I think you're being highly optimistic about Carl Webb.
Well plenty of people are being pessimistic so I'm trying to achieve some balance.
The guy has been a 30 minute player for the past couple of years and is worth about 8 or 9 carries and that's on good day.
A good day in a bad year maybe.
We keep hearing how he's training the house down, and you might have forgotten how good he can be.
In 2005 he was phenomenal. Even '06-'07 he was excellent. If he's been poor since then it's because of his attitude, not old age.
So I think a bloke like him is a certainty to have a great season at a new club with a fresh coach. He might suck again in 2012 but by then who's going to care?
Even if Webb plays 30-35 minutes each week he should fill the same role as Fui does and make as many hit-ups as he can while he's on the field. Also like Fui he shouldn't go looking for work defensively - just tackle the blokes who run at him.
The two of them should stick to their main strength and that is running the ball. I'm sure that's how they'll be used.
Thankfully Justin Poore can play 50 minutes plus, and with a high workload in both attack and defence.
Well that's right and I'm sure so could Mannah if he needed to. He played 80 minutes nearly every week in the NYC. You'd think he'd be able to pull 45+ in first grade.
So with Poore and Mannah playing 45-50 minutes and Webb and Moimoi playing 30-35, that adds up to 160 prop minutes every week.
Shane Shackleton can also play big minutes in the front row and carry the workload required so I would definately have him in the top 17 ahead of Webb from day one.
You're right, Shackleton has the workrate and the versatility but Webb has the ability to bend the line, and even break it once in a while. He also has the intimidation factor, and although people like to bag him because he lost a boxing match and got fat and lazy at the Cowboys, the fact remains that he is so big and fast that he does make the opposition think twice about getting in front of him.
I don't think it would hurt using Shackleton as a front-rower but we would lose that explosive power that Webb brings. Anyway I think they'll both be on the bench in round 1, along with Mannah and Mitchell.
Poore and Mannah make a huge amount of effective hit ups!!!
They do but you have to consider that you only get so many carries in eighty minutes of football, and you may as well get the ball to your best running props as often as you can.
Poore and Mannah will still make plenty of hit-ups but if Webb/Moimoi is available for that run they should take it.
Poore and Mannah will be doing a bigger share of the defence around the middle anyway, so it's not like they won't be buggered when it comes time to sub off.
There is no reason to limit the amount of hit ups they take.
Well there is mate and I just explained why.
Every hit-up Poore or Mannah takes is one less that Fui or Carl Webb is able to take. The latter two are almost pure attacking players so we may as well got our money's worth in the minutes they're on the field.
Also, the more work Poore and Mannah do in attack, the more energy they'll use up. That energy could be valuable in defence, or even for improving the quality of the hit-ups they do make.
It's called economy of effort.
Note I'm not bagging Tim Mannah. One of the reason's he's so good is that he's able to play both roles - both the workhorse and the battering ram (which is how he was used last year when he came on with workhorse Justin Poore).
I doubt that having both Fui and Webb starting is going to cause too much of a defensive liability because the opening exchanges are tough, physical and conservative with not a whole bunch of ball movement!
If they both started you can bet your arse opposition teams would target them with ball movement and angled runners.
There would be a lot more holes than if Mannah or Poore (or Shackleton) was in the line with them.
