There definitely need to be changes and I’m not just talking about next week.
The women’s game is always in a conversation with itself, about its future, how quickly it’s evolving. I and others on here have identified how quickly certain players who were elite or at least quite good within the last few years can get left behind as younger/more athletic talent pours into the comp (and as existing young talent becomes more experienced).
I thought it was quite an effort to win the comp last year with a fair few players who are quite limited in some way. We carried middles with very little running game but who defend well, and middles who can make a lot of metres but leave huge holes in our defensive line constantly because they can’t move laterally or get back onside after they make a tackle. We’re very short on strike athletes or strong yardage carriers out wide compared to what the other good teams (and even some bad teams) can boast. We were a team that was really good at hanging in there and doing just enough to win, and then in the finals we rode a hot start over the Broncos into a prelim win before Upton carried us to a grand final win in a game we should have lost (and probably would have if the Titans coach wasn’t so inept).
I was very happy with the win but knew this formula of a handful of elite players propping up a fair few very committed but limited girls wouldn’t last forever, one of these other teams with more talent overall would put it together. It definitely looks like this year that’s the Broncos. The girls need to play a lot smarter but tonight it really looked like once Brisbane got a roll on, there wasn’t a lot we could do to stop it. Brisbane already had a strong squad and to that they’ve added the Roosters’ 2nd best middle + what looks like an elite winger in that girl who’s come over from rugby. Now they’ve got a deep forward rotation of capable two way players (ie girls who can tackle AND run) and likely the best backline in the comp - definitely the best halves combo and arguably the best strike centre at least (I’d probably give the nod to Chapman there though). If they perform come finals time, we can’t beat them - simple as that.
Losing CJ is a big blow, but the silver lining is without her elite two way ability propping up a lot of the girls around her, it should become way more clear to the recruitment staff the kind of iceberg we may be heading for if we don’t find a way to stengthen the squad enough to keep up with the talent levels of some of the other teams. There may have been a risk of complacency sinking in if we won again, but now it must be obvious what a priority it is to try to replace her by any means we can.
I note Elsie Albert is yet to be signed for next year…
