Agree with all of that. I’d add four freak issues that hit the squad early on in the season to the mix.
1. The Brannagan eye injury
2. The Joel Cooper situation
3. Mousinho ending up as a passenger for the first half of the season
4. Experienced pros Eastwood and Henry taking a long time to recover from the playoff final.
All teams have injuries and squad situations. I don’t think we’ve been hit any worse than others but maybe a few key players have been affected. A couple of those instances listed above no one would have predicted ahead of the season starting.
In addition, Elliott Moore lost his Dad late into preseason and undoubtedly impacted on his preparation. Josh Ruffels had a very unlucky injury with landing on his shoulder after a nothing challenge. Gorrin was also injured had that contributed to our poor defensive record as much as the ever changing back 4. And I would add Taylor to those who lost form at the beginning of the season.
So if you look at the team that finished last season and how they performed in the first dozen games.
Eastwood - badly out of form and probably got an extra half dozen games out of loyalty.
Long - 50 mins at RB, then LB and CB over the next dozen games.
Dickie - left replaced by Atkinson, who had 2 injuries in the first dozen or more games.
Moore - lost his Dad and played in a makeshift defence. Form clearly affected.
Ruffels - a freak injury and then lost of form.
Sykes - not regularly playing and very inconsistent.
Gorrin - injured first game and too exposed on his return.
Brannagan - freak injury that kept him out for most of the first half of the season.
Henry - huge loss of form and confidence. Really struggled to make any impression and offered little support on the right.
Taylor - chipped away with a few goals but never looked particularly sharp and not helped by the lack of service he got.
Browne - left and replaced by Cooper who sadly couldn't settle. Some glimpses of what he was capable of, but barely had a run.
Some of these issues were of our own making (we were at least one defender short and had a bench of utility players rather than direct replacements). But I don't think anyone would argue against the fact that we were desperately unlucky to lose pretty much everything from a playoff final side within a couple of weeks of the season starting.