I do gym with CFS's old school PE & rugby teacher, he reckons we haven't seen CFS yet. Although he was fit when playing he's nervous about doing his hammy again.
Still, he reckons just wait you'll see.
You can see it every time he runs. I actually can't remember the last time I saw CFS do anything that resembled striding out and hitting full pace.
That said, even running cautiously he cut the Blues up a few times.
He may have had some injury issues in the past but this recent shoulder thing could have happened to literally any player at any time and has little/nothing to do with his hamstring issues which have been getting better, objectively, in terms of his availability to play.
For mine the big difference between Aidan and CFS has to be that CFS doesn't display anything resembling the obvious skill deficiencies that Aidan has shown in his stints at 15.
The only repeated issues I've noticed with CFS have been the hesitancy in his running style and issues defending on the wing (which historically and this year as well usually comes down to a lack of numbers or poor communication between the winger, 15 and the cover/slide defender - not so much always the result of poor decisions by the winger) but other than that he's shown some physical prowess in the loose and in contact that we could really, really use in the backs right now.
Oh, and he comes off as a little bit soft and maybe even a bit 'lazy' on defense but it's not something I've specifically looked for and more something I've noticed in passing so that may not be totally true.
He seems to be growing, albeit a bit slowly, with each game he plays for the Reds. When CFS comes back from injury you know you've got a player which will at the very least do what you want him to do and at the other end of things has the potential to carve a team to pieces. When Aidan comes back from injury it's literally a complete crapshoot in regards to what may or may not happen.
These are the kind of really shitty decisions that need to be made by the administrators to keep the Reds organization lean and efficient in financially troubling times that are challenging the foundations of the game in Australia.
I've never even met Aidan and I wouldn't want to see him dropped and effectively have his dream of playing for the Reds as a career extinguished. He seems like an absolutely top-shelf bloke but is also going into his mid-20s and displaying huge, huge skill deficiences in vital aspects of not just playing fullback but playing footy at the Super Rugby level.
We need to be looking forward to the competitiveness and viability of the Reds in the long term and poor decisions today could very well come kicking us in the ass next season or even five seasons from now.
I am very happy I'm not one of those administrators right now.
@tranquility sorry for editing so much after you liked the post