Zac Lomax

[slippery5]

So why did Millward extend his contract and why does Mary continue to select him in first grade?

Ummmmm ????????
Can you tell me ?????

 

[Frank Facer]

So why did Millward extend his contract and why does Mary continue to select him in first grade?

Those are very good questions.

 

[Life's Good]

So why did Millward extend his contract and why does Mary continue to select him in first grade?

He’s related to Marketo??

 

[The Friz]

I don't cop the "spend time playing against men" yarn. Other clubs have no issues torpedoing young blokes straight in, especially outside backs.
Think:
Lattrell Mitchell
Valentine Holmes
Cory Oates
Nic Cotric
Tom Trbojevic
etc etc, I'm sure you can all come up with more examples.
Just takes a coach to show some balls and back the kid, take the good with the bad and reap the fruits on the investment.

 

[Overseas dragon]

It is not anywhere near as good as aitkens d.

Aitken doesn't have much in the way of Defence his reads are diabolical.but your entitled to your opinion boys even if it's warped .......

 

[Overseas dragon]

So why did Millward extend his contract and why does Mary continue to select him in first grade?

Possum why and McGregor doesn't compute

 

[Redhoopz]

I don't cop the "spend time playing against men" yarn. Other clubs have no issues torpedoing young blokes straight in, especially outside backs.
Think:
Lattrell Mitchell
Valentine Holmes
Cory Oates
Nic Cotric
Tom Trbojevic
etc etc, I'm sure you can all come up with more examples.
Just takes a coach to show some balls and back the kid, take the good with the bad and reap the fruits on the investment.

Agree 100%

Apart from Duffy and Aitken, I can only think of Runciman and Quinlan that have come through into FG (in the backline) in the past few years.

We don't have a great track record with promoting junior outside backs into FG within the last 5 years. Hopefully that changes soon!

I just want to see players picked on form and if they're not performing, they need to be dropped and bring in a youngster in.

 

[gitano]

Enjoy watching this bloke, such a pure talent. One thing that I think that is overlooked with young outside backs in their development is their speed.

If you manage to look back at Brett Morris at a similar age, he looked almost ungainly and dare I say a bit slow (obviously not too slow). Speed develops in that next few years, and the good thing with Lomax is he's not going to be under pressure to gain weight. Right now he might look like developing into a real big centre, but don't be surprised to see him trim down a little and speed become an asset of his, to match his vision and skill.

 

[dragonssamy61]

Aitken doesn't have much in the way of Defence his reads are diabolical.but your entitled to your opinion boys even if it's warped .......

Mate I am saying that he is a far better defender than field is. Aitken is poor in reading when to come in or not.
Now that field has bulked up at bit I hope he is able to be a better defender.
But I do agree that aitken sould not be there ahead of mann.

 

[RufusRex]

Aitken doesn't have much in the way of Defence his reads are diabolical.but your entitled to your opinion boys even if it's warped .......

Defence has two components
1. Being in the right position
2. Making the tackle

There is no issue with Aitken on the 2nd part - he can tackle and do it pretty well .. It is the first thing that he struggles with. Poor decision making leads to him either not committing to the right bloke or not being in a good position to make the tackle.

One on one with a bloke running straight at him I would rate Aitken as able to put the bloke down. But if the bloke put any kind of footwork on Aitken then he would be toast.

Field might be faster and that can hide the first thing a bit but being able to put a bloke down is the problem. Similar to dufty on Cook .. was fast enough to get into the position to shut him down, wasn't able to effect the tackle. field will be the same due to his size.

 

[giboz71]

A big part of defending out in the centres is decision making and communication.

Whilst defending inside your 20, good attacking teams will throw different looks at you whether it’s block plays with a fullback sweeping out the back. Or a big edge forward getting a short ball.

As a centre, you need to make split second decisions whether to slide, stay on your man or rush in when your outnumbered.

It’s not always easy but good centres always get this desision right. Aitken rarely does hence attacks always seem to head down his corridor.

 

[Old Timer]

Just had another look at the CS.
Lomax has such great natural talent, awareness and confidence.
He actually knows how to play centre and has a very cool head on young shoulders.
I have to say he needs to be getting some serious game time this year as he will develop very quickly by playing at a higher level.
If you leave him in reggies too long he will not progress nearly as well.

 

[RufusRex]

Absolutely ...

His ability to calmly put nightingale away down the sideline was simple and quality.
In the first trial, the first thing he did on the wing was drop back to cover a kick ..

Already doing little things well. At the same stage of his career he alrady looks a much better prospect than Aitken.

Two or three weeks of 2. Lomax, 3. Mann before swapping them around

After a month we should have

Mann/Lafai/Lomax/Nene ... Nene and Lafai need to be performing otherwise they are next to go.

 

[RufusRex]

I had another look at the CS too ...

The try where nighty put a hand on the line a faster player could have taken that kick on the full and scored easily. That was horrible play and should be the final nail.

The kick was pinpoint, the support play was lacking.

 

[Frank Facer]

There is an article on Foxsports regarding Nightingale. In the article Nightingale is considering playing in 2019. lol

He should have been tapped on the shoulder and told to retire at the end of last year.

 

[Redhoopz]

I had another look at the CS too ...

The try where nighty put a hand on the line a faster player could have taken that kick on the full and scored easily. That was horrible play and should be the final nail.

The kick was pinpoint, the support play was lacking.

That's a bit of an overreaction...

I think taking a knock on his way down certainly didn't help. Also, playing with a new halfback also plays a role. Considering how many times Nighty has scored in situations when he shouldn't have over the years, i'll let those slide.

I would like to see Lomax get a fair crack at FG this year...although knowing McGregor, I wouldn't be surprised if he only makes cameo appearances, similar to Field last year.

 

[giboz71]

Just had another look at the CS.
Lomax has such great natural talent, awareness and confidence.
He actually knows how to play centre and has a very cool head on young shoulders.
I have to say he needs to be getting some serious game time this year as he will develop very quickly by playing at a higher level.
If you leave him in reggies too long he will not progress nearly as well.

Funny I had another look at the game as well.

That play where he put Widdop away and Nighty got held back after the kick was pure class. Aitken could only dream of pulling that off.

Lomax is a talent that’s for sure. I’m not one for rushing kids too early, but he could be one of those special kids you just can’t leave out.

 

[Dr Fruitbasket Returns]

I'd play him at right centre with Nighty outside as his mentor. Why not? He's 18, he'll make mistakes, he might do some good that Aitken and Mann can't and if at the end of it all he turns out to be rubbish we're no worse off. Our threequarters are largely rubbish anyway. If Nighty plays a role in bringing the best out of him it's a great contribution from one of our true legends to go out on.

 

[RufusRex]

That's a bit of an overreaction...

I think taking a knock on his way down certainly didn't help. Also, playing with a new halfback also plays a role. Considering how many times Nighty has scored in situations when he shouldn't have over the years, i'll let those slide.

I would like to see Lomax get a fair crack at FG this year...although knowing McGregor, I wouldn't be surprised if he only makes cameo appearances, similar to Field last year.

LOL ... sentimental bullshit.

The crux of it is that he has scored 108 tries in 249 games ... He never regularly scored in situations he shouldn't have .. He scored a lot of tries that he should have and that is great. His positional play was good and ability to put himself in the right spot also top shelf. He is not and has never been a "great" finisher, that is just hyperbole... you need to look at wings like Tingha who scored 121 tries in 142 game if you want to classify blokes as great finishers who could score when they shouldn't. Nightingale easily scores that first try if he was faster. You saw him deliberately slow up because he couldn't get there one the full and had to wait for the bounce which then put him closer to the sideline. It is lucky that it was only a trial game that his inability to finish has cost us.

Wendell Sailor knew it was time to pull up stumps and did so because Nightingale was there ready ...


If you want to compare how blokes perform in the same position then 2016 is the perfect example. For the first half of the season Nightingale played left wing and scored 3 tries. In exactly the same position on the end of the same backline Kurt Mann came in and played the 2nd half of the season and scored 10 tries in 11 games. This is the most obvious example of how there are better finishers available even within the team.

And that was 2 seasons ago.

Nightingale capably finished 16 scoring opportunities last season yet none of them could be classified as "shouldn't be scored" opportunities.

The team needs and deserves better/faster/stronger players than nightingale. The dragons are not a retirement home for old champions. If we select like that then it will only be old championships we talk about.



Right now the best 3/4 line we can put on the field is Mann/Lomax/Lafai/Nene ... Nene has already scored 3 tries this year that nightingale wouldn't have. Nene/Lafai next to be replaced if their form drops.

 

[Overseas dragon]

LOL ... sentimental bullshit.

The crux of it is that he has scored 108 tries in 249 games ... He never regularly scored in situations he shouldn't have .. He scored a lot of tries that he should have and that is great. His positional play was good and ability to put himself in the right spot also top shelf. He is not and has never been a "great" finisher, that is just hyperbole... you need to look at wings like Tingha who scored 121 tries in 142 game if you want to classify blokes as great finishers who could score when they shouldn't. Nightingale easily scores that first try if he was faster. You saw him deliberately slow up because he couldn't get there one the full and had to wait for the bounce which then put him closer to the sideline. It is lucky that it was only a trial game that his inability to finish has cost us.

Wendell Sailor knew it was time to pull up stumps and did so because Nightingale was there ready ...


If you want to compare how blokes perform in the same position then 2016 is the perfect example. For the first half of the season Nightingale played left wing and scored 3 tries. In exactly the same position on the end of the same backline Kurt Mann came in and played the 2nd half of the season and scored 10 tries in 11 games. This is the most obvious example of how there are better finishers available even within the team.

And that was 2 seasons ago.

Nightingale capably finished 16 scoring opportunities last season yet none of them could be classified as "shouldn't be scored" opportunities.

The team needs and deserves better/faster/stronger players than nightingale. The dragons are not a retirement home for old champions. If we select like that then it will only be old championships we talk about.



Right now the best 3/4 line we can put on the field is Mann/Lomax/Lafai/Nene ... Nene has already scored 3 tries this year that nightingale wouldn't have. Nene/Lafai next to be replaced if their form drops.

You make a lot of sense but your names not McGREGOR....................