I think your analysis is generally spot on but I have to disagree with you here. For a fullback Widdop is too slow, lacks evasive ability, lacks the power to bust tackles, is a poor defender and isn't even a good ball player. The one part of his game which would suit is maybe cleaning up loose balls and grubbers close to the line. Is that enough? Why do you think he would be better at fullback? Widdop has had his chance. Has had so many chances it's a black joke on us. He should be dropped and if he excels n the NSW Cup and the NRL halves are still s**t, he has a chance to be recalled.
As for Dugan, I agree but until Dufty is fit, we are better off with Aitken and Milne in the centres. A ball playing fullback is great. Like Hayne or Slater or Tedesco or Boyd or Inglis ..... or like pretty much every fullback in the competition except for Duges but remember Gerald Beale or Kyle Stanley (in the longest stretch of games he ever got through without tearing his ACL)? Both ball players and both rubbish fullbacks.
No offence, Glenn01 but there is no way that the club will be putting a $550,000 a year player in the Cutters. Just won't happen. They will persevere with him until it is to late, and once we are out of finals contention towards the end of the year they may chose to experiment for 2018. The story will be some mystery injury will have him sidelined out of the team.
So the question is - What to do with him. Leave him at 5/8, and more of the same, or find another position that he can still contribute to the team.
Dufty is our future fullback, but in my opinion it's to soon to have him and Field in the team together at this stage of their development. In several weeks when we are at the bottom of the table, then maybe.
Then take the kicking duties off him. Change his role. You think Bellamy would see a games worth of those kicks and just allow it to continue? No - he'd either train the f**k out of him in how to kick properly, or he'd tell him not to bother grubbering at all!There is a difference between structural issues and skill issues. Kicking into legs consistently is not a structural issue
All the whipping of Widdop will achieve nothing.
For some on this forum they always come up with a way to apportion blame to an individual and think the sacking or replacement of that individual will be the cure and tomorrow everything will be ok.
That behaviour is just ignoring the real issue at the top that permeates down and affects everything below it.
It was Creagh, Rein, Prior, Marketo, Dugan so and a so on now Widdop.
Beating them up is ridiculous as they are only the pawns in the chess game.
Whether they are good players or not is a separate issue, the fact is they are all players that are chosen to play 1st grade at our club and are supposed to be coached and skilled to a high level.
If they don't achieve that, then they are supposed to be dealt with, but that doesn't happen and we keep rabbiting on in here about how they survive.
They survive because they are either doing what the coaches ask of them and the coaches are happy enough with that, or our coaching staff is so hopeless it has no plans, no strategies, no idea of acceptable performance and that is because they have no ability to teach anyone anything and even less ability to analyse anything.
How many players have we had since Bennett that have excelled and been chased massively by other clubs?
Frizzell is the only real stand out, Dugan has made rep footy in an alternate position but not liked by the market at the price he wants because he hasn't really blossomed as people thought and of course some will say Bird.
Bird is an interesting case because he actually didn't have to play 1st grade under Price and/or Mc Gregor and in fact if he had been elevated to play under them his star might never have risen and his career over before it started. Lucky for him he left and yet lunatics in here keep thinking there is some incentive for him to come back. Please explain it to me what is the big attractant for him and don't tell me because he was a junior.
Drop Widdop by all means, but get it through your thick heads, no matter who replaces him under current arrangements, we will not go any better than what we do right now. No one player can fix this diabolical mess.
We may see a very temporary improvement just like when Widdop first arrived but that will quickly fade away as our useless management and coaching staff strangle the skills and initiative out of every player that has come to us since Bennett left.
For gods sake we look forward to SOO time so we can play teams that are severely weakened as we lose so few players to rep footy. How ridiculous that we make our charge (as lame as it is) for the semis during the time that other teams are depleted but then we wonder what happened to that charge as it faltered when other teams return to full strength.
Our staff are like a huge boa constrictor that slowly squeezes the life out of everything it can wrap itself around and that includes the players and the fans.
By all means continue to make comparisons why this player or that player deserves to be picked ahead of somebody else but thinking our fortune is linked to any 1 player is just plain stupid.
By the way Benny V your post on this subject in another thread excellent.
You take the kicking duties off him and it then becomes all about McCrone ... if you only have one kicker in the side then it is much harder to ask the defence questions. You need both 6/7 to be able to kick otherwise the defence will just load up on McCrone.
I never sai you shouldn't express your opinionWe all understand that the Board and the Coaching staff are the main problem. That doesn't mean that because of that we shouldn't voice an opinion about the team's supposed playmaker and his inability to do his job.
I don't believe that changing him will bring instant success. I think we should change him to use this year to understand what we have with players like Field/Mann
Nona. And to send the message that changes will be made to bring success.
What I don't agree with is perserving so long with a playmaker and captain who is not performing. Whether that is due to skills coached out of him or, more likely, he never had the skills required in the first place doesn't matter.
I never sai you shouldn't express your opinion
I simply stated that no matter who goes into the position under the current structure they will ultimately fail
We have no set plays nor is the team well drilled to understand how to expose weakness in the opposition
Benny V gave an excellent post on this very subject
If Jai comes into 1st grade and makes a couple of boo boos as is expected he will either be dropped or told to play 1 out football with the forwards
If the sponge cake fails to rise even though you changed everything for fresh ingredients surely it must be a problem with the chef and the recipe.
We just flounder on with the same old recipe and Mary ain't no master chef.
McInnes can also kick, but we are only talking about attacking kicks here (no issues if Widdop is still a long kicking option) and, contrary to McGregor/Widdops belief, there are other options when in the attacking zone than to kick for a repeat set. Mary's game plan has been built around numbers - get more possession, get more repeat sets, make more metres, etc. I've no doubt that Mary has instructed Widdop to grubber through if there is a chance for a repeat set. The fact that Widdop can't get through the defensive line, or that he actually follows Mary's instructions, is purely on him, however you tell him not to kick at all when attacking, let alone before 5th tackle, and that problem of kicking into defenders legs is gone.You take the kicking duties off him and it then becomes all about McCrone ... if you only have one kicker in the side then it is much harder to ask the defence questions. You need both 6/7 to be able to kick otherwise the defence will just load up on McCrone.
Are you being sarcastic or have you been smoking whatever it is the trippy old dude smokes so much? I noticed he liked your message.Then take the kicking duties off him. Change his role. You think Bellamy would see a games worth of those kicks and just allow it to continue? No - he'd either train the f**k out of him in how to kick properly, or he'd tell him not to bother grubbering at all!
Are you being sarcastic or have you been smoking whatever it is the trippy old dude smokes so much? I noticed he liked your message.
Great idea. Take the short kicking duties off Widdop. After all, he is our marquee playmaker. His long kicking is even worse, it's just it gets noticed less unless he puts it out on the full, which he invariably does if it doesn't go straight to the fullback. His running game consists of running across field and slipping over or running around in a circle and falling over so don't let him run the ball either. His tackling is woeful so make sure JDB is Frizz is always nearby to help him out.
You know what? I have an idea! It's not much of an idea but........let's put it on the bus and see if it gets off at Olympic Stadium in September! McWanker should have Widdop sit in the corner of the in-goal for the entire match and not move. That way we won't be able to complain about his kicking, long and short, running game, playmaking, defence or goal kicking!
No seriously, Widdop belongs in the Cutters. If he shows some promise and the NRL halves are still shocking he has the possibility to be recalled.