He would be a disaster in the forwards. His work rate would need to increase immensely, and player reaction time in the forwards can be a lot more demanding up the middle and on the edges, then out wide. Especially when quick play the balls and powerful packs get a roll on. If Grothe has to make a large commitment in defense, then I can't see him having anywhere near the same kind of go forward as he has on the wing.
In a game where we can dominate possession, then sure he may do well, but if it is a slog fest, then I would imagine that he could become, at best ineffectual or at worst a liability. I feel that he is, for a better word, to 'stiff' a player, and physically not flexible enough to handle the forwards. Funnily enough that too has become problem for him out wide.
There really is nowhere to hide out there. You may get away with it for a while for varying factors such as other personnel in the team that can support you or oppositions may take a while to find you out, or the game may just evolve to where you aren't as suited to it anymore.
This is just my opinion though and I could be wrong. Seeing that we are paying him handsomely though, something will need to be done or else losing both Grothe to park football and T. Williams to Manly next year, will make Williams departure even more of a bitter pill to swallow, especially when there was a window of opportunity to keep Williams over Grothe and or a few others.
