So from all reports Chris Sandow was particularly impressive last night. I can't help but think that for us to do anything more than make-up the numbers this year, we need Sandow's attack. If Sandow is consistently threatening around the ruck, it's going to make the likes of Norman and Hayne so much more effective. And if Peats can provide us with a bit more direction and guile, it will hopefully take a little pressure off Sandow's organisational abilities, which have sometime been lacking.
However, the issue of defence remains. I don't see this as an issue that can be fixed. You just can't expect a guy who to be able to consistently bring down blokes who are 20cm and 30kg, even if they had the perfect technique which Chris has never had.
The idea of Sandow moving to the back in defence has been well-discussed. It's an idea that we debated on this site last year and it has intensified since it emerged that Sandow had been training at the back during the pre-season.
However, the most common criticism of this is that it brings Jarryd Hayne into the front-line and why would we want to dent our most attacking weapon by forcing him to do a lot of tackling.
I think the solution to this is not for Hayne to move to the front-line but instead to move to the wing and to instead use a winger who can we trust to play in the frontline.
We have a number of wingers who are certainly big enough to defend where the halfback defends. Moving another 100kg body into the defensive line would give us no obvious weaknesses in terms of size in the front line.
Of course, wingers aren't usually used to playing such a role so it would take some adjustment, but I do think we have one player who could make the move immediately in Vai Toutai. At 6'2 and over 100kg he's big enough to play second row, he's obviously very mobile and having defended in the centres most of his junior career, he has good technique and was known for making a lot of one-on-one tackles at NYC level.
Where his defensive issues have arisen at NRL level has been in his decision-making, which wouldn't be such a factor defending closer to the middle.
On the flipside, there is significant advantages in Hayne defending on the wing. Hayne would rate as probably the best defensive winger in the country. His instincts are superb and when he played there as a teen he made a habit of taking interceptions. He would seldom get run-over and I think you'd see him make ever more try saving tackles than he does at fullback.
I believe Hayne would also be suited bringing the ball back from the wing. Opposition teams have made an art of stopping Hayne on the first tackle. He is almost never presented with a broken line, with teams making every effort to get up and form a straight line. More often than not, Hayne is simply left with one option which is to launch himself into the defenders, which doesn't do him or the side any good. Running from dummy half off a second or third tackle, Hayne is going to have far more opportunity to make good metres or even breaks, which is going to do a lot to give ourselves much better sets coming out of own territory.
I think this works on most every level as long as you find a winger who is comfortable defending where the half defends.
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I like it Phil. I want Sandow in the starting 13 in round 1 and the above is one of many options available to accommodate him.
P.S. If we implemented this defensive structure, it also brings Zach Dockar-Clay into the fray as a potential back-up halfback. I've had ZDC pinged as purely a hooking option going forward due to him likely having the same options as Sandow in defence but he like Sandow has a strong enough running game that he could drop back to fullback and run the ball strongly back. It means you can actually look at developing your most talented playmaker, no matter how big they are, without having the constant fear that they are going to cost you too much as defensive liabilities.
P.P.S. I think this would make such a different to our side, I would go from predicting a bottom four finish to saying we can challenge for the top eight.
Certainly a very interesting prospect to consider and it can definitely help to mask Sandow's defensive issues.
Hi1eyed, yep sounds plausible providing one accepts the trade off. What it all boils down to is Sandow's attacking prowess worth shuffling the team around to try & negate his defence deficiencies. Every time the team is put into defence mode especially in a turnover situation, three players have to make positional changes in an immediate & cohesive manner.
Still not sure if BA has come to grips with nominating Sandow as the HB as from what I have read Kelly seems to be the favoured HB at present. If BA does nominate Sandow as the starting HB, where does the leave Kelly? Also, not sure if BA has settled on who r the starting wingers. From what I have seen, Sio seems to be a cert, that will leave Hunt, Radrada, Vai T & Farimo to compete for the remaining spot. Would BA prefer Vai to accommodate the defensive shuffle for Sandow?
IMO, some fairly important decisions by BA involved. I wonder if he has considered your scenario?
Yeh, I concede turnover situations you'd have to just stick with their attacking positions. However, Arthur does seem intent on making us a team with a high completion rate especially coming out of own half, so hopefully you're at least limiting the amount of times that you've got Sandow as a defensive liability.
I don't think there's a lot between all of those wingers. Indeed, ideally Sio would be the one you'd convert. He's still big enough to defend there, but it would be nice to have one of the other big lumps bringing back your second hit-up so Hayne can take the third with the defence maybe back-peddling a bit.
Some interesting points there Phil, but as you know, every time we have to resort to getting a another player to do somebodies elses job we then in effect pass the problem along and create another problem, ifs a vicious cycle that creates problems in itself.
I feel the decision is already made and Kelly will be our half, but maybe BA has something in the pipeline for Chris, and he will be worth his weight in gold if he can somehow incorporate chris into the team and have him playing with the ability we know he has.
Yeh, I'm absolutely expecting Kelly to be the half - I just don't like the Kelly/Norman combination. Not enough potency or experience.
You know what I really like about this, and of course, I admit it's another one of my slightly left-field ideas, not likely to be ever implemented. But it would give hope to every average-sized kid kicking around a footy that there is some hope that if they're really good, they might one day be able to play NRL. Our game has become so dependent on size that if your 5'9 there's almost no place for you in the game.
I hate looking at 16 year old kids, and thinking gee he's good, but he'll never play NRL because he's an average height human being and therefore too small for NRL.
Can anyone tell me how Foran went last night. I know he scored but thats all
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