Lack of form? He seemed to be going pretty well, did ol' Branno.
Rudder was quiet for Roosters, 21 minutes, 15 tackles, 1 run for 5 metres. Nothing was expected from him, he really is too small to be a genuine backrow option, but with Myles, Fitzgibbon, Mason, Tupou all in State Of Origin, that is essentially our starting backrow gone. Lopini Paea, Setaimata Sa both shifted into prop and 5-8 to accomodate for other missing players, and out of our PL backrowers, Mickey Paea shifted into the FG team, and i assume Shackleton would have too, but he has been injured and thus Rudder was all we had left. He was signed by Jets to cover for Shack, hence being played in the backrow, but with the imminent return of Big Red, and with Branighan's apparent loss of form and departure, it seems ideal for Rudder to shift into a 5-8, a position where he has had plenty of experience in, and can provide depth with Ben Green at half, who finds himself first choice after the departure of the poor form Jai Ayoub, and the great form Luke Millwood to Cowboys.
By finals time, you could expect to see Jets line up with a team like:
Shaun Foley
Byron Ford
Brent Grose
Albert Hopoate
Tevita Folau
Sean Rudder
Ben Green
FP Nuuausala
Rory Kostjaysn
Steve Meredith
Mickey Paea
Shane Shackleton
Jimmy Anderson
Luke Gordon
Danny Howard or Hep Cahill (depending on form)
Khalid Deeb
Ray Moujalli
Good to see that this season, Matterson seems to be prioritizing form over status, hence why Roosters contracted players such as Jai Ayoub and Danny Howard have often been looked over for better performing Jets players such as Ben Green and Hep Cahill.
