He has gone from being a back-rower more so used as a game breaker, but not a worker. His flaws in his game were defence and decision making. He was a five-eighth in the body of a back-rower. Went from being considered on the bench for NSW, 18th man for one game, to falling out of favour due to his flaws and being dropped. Moved to GC to work with Garth Brennan who he played under at Penrith in reserve grade and it failed miserably, the team were as bad as him, he had dramas at home and had no confidence, instead of being improved on he was used solely for his offloading ability and hope that we would break a game open. Come to Parramatta, in a system to values hard working back-rowers that offer versatility, he had a great 2021 pre-season, was even mentioned as possibly starting in Round 1 of 2021. He broke his jaw and his club debut was delayed and by the time he came back Isaiah Papali'i barnstormed his way to starting back-rower and Matterson was out for that time. He dropped down the pecking order back to being a bench impact player. He had some nice games as he was a different type of player for us, then that fact was his downfall as he made dumb choices and his defence caused him to be dropped again to NSW cup. He was signed for 2 more years but i questioned why since he seemed to be a player that did not suit us and the style we played. 2022 was even worse, playing less games and just missing out completely to the point you would forget he is at the squad, he just had issues with his decision making and could not get fit. He played in the Prelim final but missed the GF. I honestly thought why keep him and let Papali'i go? Use his money to keep Papali'i.
Enter 2023, Doorey and Momoisea fighting it out for the 12 spot while Lane was 11. Cartwright missed the pre-season trials due to a broken jaw and i wouldn't have considered him for a spot in the 17 anyway, my focus was on Murchie, Doorey and Momoisea for back-row. Then BA threw a massive curveball by not only naming Cartwright to play in round 1 but starting him. I thought no way he plays full 80 mins and holds his own against Melbourne. Well colour me sideways not only has he been a new player, but i think he has been a better investment than Papali'i for a few reasons, i will get to that later. Cartwright has improved his defence, well enough he is able to last a full 80. He has also hardened himself up to do the hard work around the ruck and rack up stats. He is a hard running back-rower as oppose to creating space to throw an offload. The offload is still there but it is contained when needed.
As for how i prefer him to Papali'i, well defence. Papali'i got through a lot of tackles, but missed a lot too. Cartwright did early on in the year too now he is very sound as a defender. He also offers more than just a hard running back-rower. Papali'i and Cartwright are two different players of course but overall i think this team is benefitting more from Cartwright, he is freeing Moses up more with offloading. He is off-contract, let's hope he stays as i highly believe Parramatta want to keep him and likewise Carty is happy to stay.
Replies
Nice summary LB.. Credit to Carty to get where he is today. Not many can work through all those issues.
Once everyone is fit to play, my starting 2nd rowers are Lane and Cartwright.
As good as Matterson is, I don't have him starting over Lane or Cartwright.
Agreed, besides I think Matto served us best as our bench leader
I loved Matto in the back-row, especially along side Moses against Canterbury, working with Penisini. Though either him or Cartwright have to go to the bench, therefore it should be Matto more so due to him being a better middle forward than Carty.
Good read mate. I also prefer carty over ipap if I'm honestly. Yes ipap has the power but carty as you said defends slightly better, which I thought I'd never say haha, carty as we all know as the ball skill and passing game ipap didn't have, along with the nice little kick on him if required.
Carty actually looks tougher and seasoned to me, maybe its the mullet?
Yep, good summary LB. Really happy to see him fulfilling his enormous potential. Would not look out of place in a Sky Blue jersey.
Was thinking that today, off the bench he would offer more than Olakau'atu who all the media and fans are cheering for. Haumole is a myth.
https://www.2gb.com/bryce-cartwright-reveals-key-figure-who-saved-h...
Hopefully with this comment it will make him stay, hopefully a bit under his value, maybe getting a 50k pay rise instead of 100-200k.
They credit their current coach for saving their career and then sign somewhere else - aka Papali'i. Hope it's different this time around and we can keep him.
-
1
-
2
-
3
-
4
-
5
of 7 Next