In the modern game fullback is not only considered one of the most important positions but also one of the hardest. The fullback usually runs more than any other player during a game. As such young fullbacks need to adjust to the rigors of the position.
Bevan French is BAs first choice as custodian for 2017 but he has also bought insurance is case French is not yet ready for a full season in the position. Hoffman has been purchased to fill in as fullback if French starts to struggle in the position. In that case I would anticipate that Hoffman and French will swap positions during or even for the whole game.
Already we have seen Lattrell Mitchell of the Roosters, also a young but undoubted talent, have these problems last year.
Here's hoping French will be a success with the undoubted talent and positioning skills he possesses.
Replies
lol just commented the same thing only to look up and see you already said it 23 minutes ago. Fail.
French can read defence, just not make the tackles.
Yes on wing mitchell gre a t for that it he can find line great great cant read plays
Swapping out a young player is not how they gain experience.
French will make mistakes and those mistakes will make him better. The only reason Hoff might go to FB is if French is injured, otherwise French needs to be left in position to put the finishing touches on an already talented player.
Anyone who is expecting French NOT to make mistakes at FB this year needs to get ready for disappointment
BA showed his hand in the last 3 games by somewhat sharing the fullback role with the wingers. BA didn't want French to do kick returns running back into large forwards and had a set play for French to catch the 5th tackle bomb and pass the ball to Semi or Gordon to do the kick returns (I thought that was a good thing to do as it took some pressure of French and physical contact he didn't really need to have).
I'd prefer to see Hoffman or Semi do the kick returns from fullback and for French to play the remainder of the game at fullback or right wing. At ring wing French has more help in defence, but at fullback it is a lonely position when a large forward breaks the line and it is a one on one tackle. It may be safer to defend French at right wing to start the season off until we can gauge whether his defence has improved.
As we know BA is a conservative coach and he will probably share the fullback role between French, Hoffman and Gutherson and or play French on the wing.
I couldn't agree more Big Dave, but I doubt Gutherson will play anywhere other than in the halves if it works with Corey on the other side of the ruck. Perhaps the young fella from the Riff, Smith might be another option to add to the FB mix if we have an injury to Hoffman during the season?
I would also think BA would pretty much be 100% settled on his starting 13 and 2 of his bench players with other 2 to be decided during the next 6 weeks from possibly 4 or 5 candidates and perhaps a few injuries. We will see.
BD I think BA will persist with French until it is obvious is not coping with some aspect of his game. It is a long season and a young and slight body might need more time to cope with the rigors of the position. However he has shown that with the 13 games he played last year that he didn't seem to have any problems coping with NRL.
I fully expect him to be a revelation in the position for the coming season and easily breaking the club try scoring record.
-
1
-
2
-
3
-
4
of 4 Next