From a rugby point of view, what a waste of talent. From the point of view as a human being, what waste. Lovely wife and kids, he needs serious help.
Really sad to hear, for all concerned.
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Feel sad for all of them involved but if he’s found to have done it, he deserves the punishment handed out and hopefully, one day, before it’s too late, he can turn his life around.
St Helens Rugby League Football Club
He just seemes to have found a way back into RL and then he throws it away again. His family must be in despair. I know his family didn't want to leave here, I bet he wished he'd listened.
Forwards win games. The backs decide by how much.
If he had stayed it would have ended badly ... He was disinterested towards the end and we were to reliant on him. We had a much better team with Coote in the side than Barba. I doubt we would have been as successful if he'd have stayed. He was probably on best behaviour so that he'd get a NRL contract and now he's potentially ruined what little chance he had left. As said before it's his wife and kids I feel sorry for.
I think WWW was commenting from a Barba perspective, not from a Saints one.
His behaviour over here was, according to his partner, totally different. She was convinced a lot of his problems in Aus were caused/exacerbated by the bad influences he had over there (including within his extended family). But I also think that this group of players at the club are, in essence, decent people with professional and mature approaches to life and RL.
Interesting to consider an alternative future where Barba rejects the NRL once and for all, though. Would his performances still have slumped if he'd decided to remain at Saints and see out his career here? Would we have struggled to win the 3-peat with Barba instead of Coote?
It's all ifs, buts and maybes but can you imagine if Woolf had come in and instilled the same team mindset within the camp whilst having the strike of Barba chiming in, frightening.
Totally agree with the fact we often resorted to the one dimensional tactic, but the same was levelled at the team anyway with the ball out back to Coote and miss pass.
Holbrook was a bit soft with his decision making on dropping players lacking form. Woolf is quite different here and has improved the mental toughness and defence attribute in every player. That mental toughness might have helped Barba on and off the pitch, however Barba might have been too much of a challenge for Woolf.
Yes my point was more that Barba may have done better personally had he stayed over here, whether that would have translated to on field success for him and the club is anyones guess. Can’t really argue with the trophy haul Coote ended up with as his successor!
Forwards win games. The backs decide by how much.