Let's deal in facts not fiction.
Fact- The Raiders have a massive pack, we on the other hand outside of Jnr have a small pack and will need our wing-men helping out as much as possible on Saturday, as Semi does each week. (I wonder how much gas it takes out of him?)
Fact- Gutherson is simply too light to provide this, as seen in the first 5 rounds. Looking through each team list, I would have to say Clint offers the least amount of grunt on kick returns and hit-ups simply due to his physique. Can you name another winger who offers less?
Fact- Gutherson's pace is average and he is too light to bullock over opposition players at the try line, he gets rag-dolled as seen again v Penrith.
Fact- He needs to go back to Wenty so BA can work out what his best attributes actually are that he brings to the side.
Fact- Before starting in Round 1 he was a young unestablished player who had been out of the game for 12 months due to injury. It shows.
*For those thinking I am bashing on Clint because of the loss, wrong. I was never on the Gutherson bus ever since we signed him and saw enough in the Penrith trial to suggest he needed to start at Wenty first.
BA will persist with him again this week, but I'm sure our forwards and Semi would appreciate a big body named in the likes of Bureta Faraimo or Honeti Tuha who have both been killing it in NSW Cup to get our sets started and carry some of the load.
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Fair points there Bert, if Gutho doesnt lift a level or two i cant see him lasting too long in 1st grade, but im not giving up on him just yet.
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Nobody states he isnt trying but he is not a winger not built to be a winger and cant defend and run it up as a winger.
The guy is a fullback and should be playing wenty without any arguement.
Those who want to argue the point, watch the first 5 rounds and the trail. He is the target, he is our new Sandow.
How do we know that BA didn't promise him a place in the 1st grade side before he signed?
This is probably why you wont see him drop Gutho anytime soon or until there`s absolutely no choice and hes playing that badly. Its concerning cause BA does have a stubborn streak - remember Seffa?
Lets see how this plays out but i can see this continuing well into this year.
I hope not, id like to think BA is smarter than to promise a guy with hardly any 1st grade experience a back line spot, agree BA has a stubborn streak, i cant see BA dropping Guth any time soon.
SMALL PACK - I said this in the past even when we had Pauli and Mannah in the squad. With Pauli and Mannah out we look very light up front. Wicks should have started instead of Gower as Gower struggled in a big way. Gower should be dropped in favour of Alvaro, Hasson (both top 25) or O'Brien, Kelepi (both 2nd tier). If Hasson's match fitness is up to it I would select him in front of other 3 for the next game.
GUTHERSON - I am a big fan of Gutherson and I would give him another week or two. I agree his confidence is down and his positional play has been poor. I don't know why he runs out of the line to attack in defence (as opposed to sliding in defence) and I can only suspect he and or Taka has been coached to do that. He is starting to remind me of Eric Jr with running out of the line and jamming in and missing his man the majority of the time. He needs to be consistent very quick to stay in the top team as Bureta has not had a bad game in the NRL and Tuha looks a faster version of Bureta. The fact that Bureta received an upgraded top 25 contract means the coach has been impressed with him.
I just hope Gutherson can improve his hands and sliding defence asap as he is our weak link in the team.
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