Alex
Jimmy Flynn (14)
Couple of great posts here LG and Hawko - always enjoy your stuff but this is quality. Being passionate about your team shouldn't preclude having a critical eye. Can I add one other issue to the list that I think has been systemic in NSW for a long while.
In NSW we have always loved our rock stars and never pay enough attention to the grafters that are the lifeblood of a team and get you through a long season. Guys like TPN, Timani, Palu, Fatcat, Kepu have always had the ability to have very high quality involvements, but have sometimes (not always in all cases) struggled with the quantity of their involvements. One or two guys who can make the big hit or the big carry can lift a team and turn a match, but you need a rump of players who make tackles, hit rucks, line up for the next carry and do the work off the ball for 80 minutes.
The reds and brumbies have the opposite problem - Benny A, Squeaky, Sio, Carter, Fardy, Kimlin, Mowen, Smith for the Brumbies and Slipper, SFinger, Simmons, Quirke, Shatz and Gill for the Reds played like a pack of mongrel dogs for 80 minutes and we need a bit more of that at the Tahs. We can't leave it all to Hooper, and are probably better letting him off some of this grunt work because his explosive running game is such a weapon.
My concern with the hype around big Willie is that he might be another rockstar - capable of a big play but not up to the 80 minute graft. That said, there is no better man than Chieka to get that out of a pack if the raw materials are there. He seemed to get Dennis to lift his game a notch last season with some quality carries and ruck involvements in the last ten minutes of matches that I had not seen previously. He needs to get Fatcat back to his best and get Douglas and Kepu to acheive the potential that they clearly have. Signing Potgeiter (sp?) as a lock may help address this also. Happpy to have TPN and Palu as the wrecking balls but we need to build a pack around them that loves nothing better than doing the dirty work for 80 minutes.
People often say that no team has ever won a super title without a great five eighth, but for mine the common demominator in the Super competition is a mongrel pack. When Qld won the title a few years back, my man of the match was Daly. Watch the last 5 minutes of that match and see how many times in succession he cut down the ball carrier, got back to his feet, marshalled the defence and then made the next tackle. He gets rogered in the scrums but he did the work of 8 men in the championship minutes when everyone else was out on their feet. If we see a bit of that at the tahs I will start to get excited.
In NSW we have always loved our rock stars and never pay enough attention to the grafters that are the lifeblood of a team and get you through a long season. Guys like TPN, Timani, Palu, Fatcat, Kepu have always had the ability to have very high quality involvements, but have sometimes (not always in all cases) struggled with the quantity of their involvements. One or two guys who can make the big hit or the big carry can lift a team and turn a match, but you need a rump of players who make tackles, hit rucks, line up for the next carry and do the work off the ball for 80 minutes.
The reds and brumbies have the opposite problem - Benny A, Squeaky, Sio, Carter, Fardy, Kimlin, Mowen, Smith for the Brumbies and Slipper, SFinger, Simmons, Quirke, Shatz and Gill for the Reds played like a pack of mongrel dogs for 80 minutes and we need a bit more of that at the Tahs. We can't leave it all to Hooper, and are probably better letting him off some of this grunt work because his explosive running game is such a weapon.
My concern with the hype around big Willie is that he might be another rockstar - capable of a big play but not up to the 80 minute graft. That said, there is no better man than Chieka to get that out of a pack if the raw materials are there. He seemed to get Dennis to lift his game a notch last season with some quality carries and ruck involvements in the last ten minutes of matches that I had not seen previously. He needs to get Fatcat back to his best and get Douglas and Kepu to acheive the potential that they clearly have. Signing Potgeiter (sp?) as a lock may help address this also. Happpy to have TPN and Palu as the wrecking balls but we need to build a pack around them that loves nothing better than doing the dirty work for 80 minutes.
People often say that no team has ever won a super title without a great five eighth, but for mine the common demominator in the Super competition is a mongrel pack. When Qld won the title a few years back, my man of the match was Daly. Watch the last 5 minutes of that match and see how many times in succession he cut down the ball carrier, got back to his feet, marshalled the defence and then made the next tackle. He gets rogered in the scrums but he did the work of 8 men in the championship minutes when everyone else was out on their feet. If we see a bit of that at the tahs I will start to get excited.
