Tommy Smith
Referee
- Messages
- 21,344
I don't get the Cleary comparisons to Cronk. Specifically the assumption that because Cleary debuted well before Cronk did then his complete lack of ball playing ability is all hunky dory because he'll continue his progression and become a star just like Cronk.
It doesn't work that way. You don't get extra browny points for debuting young. Mitchell Pearce probably had 60 FG games under his belt at 21 too; but how silly would the "what was Cronk doing at 21?" line look when applied to Pearce?
And Cleary looks a lot more like Pearce than Cronk to me. A very strong defender who does all the basics right. The good news is that Cleary also has his head screwed on unlike Pearce. In fact his mental strength may be his best quality.
So he's still a very good young player and will become one of the league's best halfbacks; but don't be offended when people call into question whether a young 60 game halfback is worth the enormous 1m per year contract he's on.
It doesn't work that way. You don't get extra browny points for debuting young. Mitchell Pearce probably had 60 FG games under his belt at 21 too; but how silly would the "what was Cronk doing at 21?" line look when applied to Pearce?
And Cleary looks a lot more like Pearce than Cronk to me. A very strong defender who does all the basics right. The good news is that Cleary also has his head screwed on unlike Pearce. In fact his mental strength may be his best quality.
So he's still a very good young player and will become one of the league's best halfbacks; but don't be offended when people call into question whether a young 60 game halfback is worth the enormous 1m per year contract he's on.
