I absolutely agree that Dawes has to ultimately shoulder the blame, but watching the game yesterday and looking at the highlights, most of the players need to take a long, hard look at themselves in the mirror. The amount of times we conceded the ball under little or no pressure, with options available, and the opportunities to put tackles in that were shirked, was shocking. It’s been mentioned about the disparity in physicality yesterday, but I’m a believer in “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog” and that’s sorely missing (pre-injury, Norris most definitely had that fight).
I know motivation and attitude can positively be influenced by managers/coaches, but surely there’s also got to be a large dollop of self-motivation and desire. We have some experienced pros in the team that should also lead by example. I’m aware that there has to be respect and belief for any manager/leadership team and methods; maybe there’s an issue with regards to that and players are not buying into it (the other scenario is that they’re just not good enough to implement it).
Anyhow, it does seem inevitable things will change with one aspect of the current dynamic and let’s hope it’s a trigger for more positive things.