I think we are better off keeping Marata at 13 and playing Brown as the interchange prop with Evans. I say this for a few reasons:
1. Marata is hard working and very talented. Apart from having a bit of agression and X factor about him, he is very safe too. I can't recall him having a bad game for us.
2. Brown is a good front rower, he showed us that at the bunnies. With him rotating with Evans, we have two excellent impact props that will bend the line and hit like freight trains in Defence.
3. No Terepo.
4. Marata, Lane, Matterson are all 80 minute players. Therefore, I think we can afford to carry a smaller impact 14 type player on the bench with speed and agility to play on the ball when everyone else is tired. Someone like Jai Field (happy to try him at least). I think with the rule changes, a player like that is going to be a real point of difference.
5. I think we have outgrown the need for Brown as our spiritual leader of the forwards. He created spark and aggression when we played with plodders like Alvaro and Mannah. However, our aggression is fine now and our pack is very skillful and well balanced.
Replies
Its not the worst idea i think he has that ability to come on as an immediate impact type.
14.Stone/takka/?Field
15. Brown
16. Evans
17. Kaufasi
Niukore still has a lot of work to do on his game. He becomes lazy in defence quite often . That was a poor attempt to tackle Brodie Croft Thursday night and that wasn't a one off occurrence with Marata.
Browns a far better option at the moment , with the new rules his motor is incalculable and with the speed of the game picking up he'll have less time to let the rubbish creep into his game.
Brown can swing a match our way with agression , linespeed and offloads. A far cry from Niukore at the moment.
100% agree Bup. Everyone settle down it's easy to look good in defence when the opposition has only 36% of the ball. You need that mongrel in defence and Brown is the man.
For me Niukore is the ideal guy coming off the bench he brings energy aggressive running and leg speed that's the sought of foward you want coming on.Especially if we have done a big stint without the footy energy and impact is what you need I think Niukore brings it in spades.
I'd be inserting Brown back in the starting line up straight away the dude will be hungry as.
Not a bad idea. However on Thursday night we had over 60% of the ball. We are still untested under the new rule against better teams. Playing longer minutes may not pay off when we have to deffend more. Im happy to wait at least one more game
It won't happen because Nathan Brown is this teams emotional barometer and he is so important to leading our line speed, but ..... there is no question in my mind that we looked more fluent in attack against the Broncos with Niukore in the middle third. His game is a bit more direct than Brownie's and I think that suits both our personnel and the way the game is going to be played with one ref. We have another game to see if that's the case against Manly, and they'll be a good test, our toughest test so far.
I don't think we need him for line speed now we have RM.
I agree though, our attack was better without him out there handling the ball so frequently. That's part of the reason I said the team had outgrown the need for him.
His aggression would still be effective (If not, more effective) in shorter stints. It would also freshen up RCG and Paulo if they could play less minutes knowing the replacement props can hold their own. Brown would be a great replacement for Paulo because they are both ball players.
BA will bring him straight back in though I reckon.
Nuikore did very well but Brown is the "softener" you need to start against harder teams.
Although he did well Nuikore did tire playing the massively long minutes and ends up being labelled "lazy".
Nuikore, Evans and Kaufusi as impact bench players when the opposition start to tire, Brown to get us started with RCG and Junior, is my choice.
14 is our achilles.
I think Stone did a great job the other night, what he offers that Taka definitely doesn't offer are his hits in defence. For a small bloke Stone hits like a rock lol
Da Rock is Da Pebble.
You know how much I love him 88 - but you weren't being sarcastic - were you? lol
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