The issue for me with Aitken is he looks like a backrower playing centre . You can see he was a forward as a junior and was only moved into the centres in the 20's . He lacks the natural ability that a natural centre like Milne has . In attack Milne looks to create space for his winger and has a great ability to offload . Aitken simply tucks the ball under his arm and runs no matter what is happening around him .
In defence Aitken is slow laterally both physically and mentally to react to what unfolds in front of him . This creates problems with his winger who has to make a split second decision based on his inability to defend properly as a centre .
Milne has the odd problem in defence but that is mainly because he has a ( Matai ) type mentality of wanting to destroy what's in front of him . But with coaching and first grade experience he has the ability pick his mark . Part of Milne's appeal is his ability to intimidate and his fear factor . But at the end of the day he is a centre and a quality coach would enjoying moulding him into what I think could be a class player for a time to come .
I think Aitken could be a very good player in the future but for me his place at the moment is more in the number 17 jumper as a interchange backrower who can play in the backs if absolutely necessary . But for now Milne must come back into the team and let develop a right side combination with McDonald it will take time but I think they could be a lethal right side in the future .
As for the left centre position it really is a no brainer Kurt Mann was on the field for all of about 10 mins playing centre and looked streets ahead of Lafai and Aitken even though he was playing on the right side . Very easy decision for a decent coach .
The other thing we need is some real speed maybe we need to find a spot for a Field or Dufty but a backline with McCrone , Nighty , Lafai , Aitken and Dugan all together is just to slow for first grade . For me Dugan stays the others you can do what you like with .
