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Zac Lomax

rasaint

Juniors
Messages
1,053
Fair opinion Saints Forever.

I acknowledge what Zac brings to our team. Firstly, he is a top line goal kicker. That is important to a team. He tackles competently and his commitment to giving his best is unquestioned.

I am like a number of contributors on the forum and point to his lack of brilliance for the fullback position in particular and to a lesser extent generally. I believe there are a number of NRL players better in the centre position than Zac for that matter. It doesn’t mean I do not wish him all the success in the world. Any player even getting one NRL game deserves commendation.

im a dragons supporter and want our team to do well. To do that it is my opinion a team has to have brilliance and some X factor at full back. The much maligned Dufty has scored NRL trys from individual brilliance that are so sublime they are almost incomparable. Yes Dufty has dropped bombs like Zac and even Latrell last night but he is brilliant. The young Ramsey may step up to NRL and if he does then he will be our fullback.

Bottom line Zac is a centre who I hope matures into a good NRL one and does well for the dragons over the next many years of his contract.
 

giboz71

First Grade
Messages
9,013
I too would like to see Zac in the centres, just to get rid of the other 2 blokes.

But it’s way too early to be dismissing him as a fullback. He’s played 2 trials FFS. And he looked pretty damn good at one of those trials.

Again, there will be plenty of games to asses players and the team in general. I just don’t think the Charity Shield is one one of those games.
 

Belta

Juniors
Messages
1,126
I know it’s early days and I’ve previous commented that Zac doesn’t have to be a superstar he just needs to fill a very difficult position adequately. I don’t see many thinking he’s our saviour. From the little I’ve see I believe Zac is our best fb option. I think he is immensely talented with ball in hand, athletic covers a lot of ground and unlike a lot of others mention will put his body infront of big men. In short, his better than recent fullbacks in that he can actually TACkLE, kind of important when your the last line of defence. Sure he’ll make mistakes and won’t be a Tedesco overnight, few ever will but I can see aspects of his game that will benefit the dragons. He isn’t going to win games on his own, there’s a lot that will have to hold their own before we can play finals football, and we all know who they are.
 

Dragonslayer

First Grade
Messages
7,697
I too would like to see Zac in the centres, just to get rid of the other 2 blokes.

But it’s way too early to be dismissing him as a fullback. He’s played 2 trials FFS. And he looked pretty damn good at one of those trials.

Again, there will be plenty of games to asses players and the team in general. I just don’t think the Charity Shield is one one of those games.

Agree.
Zac at fb is the least of our worries.

We should be focused on who plays at centre, add to that the lack of creativity from our halves and hooker

It was noticeable last night that when Williame was on, Norman actually got creative. Whilst on the other side, same ol, same ol. BB nade a difference also, far more creative around dummy half.

The other question is why did we have no ball in the first half, repeatedly having to defend (which was pretty stoic) our line?
 

Kylez3

Juniors
Messages
337
Lomax looked solid up until that dropped catch and kick-off error. Defensive positioning was good, defusing many kicks.

Aitken however looked DREADFUL from the very first minute. Only took him 1 minute to let in a try with his usual atrocious defensive read out wide. A plastic cone would offer more in defence, and only slightly less in attack nowdays..
 

Lovemedragons

Juniors
Messages
1,334
When you cast an eye across our back 5, Zac at fullback is the least of our worries!. The creativity (lack of) with our 6 & 7 is also a concern. Agree though that not all promising juniors make it at NRL level, Aitken being a case in point.
Long season ahead i think.
fully agree, fullback is the least of our worries, the entire backline that ran out last night were inept and some of these guys are getting a whole lot more money than Zac sees. I am fully prepared to give him a chance and I suspect he will grow into a very good player for us.
 

Crush

Coach
Messages
10,518
I too would like to see Zac in the centres, just to get rid of the other 2 blokes.

But it’s way too early to be dismissing him as a fullback. He’s played 2 trials FFS. And he looked pretty damn good at one of those trials.

Again, there will be plenty of games to asses players and the team in general. I just don’t think the Charity Shield is one one of those games.
Sorry mate, I'm dismissing him at fullback. I think fullback is such an important position and you need to have almost your best player in that position, as silly as that sounds.
Look at Teddy, Turbo, RTS, Ponga, CNK. These guys are all their clubs best players or close to it.
Zac Lomax is a solid young player that is defensively sound and has some football smarts. But have you ever seen him do something jaw dropping in attack? I have not.
I honestly don't think he is that kind of player. Can you have just a serviceable fullback and win a comp? Nope.
Put him at centre, he'll have a decent career there I reckon.
 

Crush

Coach
Messages
10,518
Agree.
Zac at fb is the least of our worries.

We should be focused on who plays at centre, add to that the lack of creativity from our halves and hooker

It was noticeable last night that when Williame was on, Norman actually got creative. Whilst on the other side, same ol, same ol. BB nade a difference also, far more creative around dummy half.

The other question is why did we have no ball in the first half, repeatedly having to defend (which was pretty stoic) our line?
I kind of agree that Zac is the least of our worries given the problems we have all across the park but I still think Zac at fullback is a worry.
Aitken and Lafai are our biggest and most urgent problem to fix but its an easy fix. Move Zac to centre, Williame into the other spot.
As for who plays fullback, thats a tough one. I'd be recruiting someone from outside the club for 2021.
 

gitano

Juniors
Messages
2,364
I have never seen him do anything of quality in first grade. Solid?? Can we stop throwing that word around...he is basically always a chance of fumbling a kick, either in the air or on the ground. He was very poor defensively and doesn't have the tools to cut it at the back. For mine he should try to hone his game in CC for the season at least.
 

giboz71

First Grade
Messages
9,013
Sorry mate, I'm dismissing him at fullback. I think fullback is such an important position and you need to have almost your best player in that position, as silly as that sounds.
Look at Teddy, Turbo, RTS, Ponga, CNK. These guys are all their clubs best players or close to it.
Zac Lomax is a solid young player that is defensively sound and has some football smarts. But have you ever seen him do something jaw dropping in attack? I have not.
I honestly don't think he is that kind of player. Can you have just a serviceable fullback and win a comp? Nope.
Put him at centre, he'll have a decent career there I reckon.

The sample size is too small to make an assessment yet. He’s had 2 trial games and in one of those games he was very good. It’s Kurt Mann all over again if we’re giving up on him as a fullback after 2 trials.

You mentioned CNK, no one knew he was a fullback until Ricky put him there . He was a discarded winger from the Warriors who got a shot and made the most of it. We didn’t start noticing him until midway through the year.

I’m willing to give Zac the same time frame.

And to be honest, who else do we have? Sailor and Ramsey are probably the best bets but both need plenty of work. So Lomax it is for now.
 

18to87

First Grade
Messages
9,959
I have never seen him do anything of quality in first grade. Solid?? Can we stop throwing that word around...he is basically always a chance of fumbling a kick, either in the air or on the ground. He was very poor defensively and doesn't have the tools to cut it at centre. For mine he should try to hone his game in CC for the season at least.
Totally agree. Aitken should be in CC.
 

Crush

Coach
Messages
10,518
The sample size is too small to make an assessment yet. He’s had 2 trial games and in one of those games he was very good. It’s Kurt Mann all over again if we’re giving up on him as a fullback after 2 trials.

You mentioned CNK, no one knew he was a fullback until Ricky put him there . He was a discarded winger from the Warriors who got a shot and made the most of it. We didn’t start noticing him until midway through the year.

I’m willing to give Zac the same time frame.

And to be honest, who else do we have? Sailor and Ramsey are probably the best bets but both need plenty of work. So Lomax it is for now.
I watched a lot of Raiders games last year and I could see from round 1 vs the Titans which they won 21 nil that CNK was a gun. Speed, size, step, positioning, catching. He is a fullback. Anyway, lets see with Zac, hopefully he shows us something we haven't seen yet.
 
Messages
3,607
2 trial games fellas, take it easy

we know he can tackle

we know he is a good ball player

we know he positioned himself very well to diffuse many kicks that ended up in our in goal area

we know he has size

we know he has a good step

give the kid speedy centres and wingers, first before we dismiss him as a fullback

I don’t recall Darius Boyd having blinding speed

As for the high balls, let’s judge him when we play at a ground at night that has NRL standard lighting.
 

True_Believer

Juniors
Messages
1,730
Sorry mate, I'm dismissing him at fullback. I think fullback is such an important position and you need to have almost your best player in that position, as silly as that sounds.
Look at Teddy, Turbo, RTS, Ponga, CNK. These guys are all their clubs best players or close to it.
Zac Lomax is a solid young player that is defensively sound and has some football smarts. But have you ever seen him do something jaw dropping in attack? I have not.
I honestly don't think he is that kind of player. Can you have just a serviceable fullback and win a comp? Nope.
Put him at centre, he'll have a decent career there I reckon.

I tend to think the same way. Defensively he's going to be OK I think, but I don't think he's the kind of player who's going to bust open a game. He's just not that dynamic. As you said, for all the hype he gets, I haven't seen him do anything spectacular in attack. And for the fullback position, I think we need someone who is going to threaten the line every time he touches the ball.

I'm happy to give him a shot at fullback and hope that he proves me wrong. But, like others here, I think his position is centre.
 

FlameThrower

Bench
Messages
3,557
When you cast an eye across our back 5, Zac at fullback is the least of our worries!. The creativity (lack of) with our 6 & 7 is also a concern. Agree though that not all promising juniors make it at NRL level, Aitken being a case in point.
Long season ahead i think.
You are on the money, as our 6 & 7 were invisible . Norman’s focus looks to be his hair style and Hunt has never looked at home in Red V or Wollongong. I’m not sure the team has a real leader on the field and that does not help our younger guys who need direction, mentors and the occasional rev up on and off the field.
 

BennyV

Referee
Messages
22,569
Let’s be honest, he is keeping the jersey occupied until Ramsey is ready to go. He’ll do well at fullback in time but he is best serving the team at right centre, both in the long and short term.
 

Old Timer

Coach
Messages
16,945
FMD people talking about Lomax lack of X factor or attacking ability are you serious?
There isn’t 1 player in our entire team that has that which you demand from the youngest player in the team but has the most upside.
We have an over rated team that presents no dramas in attack against competent teams
We are a team that defends poorly especially key players like Norman, Hunt, Aitken
We are a team that crabs sideways yes and now that Widdop is gone the true fact if how our attack (if you can call it that) is coached is truly evident.
The knockers should shut the f**k up, give the kid a proper chance and stop pinning all our hopes on him.
He isn’t responsible for the shit players we signed that stifle our team and get picked every week.
I’d rather Lomax at 1 than Aitken at 3 or Norman at 6 or Hunt at 7 or Graham at 10.
 

Crush

Coach
Messages
10,518
FMD people talking about Lomax lack of X factor or attacking ability are you serious?
There isn’t 1 player in our entire team that has that which you demand from the youngest player in the team but has the most upside.
We have an over rated team that presents no dramas in attack against competent teams
We are a team that defends poorly especially key players like Norman, Hunt, Aitken
We are a team that crabs sideways yes and now that Widdop is gone the true fact if how our attack (if you can call it that) is coached is truly evident.
The knockers should shut the f**k up, give the kid a proper chance and stop pinning all our hopes on him.
He isn’t responsible for the shit players we signed that stifle our team and get picked every week.
I’d rather Lomax at 1 than Aitken at 3 or Norman at 6 or Hunt at 7 or Graham at 10.
You are so dramatic sometimes OT.
 

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