T-REX - A $600,000 DECOY
I have seen enough and have had enough of the effort this player has made in the first five rounds of football for my club the Canterbury Bulldogs.
Tony Williams was brought across to the Bulldogs from Manly at the insistence of coach Des Hasler for the sum of $600,000 per year.
Hasler and the entire Bulldogs team have come out and defended Williams, but of course they have to, they need to make it work whatever they think or feel personally and I commend them for doing so.
But why is Hasler letting this ride week in, week out without making Williams earn his spot and keeps him out there like a lame duck for 80 minutes?
I can understand if Williams needed to be worked up to handle the load as a second rower for 80 minutes, but that's what the off-season is for.
I saw the first trial game at Belmore against the Jets, and Williams looked unfit, slow, sluggish and boring, and in 5 weeks of the NRL season I have seen no improvement at all.
Hasler has said that Williams has been giving new things to work on and that his effort has been consistent. I can agree with the latter because he has been awful every week.
I was not expecting Williams to be this 'power house' they all said he could be, in the same way I don't expect Barba to score a try every time he picks up the ball, but I expect him to do a decent job on the field, do the basics as a minimum and not be a burden on his team mates.
But look at the stats against his old team Manly that he was supposedly "fired up" for - 9 hit-ups and 55 metres gained in total. He was continually off-side in possession, meaning he was always standing in front of the play-the-ball or attack line in general causing a forward pass to be thrown at one stage because he had over-run the ball.
If he still needs to learn the basics of 80 minute football he should be relegated to the NSW Cup side. We are way behind the other top 4 teams of 2012 because it seems we weren't ready in time for the season to start.
I will be the first one to eat my words the minute he begins to earn his keep, and lets face it he is on $600,000 per year, this is some keep to earn, it's huge money, for 55 metres and 9 hit ups? Give me a break!
Look at the intense attacking criticism flung at Julia Gillard every time she is in the media spotlight or in question time or any time for that matter. Her performance is berated and ripped apart for every tiny possible flaw. And consider this, Julia Gillard is not earning anywhere near $600,000 per year. And in my opinion I'm certain she would have made more than 55 metres last week against Manly and twice the hit ups!
But all jokes aside, I get what Hasler is saying and what he is trying to achieve but he needs to take action soon because the confidence of the team is getting lower with every loss and we need to cut this downward spiral now.
Williams is the millstone around this teams neck and he needs to pull his head in and start earning that inflated pay packet he receives. Or perhaps he only came for the money and doesn't give a stuff.
But at the moment he is indeed the worlds most expensive decoy.
You only have to read my weekly NRL blogs to know I don't think its doom and gloom for the Bulldogs and there's a lot of belief in them as a team, but there is a serious problem and it's the new addition to the side that is bringing the whole place down.
I hope he decides to show us what our membership money has gone towards and that he was indeed a good investment.
Good luck against the Roosters to the whole team.
That's my gripe this week
Ex the T-Rex
J G S
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