know if he is willing to take some responsibility for the poop show we are witnessing before our very eyes.

Yep standards are set from the top. If continual sub-standard performance is accepted, that's what you will get. 


Burgess, Chambers, Gleeson and Marshall know they aren't going to be sacked however we perform. 


It's all very comfortable apart from for us mugs who follow them. 

I think the money spent on signings and the lack of success speaks for itself. I would estimate 1 in every 4 players we've signed over the past 5 years could probably be looked at as smart / shrewd, which isn't anywhere near good enough for a team wanting to finish as league leaders & win a Grand Final. For me, Wigan & Hull KR lead the way, although the latter will sign anyone regardless of who they are.


Somebody messaged me on Twitter this week saying 'club is a shambles at the moment.' My reply...... 'At the moment ???'

Not quite rock bottom yet but the club have been in a steady decline for the last 5-8 years. Nothing will change until change is made at the top table. And I include Moran as well. 

You may be right - but who is going to instigate the change? 


Do you think the board of directors will suddenly realise that, whilst they may be generous with their cash, they are not very good at running a title aspiring RL club*?



*Statement concluded empirically by observing league performance over an extended period across a number of coaches in contrast with the publicly stated aim of winning the title. 

I think over the past 12 or so years we have been chasing the dream of the big one. We have been trying to buy our way to the holy grail by chasing Star players that will be the difference between also rans and the winners. Look at the number of halfbacks (6/7) we have had. 
Sandow
Roberts
Brown
Widdop
Gidley
Williams
Austin
Sneyd
Plus probably others I have forgotten. 


But when you look at Saints they have stability in a lot of those key positions. Pretty sure Lomax has been at Saints all those 12 years. . The Melbourne storm model was based around the 1,6,7&9. 




It looks like we have tried to get the best in some positions and then some other positions have been an afterthought based on what we had left available on the cap. 


I think we need to spin it on its head and build the squad around what we have and who we think will be invested in the club long term and then fill in around that with some quality players. 


So it is feasible to see a team built around
CTW, Lindop, Thewlis x 2,  Possibly Wrench, Irwin, Hayes, Thomas, Wood, Walker, Harthill, Ashton etc 
Some of them might not make the grade but hopefully all do. 
Then you look at the positions where we need support and fill them with quality players. A few quality forwards and a quality centre. 
I think we have been approaching this the other way round by playing fantasy RL to try and get top players and then realizing we only have enough money to Sign Matty Russell, Dan Russell, etc