Physically there is nothing wrong with this lad, he is as quick as ever, but he is in a bad head space, He
looks unhappy and will not commit himself to ball or defense. You can see it in defense he just plants his feet and hopes for the best. He looks like he needs some time out of the game. He is in a really vicious cycle at the moment, his negativity gets compounded with every mistake he makes would be a good thing to give him a spell away from footy for the rest of the season IMO. At 25 he still has a lot to give as a centre, he ain't cut out for the pack! I expect there'll be some improvement with improved service from inside him. I hope so anyway seems like a genuine bloke. He needs to relax!
He isn't as quick as ever. I'll be generous and say over 100m he might be 2-3 seconds slower than a few years ago, thats quite a lot for a centre.
He was never blistering fast, like Koroibete, but he was very fast off the mark. For a while there, he was undoubtedly the fastest centre in the game off 3-6 steps. He used to get through half gaps off the back of that initial speed burst.
It's almost as if his legs are so bloody heavy now that he just can't lift them as quickly or as high as he used to do. The first thing any player does when they slow down, is they stop trying to use a step. The just play direct and straight.
Some players can pull it off (Luke Lewis is a good example).
Others, like Lawrence, can't.
He was never a bulldozer type player who ran over the top of players, he ran at gaps.
He needs to modify the way he plays and fast. He's not going to get quicker. he has a decent sized frame, so he needs to learn how to use it.
Instead of thinking he's 21 and flying around everywhere, he needs to learn how to offload and how to draw two defenders and pass.
Jamie Lyon is a slow mover on his feet as well (laterally he's quicker than Lawrence, mostly because he's been in a side that uses slide defence better than anyone else for ages) but Lawrence should try and model his running game on Lyon's. Lyon just runs, draws, passes.
His wingers get tries on the platter all year long.
Lawrence is capable of this.
Furthermore, Lawrence has been getting good service all year from Brooks (moreso compared to the ball Simona gets from Anasta). Lawrence hasn't been quick enough to be in the right place at the right time to capitalise on it. I believe that's got a lot to do with benji's style which tended to leave everyone flat footed while they waited for a stupid f**king flick pass at their forehead or ankles. Even if that was the reason, he should be showing signs of growing out of that flat footed habit by now, but he isn't.
