Gasnier to 5/8 ?

[The Nulla #2]

With the wigan bound barrett out for 6, will Gaz play 5/8 ??

Ill e one person interested in seeing him in the 6, will see if he proves hsi worth as an 800 000dollar a year man.

What do you guys think??

 

[God-King Dean]

I may not agree with the contract giving him the 5/8th entitlements, but it's gonna be done, I would love to have a taste of what it will be like & if he can deliver consistently.

 

[Southernsaint]

I don't have much faith in Gaz's abilities at five-eighth, but I will be happy to be proven wrong...

 

[Drew-Sta]

^^ Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

[Follow Me Up To Carlton]

If Gasnier can play 5/8 for Saints then so can I.

 

[Drew-Sta]

Does that mean I can play Fullback? :crazy:

 

[This Year?]

I don't think it will work. If it does, it will take a long time. I can think of another player for another team that went to 5/8 ( *cough* Lockyear) and I think the same thing will happen here. Gaz is a great player, but I don't think he is suited to 5/8.

 

[God-King Dean]

Give hime a break guys. He's only played a couple of games at 5/8th.

 

[Dakink]

Im with Immortal here.

I think he can do the job and do it well. It will mean a different style of play will be needed, as we wont have Baz to organise and drive things - though I saw enough intent in GAz against the Knights to think that with the rest of this season learning from Baz and a full off season, he may just surprise a few people.

Im getting behind him and giving him my full support, if it doesnt work, so be it, he goes back to the centres. No real damage done. If it does work then we will have a 6 that other teams shyte themselves when facing.

 

[Godz Illa]

Well it wasn't the ideal night to gauge Gaz's five-eighth potential, but I still formulated an idea or two.

We all talk about the adjustment in his game that Gasnier faces, but he is not facing it alone - the entire backline will need to adjust. Trent Barrett has a very direct attacking style when he has the ball - he takes it to the line and either passes in/outside or dummy/steps and tries to break the line himself. So the outside backs simply have to run a good line alongside him and hope he puts them in a hole. Gaz, as is his nature, dances and probes towards the defence. The few times he did this on Friday, the defence hesitated and tbh they looked vulnerable - but we couldn't take advantage because our wide men were still in Barrett mode, running up alongside him. So when he skipped and shimmied they had to check their stride and cost themselves the momentum and speed they required to break the line. So I think what Brownie and the boys need to work on is getting much deeper outside Gaz, and tweak their timing so that they hit the line at the same time. If they can do that, the Gasnier 5/8 experiment might just work.

Oh, and he can't kick for sh!t.

 

[Collateral]

I agree with Immortal...Even if he does become a good 5/8 for us (which is possible) I still think he's best position is centre...keep him at 5/8 until we find someone good enough to move him back into the centres.

 

[Father Ted]

Teams will do what they do with Lockyer and run at him all night , his defensive workload is going to double and that may take his attacking game down a notch or ten . Also don't think he has the passing or tactical kicking game we need . Which means Head will have to do those things and therefore be easier to target especially late in the set .

 

[Sir Biffo]

Teams will do what they do with Lockyer and run at him all night , his defensive workload is going to double and that may take his attacking game down a notch or ten . Also don't think he has the passing or tactical kicking game we need . Which means Head will have to do those things and therefore be easier to target especially late in the set .

Exactly right. We'll end up with a Cowboys style situation when they have Smith playing 5/8th, where every team knows we only have one last tackle option in Head. This would basically mean that Hornby would be playing as a 3rd half which could lead to chaos with Gaz, Head and Hornby all calling for the ball at the end.