Armit lack of game time

[1eyedeel]

The thing that left me scratching my head after this week's game is why did Brian Smith choose Chris Armit as starting prop only to give him minimal game time. While Armit was on the field I thought he was the most dominant Parra forward and the stats back that up with the five runs he made yielding 43 metres. When your averaging nine metres every hit up your running very effectively. Or was Armit on the field and he just went missing in action? The last time he was named in the starting team he only got 15 minutes or so, but as he was in the starting 13 I expected him to get a real good hitout but Stapleton and Peek both seemed to get more game time??

As an aside I think Stapleton has to start. He makes very few errors and I'd love for us to go the first 15 to 20 minutes one week without someone coughing up the ball. I still think Vella works best as an interchange forward.

 

[parra pete]

Thought he was out of his depth actually.

 

[parra pete]

Yours is the best EELS site on the web, by the way. Congratulations.

 

[magpiemax]

Thought he was out of his depth actually.

I thought i told you that smith is a nutta!!!!
p.s.....hope this thread does'nt get locked now as the contents may not suit some of you.

 

[Pazza]

Thought he was out of his depth actually.

It was a big ask to have a rookie such as Armit playing against a pack with Davico, Woolford, O'Hara, Wiki, Hodgson and Hindmarsh in it. They are a group of killers. I think Armit will do much better against Souths.

 

[Jake the snake]

Armitt was going great guns untill our friend Smithy and his 50 assistants took him off the field and decided to put him on in the last 5 minutes.

 

[PARRA_FAN]

Agreed,

I dunno what was going through Smith's head when he took him off after 20 minutes and then put him on in the last 10.

 

[The Engineers Room]

He looked out of his depth to me aswell. And I don't agree that he played all that well in Premier league against Newcastle aswell.

 

[strider]

I think he played like most of our forwards - average.

 

[Chipmunk]

I think having O'Dwyer, Wagon, Vella, Armit, Peek and Stapleton in the 17 means that you have 2 and maybe even 3 too many straight up and down players who can basically just hit the ball up and make a tackle and dont offer to the team much in the way of strike power or creativity.

Armit is only young and should get better.

O'Dwyer is not ready for first Grade yet.

Peek and Stapleton are just too straight up and down to have coming off the bench.

Vella is potentially the most dangeous of the players mentioned due simply to his speed.

If you could put a bit more size and mongrel in to Wagon he would make a good (ball playing :lol: :lol: :lol: ) front rower!!!

 

[Ron Jeremy]

He didn't do any worse then bloody O'Dwyer!!!.....yet he pl;ayed the whole game.

 

[Hurriflatch]

I actully didn't really notice Armit at all. But I do agree that I'd like to see Stapleton start.

 

[thedux]

I would imagine that BS is trying to blood some of these youngsters but that is difficult to do all at once. Hence the reason to start them together as the adrenalin keeps you going but after about 20mins you realise where the hell you are. O'Dwyer is playing a full game because he is a lock/5-8 so it would be pointless replacing a player who can go the distance, but I agree that he looks a little out of his depth at the moment. The other point I agree on is that Vella should come off the bench and Stapleton or some other unit should be starting. I don't think Micky V ever started a rep game and that was the reason why he played much better at that level than for us lately.

 

[PB]

Armit played 28 minutes.

in that time he managed only 5 hit ups averaging less than 6 metres per hit up.

compare that to say.....

Vella. Who played 44 minutes (only 16 minutes more)

in that time Vella managed 15 hitups!

I would say that is why Armit didnt get alot of game time. His work load wasn't up to it. I would guess this weekend is a second and possibly last chance.

 

[Hurriflatch]

PB: While I agree with your your saying in regards to while Armit may have gotten less playing time I doubt it will be his last chance. It might be his last chance before someone else say Tsoulos or moi moi are tried but I'm expecting to see him back in the top grade before the end of the season.

 

[1eyedeel]

PB, where are your stats coming from? Would love to see stats relating to game time, but never seen a site that has them,

The stats on the official NRL site had Armit making 43 metres from his five hit ups which is about nine metres each hit up, as I said in the original post. I've watched the game again and as far I'm concerned the hit ups he made were good ones, he just didn't make many of them.

 

[The Colonel]

Have a look at the stats again. Widders it seems played 62 minutes - assumingly because he moved to the centres to cover for Ronnie when he went off injured. O'Dwyer only played 41 minutes. Taking that into consideration and as the injury wasn't a result of foul play then we would of used up an interchage to bring another player on. Anyone consider that his lack of game time was a result of the interchagne being ballsed up by the injury?

BTW PB - 5 hit ups for 39 metres is an average of 7.8 metres per run.

Compared with

Peek - 10 HU for an average 7.2
Stapleton - 11HU for an avergae of 7.7m
Vella - 15HU for an average of 7m

Hindmarsh average 7.3 metres per carry and Cayless an average of 6.9m per hit up.

Seems he didn't do all that bad after all. ;-)

 

[Pazza]

Its hard to get your hands on the football when guys like Vella, Hindmarsh and Cayless are calling for the football. Armit and O'Dwyer where the least experianced inplayers the parramatta forward pack and this is reflected in how much ball they got.

If Armit and O'Dwyer where putting in more of a effort than players like Vella and Cayless then there would be a very big problem.

And dont forget that 7 metres is good for a hit up these days. The teams are so close together that it makes it very hard to make 10m a hitup.

 

[Eelementary]

First off, allow me the reinforce the fact I am a huge Armit fan. I belive he has many positive attributes (speed, size, strength and heart) and in time will be a great asset.

Now, I too thought Armit looked out of his depth. He seemed uncomfortable. Now, against a physical pack like Canberra's it is not easy to get over the top of them and dominate. Thus his performance in itself is not indicative of where he stands.

However, I saw him make 5 good hit-ups and three or four good gang tackles. I noted the Raiders forwards and experienced backs ran at him, as well as O'Dwyer. It seemed as though he wasn't sure he could keep up with the pace of the game (not in fitness; he is very fit. I mean it looked as though everything was moving too fast for him).

He was not poor, he just wasn't very good. Of course, this will come and develop with time.

I think the reason he played little is because unfortunately for him, he was not having an impact in either portion of the game (attack or defense) and you really need to have you forwards firing in either or both to get over a physical and tough Top 4 team.

 

[The Engineers Room]

Its hard to get your hands on the football when guys like Vella, Hindmarsh and Cayless are calling for the football. Armit and O'Dwyer where the least experianced inplayers the parramatta forward pack and this is reflected in how much ball they got.

If Armit and O'Dwyer where putting in more of a effort than players like Vella and Cayless then there would be a very big problem.

Then why do the backs take the ball up so much and run from dummy half?

And dont forget that 7 metres is good for a hit up these days. The teams are so close together that it makes it very hard to make 10m a hitup.

But not good enough when the other team is making 12.