Cubesquare, i dont argue that he has earned himself his reputation from the past but im interested to see if he can withstand it with tougher opposition, majorly Waverley and even possibly Knox. Within my criticisms of players, i do hope players prove me wrong and commit to their potential but these are just my thoughts.
It's pretty silly trying to say that Clunies-Ross doesn't play to his potential. In three years, I don't think I've once seen him fail to beat the first tackler. The issue is whether he can stay fit enough to be in contention for higher selection - he does seem very injury-prone, missing large chunks of last season and now this season. Last I heard he was supposed to be out for four weeks, which on my count might just have him back to play Barker in a bid for selection. Let's hope so - he's a great player to watch and it's a shame he's missed so much game time.
Clark I think deserves the CAS 1sts spot. He has a pretty complete game. Running and passing have always been good, but his kicking out of hand this year has been excellent (one "banana" kick last week was a freakish touch) and his defence has been very good. I think his technique is average, taken all in all, but there was nothing ordinary about his front-on, one-on-one tackle last week.
So what about this weekend? Trinity/Cranbrook will be interesting - logically you'd say Trinity but they need a real lift after last week's horror show. Knox/Aloysius is too close to call. And the big one is Waverley/Barker. Barker has had the softest draw to date and has been unconvincing - Waverley has posted two big scores in a row. My guess is Trinity to do just enough at Cranbrook, and Waverley to win over Barker, which would leave Trinity, Waverley and Barker all on three wins from four games.
