Early days still, but I think Lyon to 6 and Walker to the centres needs to happen as a matter of urgency. Not only for Walker but perhaps also for Lyon, he ain't as quick as used to be and the tigers outside backs were continually getting on the outside of Manly's 3/4's on both sides of the field last night... Lyon has done a reasonable job at 6 in his stints there in the past. Better than Walker is managing at the moment anyway...
As I said, early days at this stage. After round 3 last year the Cows were winless and the Knights were top of the table! Things can change... Barrett needs to tweak a few things though, no doubt.
I remember making the call early last year that Milford looked all at sea as a 5/8 and would be playing fullback before too long so yeah, things can definitely change...
However, Walker had a run of two or three games at 5/8 for Souths last year and looked to be utter balls. He's now had a full preseason training there with Manly and hasn't improved at all. I think it's safe to say that he's not a 5/8.
Will be interesting to see what happens. As mentioned, Lyon doesn't want to shift in. Could we potentially see Brett Stewart in the halves when he comes back? Walker goes ok at fullback but I really doubt this will happen either. The way things are looking at the moment, if Lyon won't shift then Walker could be coming off the bench in some sort of utility role or could even be playing NSW cup before too long.
If he doesn't work at 5/8 then he has nowhere else to play in that full strength back line. He is a poor fit for Manly at this stage.
