Eardley has had a team in which many of the 2nd year players got plenty of experience as first- year scholars last year. They also got frequent rave reviews for their performances. This year most of them have gone backwards and overall the team's performances have not been good enough. I could understand if one or two players had plateaued but few indeed seem to have prospered.
To my mind, such a general malaise has to be the fault of either our much vaunted recruitment or the coaching. Teams like Salford should not be thrashing us.
What has Eardley done wrong? The role of the coach is to improve players, to create integrated patterns of play that bring about about successful outcomes, and to make sections of the team - defence, midfield, attack - function effectively. Eardley has patently failed to achieve this on a consistent basis.
