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I appreciate it is the perceived wisdom that Burton is better than May in the halves, but is that right? Burton has a better running game and kicking game, but he creates little for those outside of him. I think last week May looked good and with Luai back I was very happy for Burton to go back to centre. I would like to see us getting him involved more in the kicking though.
May has played 1 ok game this entire season and it took a very average team to be down to no one on the bench.
Burton does a great Luke Walsh impression - even Ivan Cleary criticised him for not taking on the line. Burton's kicking game has length, but no tactics. Burton is better at center than half. As a half, he contributes very little. If May had a kicking game, he would be as good as or maybe better than Burton in the halves. But neither is a replacement for Cleary/Luai.
I agree with this broadly, but I would just add that Burton is still quite young and improving. I imagine he will be a substantially better half than May, but given we aren’t going to reap the fruits of any development of his, I think May is the better short-term option (with Burton centre).
This right here would be a very concerning statement for any Bulldogs fan who’s pinning their hopes on Burton to turn their fortunes around.
How nice it would be to just have top quality replacements for the two NSW halves hanging around getting splinters in their bums. What other clubs have such a luxury? I note Parra have Jake Arthur at 7 this week in place of the injured Moses. Is he significantly better than either of our back up halves, one of whom is a pretty good centre and the other a pretty good utility?
I really think Brent Naden got an underserved reputation around that Roosters game at the end of the regular season last year. He was a regular fixture in our side that went on a huge winning streak, unparalleled in the modern era, only to be discarded on the back of one performance. I can’t help but feel he was made a scapegoat of the back of that game and then of the back of that he stuffs up big time using recreational drugs which is largely unforgivable. Despite the one Warriors try on the weekend where you could accuse him of a poor read I thought he played really well.
I like the guy but it was more than 1 read last week
He sad several bad reads in defence. We were lucky the Warriors are a poorly coached side. A good coach would of had them running at Naden all game.
Where’s the balanced argument thou Smug.
I've said over and over Ivan choked by dropping him in the finals last year and without the idiotic coke thing last year I'd have had him start at centre for us in 2021 but what's done is done
100%. I agree it has been done to death and pointless debate. All going well on the injury front he will be surplus to requirements in our quest to make back to back GFs.
Naden's bender before the grand final was not a good look for him. Also, Naden is 25 and Staines is 20. Staines will outshine Naden, hopefully.
He’s outshining Naden now I guess. Charlie’s played every game this season Brent has played once. Brent has a new club in 2022 hope he does well and hopefully our own Charlie delivers on the faith that the club has put in him.
