Hazza wrote: ↑May 25, 2019, 5:27 pm
Rickmando wrote: ↑May 25, 2019, 5:15 pm
We are not a top 4 team. Top sides don’t “celebrate” losses like we have the past few weeks. Those responses further confirmed our inferiority complex regarding where we sit compared to so-called “big” clubs.
It’s why we are on the end of so many close losses - the players lack belief, and it’s been hammered in over many recent seasons.
It’s also rife in the supporter base.
Plenty of things have to change for us to ever shake this attitude that has come to identify us in the past 20 years... first thing is to stop accepting mediocrity in lots of things that we do as a club (on and off field aspects)
I don't disagree with any of that. And I'm as guilty as anyone. 'Well at least we're still in the 8'. Probably cos deep down I never thought we were a top 4 team. I don't know if that's the loser mentality you speak of or just bring realistic.
It’s ok to be optimistic - as fans, that’s all we’ve got! The issue with supporters is (generally) we make too many excuses for this club/this team, continually feeding the narrative that we’re the little guy, the underdog, the ones who are constantly wronged because we are the “have-nots”, jealous of the “haves”. This is an attitude that goes right up to board level, in my opinion.
Melbourne are always thrown up as a benchmark in these discussions (rightly so) - but they are a team in an almost non-existent RL market, they’re technically the closest thing to an outpost the NRL has. Have they ever in their history pissed and moaned that players don’t want to move to Melbourne? That the NRL has it in for them? No! What they’ve done is systematically be better at all aspects of on and off field operations - and the results have naturally followed, despite playing their football in a rugby league wasteland.
They’ve been proactive at how they attack winning the title each year, while also thinking about subsequent years (something the Raiders of old were) instead of pathetically reactive (like our current administration).
A culture change to one of accountability has to happen before any positive results can follow. This means having lots of tough conversations about executive, coaching, and playing personnel to weed out this mindset of mediocrity... but who in the current set up is willing to have them? No one - it’s just the good old boys who function to give jobs to other good old boys. The cycle will continue....