Queensland Reds lack players who strike fear into opposition sides, Andrew Slack writes

OUTSIDE of the Reds’ obvious game breakers, there are too few individuals who strike fear into the hearts of their opponents.

WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND - APRIL 26: Conrad Smith of the Hurricanes and James Horwill of the Reds share a moment's silence to mark the significance of Anzac Day prior during the round 11 Super Rugby match between the Hurricanes and the Reds at Westpac Stadium on April 26, 2014 in Wellington, New Zealand. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

THIRTY-SIX years ago this month, Canterbury, in the times before they were Crusaders, came to town.

Queensland, then known as the Maroons before shifting hue in the professional era, had won 20 games on the trot at their home ground, Ballymore.

It was a gun side with barely a weakness in personnel.

True legends of the code, such as Mark Loane, Tony Shaw, Paul McLean and Brendan Moon were on the scene, and victory No.21 was really only a matter of turning up.

The administration of the time was so confident the game would herald a legitimate coming of age that a monster cake was baked to mark the triumph.

Sadly, the fruits of the baker’s efforts were consumed on the flight back to Christchurch because no self-respecting Queenslander had any sort of appetite after the 25-0 thrashing. Talk about party-poopers.News_Rich_Media: Former Wallaby George Gregan believes coach Ewen McKenzie is unlikely to select a Reds player for the leadership roles, claiming the side needs captains with a winning mentality.

Roll on to Sunday, and the comforting, if somewhat straw-clutching message out of that calamity for today’s Reds fan base is that nothing’s a certainty in sport.

Just as well, because if recent form dictates the scoreboard, a re-enactment of 1978 or worse would not be out of the question.

The past month has seen the Reds heading south and the Crusaders galloping north, with every objective observation indicating the visitors are again certainties to take the cake.

In fairness to the 1978 Cantabrians, they were a pretty handy side who played to their ability that afternoon. Queensland put in a shocker.

Today’s Crusaders are an impressive team, but the doubt which lingers on the back of recent performances is whether the current Reds outfit are even good enough to take advantage of an opponent who might have an off day.

Can they turn it around or do they simply just not have the personnel?

I fear the latter, but pleasingly the captain believes not. Or at least, understandably enough, says he believes not.

“It’s frustrating that it is so difficult to put a finger on exactly what it is that’s not working for us,” James Horwill said during the week. News_Rich_Media: Reds prop Ben Daley insists his side still has belief they are in finals contention, despite slipping to 13th place after four consecutive defeats.

He intimated that all his players needed to check out the mirror: “We have spoken about making sure you get your own backyard sorted before you worry about anybody else’s.”

He then went on to pinpoint one of the biggest causes behind this season of struggle.

“We’re heaping pressure on ourselves by putting together back to back negatives. You knock on or make other mistakes, which happens in games and that’s life, but then on top of that we give away a stupid penalty which piggybacks teams down into your end of the field.”

He’s dead right. At this level you can get away with single mistakes. You don’t get away with a mistake coupled with another one.

This epidemic of errors comes on the back of another major cause underpinning the Reds difficulties, the lack of threats.

At their best, there are a number of world class players in the current Reds outfit. Outside the obvious game breakers, there is too high a percentage of individuals who fail to strike fear into the hearts of their opponents. This is exacerbated by, or perhaps in part due to, a lack of size across the board.

That shortcoming needs to be addressed, but that is all about recruitment for next season and beyond, and doesn’t provide any solutions for the here and now.

Summing up the problems of the past month, Horwill concluded: “It’s a bunch of everything mate.’’

There’s a lot for the Reds to fix, and whether they’re raging hot favourites or despised outsiders the Crusaders are not renowned for showing their on-field empathy.