Worst halfback in NRL 2011

[NorthShoreEel]

Whoever Parras halfback is

Yeah, they struggled against the dogs last year, didnt they? :sarcasm:

From memory, I think it was 26-10 Parra at ANZ, and then 32-16 Parra later in the year?


Having said that, I voted for Mortimer.

I think that Jamie Hyneman & Adam Savage should be called in to do a show on Morts.......

 

[boxhead]

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Last time the Raiders played the Eels Josh Dugan outplayed Hayne and I remember Hayne got stood up by a backrower ???

Just saying :lol:

And? Does that mean anything? Your point being? Raiders made the finals, Eels were the second-most disappointing team in 2010. If this is going to turn into another "Dugan v Hayne" thread then your way ahead of everyone else :lol:

The same argument could be said of the Sharks beating a Hayne-less Eels (TWICE!), or the Raiders being destroyed by the Storm ;-)
Doesn't mean much in the scheme of things does it, at least not in the sense you are talking about.

 

[I bleed blue & gold]

How dare you guys vote Sandow the worst he's going to come back with his mates and heaps of guns

nice

 

[Spanner in the works]

Sandow...

 

[Pete Cash]

And? Does that mean anything? Your point being? Raiders made the finals, Eels were the second-most disappointing team in 2010. If this is going to turn into another "Dugan v Hayne" thread then your way ahead of everyone else :lol:

The same argument could be said of the Sharks beating a Hayne-less Eels (TWICE!), or the Raiders being destroyed by the Storm ;-)
Doesn't mean much in the scheme of things does it, at least not in the sense you are talking about.

I was responding to a person who spends his life producing stats to prove Hayne is the best. His entire argument looks silly when you apply it to the fact that Dugan out played Hayne when they met and Hayne was made to look a fool by Joel Thompson

In context my boy. i like Hayne but I like stirring certain of his supporters up.

 

[NAS]

Very good rundown NAS I agree most of it expect

Cronulla (Smith)- Very good one day, sh*thouse for 364 days.

When I first read this I realised that you must have never watched a game of football involving Newcastle in your life. I'm a Knight's supporter, and I'll usually go out of my way to defend Gids and the crap he gets around here, but really, he's an awful, awful halfback. He played well as a 2nd receiver to Mullen at the end of the year, but he was absolutely terrible at halfback in the games Mullen was injured and he was forced to lead the team in a halfback role. Heck, Mullen is a natural 5/8, but he has more halfback talent in his finger than Gids unfortunately has in his entire body.

Then I saw this little gem:



...and I realised that you must be a souffs supporter.

I've watched plenty of Newcastle and I've called it as I saw it. Mullens defence is not up to scratch and in earlier games last year, Newcastle were rudderless (no pun intended). Godown does the little halfback things right. The things you don't notice and certainly off the ball stuff.

But hey it's just my opinion. I never asked you to agree with it.

 

[perverse]

I've watched plenty of Newcastle and I've called it as I saw it. Mullens defence is not up to scratch and in earlier games last year, Newcastle were rudderless (no pun intended). Godown does the little halfback things right. The things you don't notice and certainly off the ball stuff.

But hey it's just my opinion. I never asked you to agree with it.

his defence is about average for a half, but it isn't dire. if anything he just gets lazy at times in defense. it's certainly an area he can improve on - most halves can.

all the off-the-ball work that Gidley does at halfback, he does at fullback, or hooker, or where-ever else he plays. in fact, he can't perform one of his main duties from halfback - that being directing the defensive line from the back. "Godown" does none of the halfback things right. his kicking is absolutely dire, his organising isn't flash - no beter than Mullens, his distribution play is ordinary - his passing game is equal to Mullen at the very best, but i generally feel is inferior to Mullens in both directions. he's not as fast as Mullen, not even close. both have great running games, but Gidleys is based on persistance and working mainly around the ruck with his strength, Mullen uses his footwork and pace to break the line.

Gidleys main attributes are fitness and heart - and he brings the same which ever position he plays. Mullen is the complete 5/8th package still learning to be a good halfback, but in the second half of last year there were signs that he was getting there - particularly when our pack grew a set - and he had a competant partner in Gidley. the one thing you have to realise about the Knights is that we have had a capable backline working behind a very limpdick forward pack for at least the past 12 months. any half struggles under those conditions, and this has been the case since certainly as far as my memory permits. see what effect the addition of Costigan, Houston and eventually (or perhaps even immediately) Kyle O'Donnell have on the Knights and Mullens game in 2011.

 

[Charlie124]

Is Daniel Mortimer really that bad? like that bad??

I ask this as a serious question to Parra fans and whoever else has followed his transformation from promising, tallented youngster to regarded as one of the worst halves in the comp, apparently . I have been pre-occupied with my own teams nightmarish displays of "football" over the last couple of years to notice the woes of Parramatta but surely he cant have slid that far, could he?

 

[Spanner in the works]

Is Daniel Mortimer really that bad? like that bad??

I ask this as a serious question to Parra fans and whoever else has followed his transformation from promising, tallented youngster to regarded as one of the worst halves in the comp, apparently . I have been pre-occupied with my own teams nightmarish displays of "football" over the last couple of years to notice the woes of Parramatta but surely he cant have slid that far, could he?

Not a Parra fan, but seeing him with the ball in hand hasn't worried me at any stage, nor has he excited me when I have been cheering for Parra over someone else. I've started calling him Template. He's kind of like that template you get at the shops that you can turn into any manner of things. If he were a statistical representation of himself on a screen, with each stat being out of 20, he would be represented entirely by 1's. Then you would turn him into a prop, hooker, winger, fullback etc etc. He's not unlike an under 6 player actually who can grow into a position. He could be anything, but at the moment he is a nothing.

 

[Ausguy]

Not a Parra fan, but seeing him with the ball in hand hasn't worried me at any stage, nor has he excited me when I have been cheering for Parra over someone else.

Thats a good point.... on the other hand sandow is a freak and can flat out attack. MOrtimer goes sideways alot and has lots to learn and he currently doesn thave the freak factor like sandow does, as for timmaaaayyyyy well we will see. i dont think the worst halfback is in this thread to be honest.

 

[1 Eyed TEZZA]

Is Daniel Mortimer really that bad? like that bad??

I ask this as a serious question to Parra fans and whoever else has followed his transformation from promising, tallented youngster to regarded as one of the worst halves in the comp, apparently . I have been pre-occupied with my own teams nightmarish displays of "football" over the last couple of years to notice the woes of Parramatta but surely he cant have slid that far, could he?

Just come into our forum and have a read. There's about 30 threads discussing Morts and they all say the same thing from the same people.

My opinion, he made his debut to early, not his fault. He has good support play and I think he plays better when playing short rather then an expansive game. Ball distributor and support player, nothing more.

 

[boxhead]

I was responding to a person who spends his life producing stats to prove Hayne is the best. His entire argument looks silly when you apply it to the fact that Dugan out played Hayne when they met and Hayne was made to look a fool by Joel Thompson

In context my boy. i like Hayne but I like stirring certain of his supporters up.

Yeah I can understand that, I think you I can both agree that he has no place here moniker always comes with players that are far and away better than anyone else on their team though unfortunately, many other Eels fans simply refuse to criticise him sometimes!

Is Daniel Mortimer really that bad? like that bad??

I ask this as a serious question to Parra fans and whoever else has followed his transformation from promising, tallented youngster to regarded as one of the worst halves in the comp, apparently . I have been pre-occupied with my own teams nightmarish displays of "football" over the last couple of years to notice the woes of Parramatta but surely he cant have slid that far, could he?

I agree, I think that Mortimer definitely has the potential to be far better than either of the other two halves in this thread when based on present form. He's one of those players that started well but had a bad case of second-year syndrome, and there is a case to say he did debut too early for some. Should develop into a good player for the Eels, his biggest strength being his support play; in 2009 this was pretty good to watch as he was running off offloads from everyone in the team, but in 2010 it seemed as if he completely lost this part of his game. I think there is a case that the coach screwed him up by making him play as a halfback and not a supporting player in the five-eighth position.

If Mortimer performs to his best and Kearney can get him playing in the right position then he can do very well, nothing amazing but still a good solid half.

 

[gronkathon]

The problem with Mortimer is actually made worse with Hayne in the team. He has no ability to direct Hayne and his play, whilst freakish and amazing at times, makes the job of any halves combination in his club a difficult one.

Maybe an improved gameplan containing a more definite structured dynamic and less reliance on "jungle ball" will see him improve. I feel qualified to comment on this style and its genuine failure as a consistant fall back because as a Tigers fan I watched it all click for one magic year and than go to sh*t for the next 4

 

[Spanner in the works]

The problem with Mortimer is actually made worse with Hayne in the team. He has no ability to direct Hayne and his play, whilst freakish and amazing at times, makes the job of any halves combination in his club a difficult one.

Maybe an improved gameplan containing a more definite structured dynamic and less reliance on "jungle ball" will see him improve. I feel qualified to comment on this style and its genuine failure as a consistant fall back because as a Tigers fan I watched it all click for one magic year and than go to sh*t for the next 4

I agree with that actually. You need a strong personality in your halves to handle Hayne. Not so much in real life but on the field. Even an experienced halfback would struggle with him for the most part. You need someone of the calibre of Johns, Fittler, Lockyer or Thurston to tell him that this is what is going to happen, this is what you are going to do and this is when you are going to do it. I think even Kimmorley struggled with him at times.

 

[boxhead]

The problem with Mortimer is actually made worse with Hayne in the team. He has no ability to direct Hayne and his play, whilst freakish and amazing at times, makes the job of any halves combination in his club a difficult one.

Maybe an improved gameplan containing a more definite structured dynamic and less reliance on "jungle ball" will see him improve. I feel qualified to comment on this style and its genuine failure as a consistant fall back because as a Tigers fan I watched it all click for one magic year and than go to sh*t for the next 4

I agree with that actually. You need a strong personality in your halves to handle Hayne. Not so much in real life but on the field. Even an experienced halfback would struggle with him for the most part. You need someone of the calibre of Johns, Fittler, Lockyer or Thurston to tell him that this is what is going to happen, this is what you are going to do and this is when you are going to do it. I think even Kimmorley struggled with him at times.

The problem with having Jarryd Hayne in the side is the fact that he will act as a playmaker and will often call the plays, which often succeed but isn't a good sign for your actual halves. The misnomer about Hayne is that he is lazy, he might be in positional play but he is far from it in every other aspect of his game. The big criticism some have is that he doesn't let the halves control the game and instead tries to do it all himself, generally because he does have the talent to do so but also because he thinks he has to. If a coach gets him playing off the halves instead of the other way around then the team will greatly improve.

I agree with you that Hayne's unpredictability can be a nightmare for a team trying to play structured attacking footy, which is unfortunate but it just seems to be what makes him so successful. Hopefully the Eels' new coaching staff can make it so he plays more of a fullback role instead of taking over the game from the halves, might actually see Mortimer and Robson (or whoever else) improve then!

 

[Spanner in the works]

The problem with having Jarryd Hayne in the side is the fact that he will act as a playmaker and will often call the plays, which often succeed but isn't a good sign for your actual halves. The misnomer about Hayne is that he is lazy, he might be in positional play but he is far from it in every other aspect of his game. The big criticism some have is that he doesn't let the halves control the game and instead tries to do it all himself, generally because he does have the talent to do so but also because he thinks he has to. If a coach gets him playing off the halves instead of the other way around then the team will greatly improve.

I agree with you that Hayne's unpredictability can be a nightmare for a team trying to play structured attacking footy, which is unfortunate but it just seems to be what makes him so successful. Hopefully the Eels' new coaching staff can make it so he plays more of a fullback role instead of taking over the game from the halves, might actually see Mortimer and Robson (or whoever else) improve then!

He should probably take a leaf out of Stewart, Ross or Minichiello's book in regards to how he supports the halves.

 

[besthalfbackPEARCE]

Sandow is by far the worst:
- Cant defend
- Cant lead his team
- Relies on individual brilliance which comes off once every 10 games
- Climaxes during the rare occasion he makes a tackle

Tim Smith is a slightly better halfback imo at least he tries to play like one and Mortimer isn't he a five-eighth?

 

[BunniesMan]

Sandow is by far the worst:
- Cant defend
- Cant lead his team
- Relies on individual brilliance which comes off once every 10 games
- Climaxes during the rare occasion he makes a tackle

Tim Smith is a slightly better halfback imo at least he tries to play like one and Mortimer isn't he a five-eighth?

Sandow is better than the target of your hero worship. Pearce was carried by Anasta and Carney all last year. If you do lose Anasta it will be the biggest mistake Easts make and I will change my prediction of a Souths v Easts GF. If Anasta goes Pearce will be exposed as an average halfback. Carney alone won't be enough to mask it.

 

[Vic Mackey]

It all makes sense, bunniesman and gaba are the same person!

 

[BunniesMan]

It all makes sense, bunniesman and gaba are the same person!

No. Gaba is an idiot. BunniesMan is not. Therefor your theory is fail.