I guess we should all watch NRL when the team has the ball. Re- watch the game and see how Whare defends. The game is made up of attack and defense and it would take a bold man to right Whare off on his defensive work.
Whare has the worst tackle efficiency of all centre options we have though. He is not the defensive beast he once was. Nor does he have that class he used to have. However his defence wasnt the issue against Sharks. His issue is the bombed try scoring opportunities. Whare in 2014 fotm has his winger scoring a hat trick with those opportunities.
2014 is a long time ago now. But he was arguably the #1 centre.
2015 he was injured most the season.
2016 he was injured all season. Minus one game.
2017 he was average.
2018 he is still average.
Whare is no longer a defensive beast. He has lost that touch of class that made his winger the leading try scorer in the competition. He has lost a bit of pace. His hands aren't as good. He doesnt react as quickly as he used to.
He can still offer us a bit as a depth player. But we're holding our team back by having him as our left centre. Tyrone Peachey is a better option. Even if only in the short term.
I fully expected Whare to return to form and for Peachey to phone it in this season. But if we want to win a competition I like our chances far better with Peachey on that edge. We should be shooting for a premiership this year. The competition is wide open. We can win it or go damn close.