Rather than comparing him to Dureau or focusing on whether or not Mullen should be at five-eighth etc, I'd like to discuss Rogers for the job he is doing regardless of any alternatives currently available.
Purely looking at his performances on the field, how do you think he is going? Has he exceeded your expectations? Would you trade him to have Bailey back or would you keep him if a straight swap was on offer?
Personally I'm very impressed. He's got that Fittler/Daley/Barrett type game where he runs to the line with the ball in two hands and can put on a big step and break through or throw a neat pass to one of his runners. He is a genuinely dangerous player on the fringes.
Consistency issues aside I don't believe there are many more threatening five-eighths in the comp. His strike rate for minutes played to line breaks and line break assists would be phenomenal. In fact he barely goes through a match without having a key involvement in at least one or two excellent tries - whether that be busting the line himself or providing the crucial pass.
It was nice to see in the Roosters match that rather than just the neat short ball to Taia type play he put Sau through a yawing gap with a good cut out pass. He also dug us out of trouble with a massive kick down into their in-goal area.
His jink at the line and offload for Taia's second try was so smooth as to almost be overlooked. That was brilliant attacking football, he created that try on his own from absolutely nothing. If Thurston had done it would've been 'magical' or 'brilliant'.
He needs to stop giving away silly penalties though. Overall I think Brian has made an excellent purchase and is using him well.
Please don't let this turn into a debate about Dureau. Stick to your opinion on Rogers alone.
Purely looking at his performances on the field, how do you think he is going? Has he exceeded your expectations? Would you trade him to have Bailey back or would you keep him if a straight swap was on offer?
Personally I'm very impressed. He's got that Fittler/Daley/Barrett type game where he runs to the line with the ball in two hands and can put on a big step and break through or throw a neat pass to one of his runners. He is a genuinely dangerous player on the fringes.
Consistency issues aside I don't believe there are many more threatening five-eighths in the comp. His strike rate for minutes played to line breaks and line break assists would be phenomenal. In fact he barely goes through a match without having a key involvement in at least one or two excellent tries - whether that be busting the line himself or providing the crucial pass.
It was nice to see in the Roosters match that rather than just the neat short ball to Taia type play he put Sau through a yawing gap with a good cut out pass. He also dug us out of trouble with a massive kick down into their in-goal area.
His jink at the line and offload for Taia's second try was so smooth as to almost be overlooked. That was brilliant attacking football, he created that try on his own from absolutely nothing. If Thurston had done it would've been 'magical' or 'brilliant'.
He needs to stop giving away silly penalties though. Overall I think Brian has made an excellent purchase and is using him well.
Please don't let this turn into a debate about Dureau. Stick to your opinion on Rogers alone.
