… Ottens looks fit enough. It's his body language, his urgency that's at issue. It's as if he takes tranquillisers before a game.
In technical terms, there is nothing he can't do: he is an expert ruckman, a reliable mark, a super kick for his size, and he is brave and durable.
Otto has always looked and played that way. Nothing has changed since he started at RFC to now and that’s the problem.
And that’s also when you know that other forces are at play, because a player with that amount of ability should be capable of more and better, you would think.
Obviously it’s up to the player to have the commitment, but Otto doesn’t seem to lack in that area. He just can’t seem to put it all together and no one seems capable of helping him out in that department.
Last week, Nigel Smart was asked to comment about the coaches he had played under. He cited Malcolm Blight as a coach who could teach players.
And that’s our big problem, because we have a coach who is learning and it’s not helping our players. Not his fault, but it hasn’t helped the players or the coach himself.
If we had been honest enough or realised this soon enough and put in place a coaching structure that could cope with this situation then things may not have become as bad as they have.
