De Belin a surprise contender for vacant No. 6
Mitch Jennings@@Mitch_Jenno
26 Apr 2017, 5:30 p.m.
MR FIXIT: Jack de Belin and Russell Packer enjoy the Dragons recovery session at North Wollongong Beach on Wednesday. Picture: Adam McLean
ST GEORGE Illawarra workhorse Jack de Belin says he’s happy to shift to the halves if Dragons coach Paul McGregor looks out of the box to fill the void left by injured skipper Gareth Widdop.
Widdop underwent scans on his left knee on Wednesday and is facing up to a month on the sidelines after suffering a medial ligament injury in the Dragons golden-point loss to the Roosters on Anzac Day.
Kurt Mann was injected in the halves to replaced Widdop moments before halftime, but shifted to the wing for a large chunk of the second half after fullback Josh Dugan left the field for an HIA. It left de Belin feeding the scrums, though he still managed to make 35 tackles and run for 119 metres.
It was an unexpected detour, but De Belin said it wasn’t too much of a stretch as the Dragons fell just short of a courageous victory.
“It was disappointing not to get the win but at the same time it showed a lot of our characteristics with our resilience and being able to hang in there when things were going against us,” de Belin said.
“Hats off to the boys, we all hung tough. We didn’t get the result but we got a lot of good learning out of it.
“We had a few injuries, so I got told to shift to No. 6 there, defend at three [in from the sideline] but just play my normal game.Nothing really changed there. I feel like I’m well capable, and mobile, enough to defend there at the three.
“Whatever I’m called upon to do for the team I’m more than happy to do it.”
Mann appears most likely to wear the No. 6 if McGregor looks for a like-for-like replacement for Widdop, but should he opt for the likes of young-gun Jai Field or reserve grade half Shaun Nona, de Belin could well spend some time on the edge.
It would not be the first time de Belin , an underrated ball-player, has been called upon as a stop-gap in a play-making role, having started at five-eighth in a 32-6 loss to the Broncos in round 23, 2015.
The move attracted some derision as the time, but de Belin said he would happily reprise the role for at least some of the 80 minutes against Melbourne on Saturday, should McGregor look for a left-field solution to Widdop’s absence.
“You never know, I’d definitely feel very comfortable doing it,” he said.
“I’ve obviously done it before. It copped a bit of backlash at the time because we probably weren’t going so well as a team but as of right now we’re doing really well. I’ll play wherever Mary wants me to play and if that means I have to move out wide and play a role there I’m totally capable of doing that.”
The Dragons will start as underdogs against Melbourne without their skipper, but de Belin remains confidence his side can spring an upset.
“When you’ve got a spine like they do, every time you come up against them it’s going to be a tough one,” de Belin said.
“But I feel like the way we’re playing at the moment, the confidence and the belief in each other, it doesn't matter who we’re playing, we’ll be sweet.”
http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/4622623/de-belin-happy-to-be-mr-fixit-for-mcgregor/?cs=3713
