Prop forwards aren't our concern anymore, I think TPJ and Esse Esse have levelled us up with opposition packs. A half that can kick and organise a team is what we need.
Which makes Bird a head scratcher. No way we shell out that money to play him at centre. For mine he either plays lock or 5/8th.
If he plays 5/8th, Milford goes to halfback. Milford is still young and ~could~ develop the skills I mentioned but he hasn't shown much there. If anything that responsibility could detract from his strengths and at 5/8th I feel he has that freedom to run first. Bird playing fullback and Boyd moving to 5/8th creates the same issue but with the extra teething problems of Bird learning the positional play at fullback which Boyd has mastered.
If he plays lock, he'd have to beef up in the off season. With his arthritis, there might be a question over whether that is even possible. Then there's an issue of us giving away a lot of size in our pack with a creative type lock while the trend these days seems to be another prop forward playing there (Taumalolo, Klemmer, McGuire). Glenn plays in the middle for us and is small (albeit coming off the bench), and Greg Bird played with a bit of free reign at lock so there's some precedence.
With any luck, Nikorima finds his feet in the next 5 or so rounds at halfback and demands his selection there. If not, next year might be an interim one where we wait for Ash Taylor (or whoever we can get) to come off contract and make do with two 5/8ths.
