Reds have 'the heart to keep showing up and fighting' for coach Brad Thorn
Optimistic Queensland Reds captain Liam Wright has not given up on their season, or his coach, despite Brad Thorn's fears he's run out of answers.
The Reds fell to 2-5 ahead of a trip to Samoa to face Moana Pasifika next week, unravelling in a 52-24 loss to the ACT Brumbies on Friday.
It was their first defeat in Brisbane to the Australian powerhouse since 2015 and broke a run of 14-straight wins against domestic rivals at Suncorp Stadium.
But the cracks have been there for some time for the 2021 Super Rugby AU champions, with ill-discipline and poor execution a recurring theme for Thorn's side.
Former All Black and Australia rugby league representative Thorn overhauled the program when he took over in 2018, blooding a host of young talent that forms the core of the current side.
Off contract beyond this year, Thorn looked and sounded like a man without answers on Friday night, admitting he had "possibly" taken the side as far as he could.
"You take your hat off when a team is better and the Brumbies were great," he said.
"But we've been striving to see our potential reached and this is the frustrating point.
"I'm a fighter by nature, I like challenges, but it's a disappointing one.
"You care about your staff and players, hope to get the best out.
"When it's not going so well, it's tough."
It was left to skipper Wright to find some positives, the flanker repeating his call after last week's loss to the Crusaders that the players needed to take "the brunt" of the blame.
"We're hurting and we're all feeling it," Wright said.
"It thrusts a lot of pressure on our coaching team, which we're not happy with."
Eight of 12 sides will play finals, with the Reds finishing seventh last season with a 8-6 record and the Highlanders eighth (4-10).
"The beauty of this format is we have to find a way into that top eight and then anything can happen," Wright said.
"We're not writing off our season just yet or anything like that.
"We know there's places to improve, we've sat here every week and said that.
"But it's on us to try and find a way.
"We've got to fix the things that are going backwards for us and we've got the heart to keep showing up and fighting."
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Whats interesting now is the evolution of rugby. More and more the laws are favouring the team in possession and the ball carrier. Teams can keep the ball for longer periods more than ever before with little risk and wear down defences as long as they don’t knock it on. Set pieces are seen as hindrances and as time wasting annoyances by law makers and they are being depowered as lawmakers strive for higher ball in play time. Perhaps its only natural then that teams will take a more assertive and aggressive approach in defence. An offensive defence as you said Nick. This may force errors and turnovers and help teams to break up attacking plays while providing counterattacking prospects. Perhaps we will see more and more teams adopt the blitz in the next 4 year cycle and beyond much like Gegenpress has met Tiki Taka in football. Instead of Pep and Klopp we will have Farrell and Nienaber.
Go to commentsArrogant entitled prick with a huge chip on its shoulder
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