This is a bit of a re-hash of comments I've made before, but everything I'm seeing towards this back end of the season has re-affirmed my belief in how Pauli Pauli needs to be used for us.
The guy is quite obviously a truck but I think we've got to get him into the same kind of 13 role that Souths used with Burgess and that the Cowboys now adopt with Taumalolo.
All these three guys are so big and powerful, they're virtually unstoppable. I say virtually because they are stoppable when you know how they're coming at you. Right now, Pauli is playing mostly as a fringe back-rower. That's resulting in 2 things - 1) he's not getting enough ball and 2) oppositions are preparing for him.
Pauli played 46 minutes last night for four receives. For a guy who I would say is undoubtedly your biggest weapon in the side, that's not enough. And what's more, he's getting ball it in pretty predictable positions.
Now if you compare Taumalolo this round - his 43 minutes resulted in 13 receives and 12 runs.
And where both Taumalolo and Burgess have been so dangerous is the fact that they pop up anywhere. It's much harder to defend against a guy that size when you can't design a defensive plan to stop him.
Pauli's made really good progress this year on his defence and aggression, but you might argue he's been less effective as an attacking weapon. I think that's definitely partly down to the fact that opposition defences are wary of him and they're managing to get three tacklers to hit him.
Now, that won't necessarily be a bad thing when we have halves who can take advantage of him drawing defenders but still I believe we'll get far more out of him by rotating him with Watmough in a 13 role and just give him a bunch of freedom to go on a roving wrecking remit.
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Agreed. It's one of the reasons he's still on the bench next year for mine. The fact that he can pop up anywhere and be damaging is an exciting prospect. It has hurt him, and Tep, that they've had to play on the right where both halves on that side of the field haven't been able to use them properly.
Also needs to lay off the Maccas - create your own burgers.
I feel like he's still be a young/immature for this role, Phil. Not to mention lazy.
A lot of freedom comes with a lot of responsibility. Being that extra man in the middle of the field requires that you see where you need to be, and can be arsed getting there, both in attack and defense. It's a big ask.
It's easier to hide laziness in the middle of the field than it is to hide it out wide, especially in defence.
Maybe I missed it but it used to work really well the few times it was tried
But don't recall seeing it tried for a while
Due to our current halves paring our attack has already broken down before the ball reaches him or it is so slow the defense is on top of him straight away.
Maybe he isn't capable of just roaming yet? Is it possible the coach has him in a more structured role because he isn't reading the play fast enough at the moment?
Phil im really questioning how BA is using both Junior and Pauli, especially close to the line, he is just not utilising them properly all season, nor do i think hes been using Tep very effectively either even though i realise Teps shoulder has been stuffed.
Look at Junior last night, close to the line he was unstoppable when put on the end of a decent ball, Pauli should be the same, imo these forwards just arnt developing their games much, its got me questioning BAs ability to have players improve under him, how many players have improved under BA?
Theres a few that have improved but not as many as i'd like.
We must not forget that a great half or five eight can make an average forward look awesome as does Thurston and Cronk at their respective clubs.I think we will see further improvement from our big boys next year with Foran and Norman together.Although i dont think our forwards have done a bad job this year.
Our forwards definitely aren't the problem this year. In nearly every game they've laid the platform well that our halves haven't been able to take advantage. Hopefully next year with a better half we'll be able to capatalise on the good work our forwards do on both sides of the field.
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