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Blake Austin is a better 5/8 than Anthony Milford & Mitchell Moses

nick87

nick87

Coach
Messages
12,458
I still dont think Austin is ready. I get that he's probably NSW's best option at 5/8th but i think he needs another 12 months settled in the halves before he's ready for the #6.
Id blood him this year off the bench as #14.
 
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lafai

Bench
Messages
2,810
nick87 said:
I still dont think Austin is ready. I get that he's probably NSW's best option at 5/8th but i think he needs another 12 months settled in the halves before he's ready for the #6.
Id blood him this year off the bench as #14.
Click to expand...

But Pearce is ready ay..
 
M

MarkC

Juniors
Messages
446
The question mark I have on Austin is his defense.
I'm not convinced he currently defends any better than Soward.
If we are going for that kind of player, why not Soward?
His running game is not as good as Austin, but he probably has a better kicking game.
I don't rate the current halves that highly, but I prefer to try Moylan at fullback before any other experiment.
 
Walt Flanigan

Walt Flanigan

Referee
Messages
20,727
Dugan was one of the few who can hold their head up last night. As much as I dislike Dugan, there isn't a case for Moylan to replace him.
 
Hutty1986

Hutty1986

Immortal
Messages
34,034
MarkC said:
The question mark I have on Austin is his defense.
I'm not convinced he currently defends any better than Soward.
If we are going for that kind of player, why not Soward?
His running game is not as good as Austin, but he probably has a better kicking game.
I don't rate the current halves that highly, but I prefer to try Moylan at fullback before any other experiment.
Click to expand...

Soward's kicking game is in a different class to Austin's. He should be the next cab off the rank if we're discussing 80 minutes halves that can actually win us a game. Definitely would like to see Austin given a run off the bench at some point though.
 
M

MarkC

Juniors
Messages
446
Walt Flanigan said:
Dugan was one of the few who can hold their head up last night. As much as I dislike Dugan, there isn't a case for Moylan to replace him.
Click to expand...

I would move Dugan to the centers in place of Jennings.

I agree Dugan was very good.

Ii is more a case of needing a fullback with play making skills with the current halves.
Particularly as Daley has stated, he is not changing the halves.

The other solution is to leave Dugan where he his and find a better halves combo, but you need to consider attack and defense.

Regardless, I would replace Jennings and Tupou as the 2 tries NSW conceded where on their side and mainly due to errors from them.

While Hoppa did not do much, at least JMoz & Hoppa did not concede any tries, but JMoz did most of the good work.
 
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MarkC

Juniors
Messages
446
Hutty1986 said:
Soward's kicking game is in a different class to Austin's. He should be the next cab off the rank if we're discussing 80 minutes halves that can actually win us a game. Definitely would like to see Austin given a run off the bench at some point though.
Click to expand...

I agree on all of that, and it is another solution.

NSW may be forced to do something like that if Farah is not right for game 2.
In that case, I would start with Peats and have Austin on the bench.

Then either 6 Soward, 1 Dugan or 7 Hodkinson, 1 Moylan.
 
Mr. Snrub

Mr. Snrub

Juniors
Messages
973
MarkC said:
I would move Dugan to the centers in place of Jennings.

I agree Dugan was very good.

Ii is more a case of needing a fullback with play making skills with the current halves.
Particularly as Daley has stated, he is not changing the halves.

The other solution is to leave Dugan where he his and find a better halves combo, but you need to consider attack and defense.

Regardless, I would replace Jennings and Tupou as the 2 tries NSW conceded where on their side and mainly due to errors from them.

While Hoppa did not do much, at least JMoz & Hoppa did not concede any tries even but JMoz did most of the good work.
Click to expand...

Dugan would be wasted in the centres I think. Hodkinson and Pearce don't pass the ball enough to the centres for Dugan to be useful there.
 
nick87

nick87

Coach
Messages
12,458
MarkC said:
The question mark I have on Austin is his defense.
I'm not convinced he currently defends any better than Soward.
Click to expand...

You're not watching very much of Blake Austin. He's no defensive star, he's run of the mill for a half in the line, but there is no f**king way he's in the same realm as Jamie Soward as a defender. No way.

That's not to say i think Austin should be picked ahead Soward btw, i agree that as an 80min half this year, he should. As i said i dont think Austin is ready for fulltime play making duties. Next year, we'll see how Austin progresses but all signs points to him being someone to seriously consider

The other thing to be said about his defense is whilst he's just a standard defensive half in the line, he's one of the best hustle/cover defenders, he's saved more than a few tries for Canberra this year by just never giving up on a play and chasing down and making a covering tackle on a support player. I believe Gould would label those efforts "origin plays!!!!!!"
 
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betcats

Referee
Messages
23,965
nick87 said:
You're not watching very much of Blake Austin. He's no defensive star, he's run of the mill for a half in the line, but there is no f**king way he's in the same realm as Jamie Soward as a defender. No way.

That's not to say i think Austin should be picked ahead Soward btw, i agree that as an 80min half this year, he should. As i said i dont think Austin is ready for fulltime play making duties. Next year, we'll see how Austin progresses but all signs points to him being someone to seriously consider

The other thing to be said about his defense is whilst he's just a standard defensive half in the line, he's one of the best hustle/cover defenders, he's saved more than a few tries for Canberra this year by just never giving up on a play and chasing down and making a covering tackle on a support player. I believe Gould would label those efforts "origin plays!!!!!!"
Click to expand...

Soward is an above average defender for a half now. If Austin is a better defender its by a bees dick hair and no more.

Austin is making 17.8 tackles and missing 2.4 on average compared to Soward who is averaging 11.6 and missing 2.0 on average. Id say they are very much in the same class.
 
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betcats

Referee
Messages
23,965
Hutty1986 said:
Soward's been a solid defender for about 4 years now.
Click to expand...

Yeah I was pleasantly surprised by his defence last season. He carried a back injury into this season so I reckon that has effected him a bit too, his numbers might be better otherwise.
 
Jason Maher

Jason Maher

Immortal
Messages
35,991
Austin doesn't strike me as the type of guy whose confidence would take a hit the way Mullen's did if he was jerked around by the selectors.
 
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