Claridge was a big factor in containing Walker , completely dominated the TSS inner midfield and was a big big factor in blunting Pasitoa down the stretch - like he handled him one on one defensively in the first trial of the season. He’s got a big kicking game and when employed properly he’ll get his team around the park . He was the perfect , understated foil to a big time centre pairing and got them moving - the attack was absolutely on song v TSS and NC and Claridge’s execution was at the centre of that
Gordon will be an ok player and feasted on a poor Churchie team , a 1 win Terrace team and a no win Grammar team - but he isn’t anywhere near things Claridge can bring to the table - and he’s a big big part of the reason why other team’s 10’s really couldn’t fire too many shots. That , and Jack Howarth wedging in from 13 like something from a Sir David Attenborough African nature special - shut it down good and proper. But make no mistake - there was a reason Steve Kefu wanted him and you have to say it was 100% the right decision and gave BBC the chance to win it all
And they didn’t win it all because of kicking - they didn’t win because of poor coaching preparation and no in game adjustments and critical errors in the last 9 minutes v TSS that led to a 6 point swing . End of story .
But Claridge out played Schmidt and Pasitoa and probably just had the edge over Walker - who I thought mismanaged it with a rookie Coach in an 8 point game in the 2nd half when they had 67% 2nd half possession . BBC scored on last play of the game to open it up to 15 points in the scorecard - and they were the better team , no question , but IGS still squandered opportunity in a “close on the score board” game with 67% 2nd half possession
With Pasitoa , truth is , he didn’t take the game over when he needed to v BBC and didn’t really put his put down until the 2nd half v IGS. I expected him to dominate a lot more ( Hearn too ) v the rookie halves of TSS - but I found it a bit underwhelming.
So , without doing the “name pick” thing that most seem prone to do - and based purely on the merit I could see - Claridge is my starting 10 for the season
And yes , Go Brothers