Mentoring Blues a coach killer
They have got to make sure they are not just listening to it, but taking it on board to make sure that when it comes to the weekend, it counts. The players have had a good look at themselves but we are all in this together.
There is an embedded preconception about the latent talent inherent in the Blues that has created a longstanding belief they will become a champion side if they can find the right coach.
It has been like this for more than 10 years — the pressure to perform parked almost exclusively with the coaching group. So the chronic underperformance of the past 10 years has been recorded in history as a story of coaching failure.
Everyone seems to have bought into this, which is why the Blues have fallen into an established pattern of firing their coach on the back of every disappointing campaign. And how long now before there is an overwhelming negative tide flowing towards Tana Umaga, demanding that he too, just like Pat Lam and John Kirwan before him, be swept away?
How long, given that the Blues have won only once in their opening five games and face the Chiefs in Hamilton tonight, before yet another coaching era is characterised as a failure and the drums start beating for change?
But the cycle of hiring and firing the coach hasn’t fixed the endemic problem of poor skill execution, limited understanding of game plans and even less ability to execute them. The narrative is not a fair reflection of what has plagued the club in the past decade because the players haven’t always been sent down the wrong tactical path by an errant coaching staff.
They can’t endlessly be portrayed as victims of poor coaching when so many of the most basic elements of the game are beyond them. It should be dawning on the coach critics that significant numbers of Blues players have an imbalance between their physical gifts and mental fortitude.
There may well be a stack of talent in the squad but how much of it is coachable? How many players simply don’t know how to be responsible for their performance or how to learn from their mistakes?
When the final whistle blew at Eden Park last week to signal the Blues had lost 63-40 to the Sharks, a somewhat gaunt and ashen-faced Umaga looked to the heavens, his face betraying a mix of frustration and disappointment but also an element of bewilderment that once again, despite the hours of training, there were players who had gone missing.
The Blues kicked poorly, compounded matters by lacking urgency and cohesion in their chasing and they slipped off 23 per cent of their one-on-one tackles. The issue of personal responsibility was forefront in his mind and yet such is the convention of not publicly throwing players under the bus, Umaga was stuck in his own tormented, silent world of knowing he’d be blamed, yet the real issue was that a number of individuals failed to meet the required levels of professionalism in regard to their preparation and attitude.
High performance is a collaborative place where coaches have a responsibility to build effective game plans and embed a culture of excellence. Players have to drive their motivation and personal standards so they are able to apply themselves to deliver what has been asked.
Umaga and his coaching team are clearly not without fault, yet just as evident is that in the past couple of weeks, the majority of blame for the poor performances sits with the players. Nothing signals that more than their concession of 63 points at home.
Everyone in the top flight talks about defence being driven by desire. The Blues’ review of the Sharks game showed the problems were not related to the system — therefore the attitude of individuals has to be scrutinised.
“We look at ourselves just as hard as coaches to make sure we are delivering on all the things we need to be doing,” said Umaga. “Are we doing all we can to educate the players about what we need from them?
“They have got to make sure they are not just listening to it, but taking it on board to make sure that when it comes to the weekend, it counts. The players have had a good look at themselves but we are all in this together. The feedback from the players is that they are getting it and now they just have to execute.”
The notion it is Umaga’s responsibility to motivate his players and inspire them to give more against the Chiefs than they did against the Sharks was rejected by standin captain James Parsons.
He’s a veteran of many a failed Blues’ campaign.
“It is about making sure we are in this together. It is not just one man’s responsibility. We are all grown men here and we all have a job to do and it is about owning that individually.
He [Umaga] can’t go out there and play for us and at the same time we can’t plan the week so it is about us coming together to do the job.”