Ram, what about Hayze Pelham at right wing?
He seems to have speed and footwork.. He's a fullback so should be good under the high ball.
Might go well next to Will.
He seems to have the footwork where he can sniff around the ruck and step a tired forward.
I know Sivo will be back and I doubt BA will drop him but he is out for a few matches in 2022.
If he goes well, maybe the 2 hazes will fight for the same spot
Yeah he could be a possibility, and I do like that he uses foot work as well as speed, but he needs to improve a lot more then where he currently is at to hold down a permanent place in our top 17.
You know an example of our coaches not taking advantage of the natural speed of our players is our halves.
They are probably the fastest halves combination in the NRL and yet their ability to beat defenders and make large breaks and or ones that lead to tries is way less then I would expect from such a fast combo. Yeah I know they play on opposite sides of the field, but they don't always have to and it is irrelevant for the what I am referring to.
These two are speedsters for halves that should be scaring the bejezus out of their opposition whenever they get the ball in hand and the defenders should rightfully be nervous not knowing what is coming at them at any moment. But instead, so often we see both players do very little elusively with speed or footwork and either meekly take a tackle or just shovel the ball on to an obvious support player without any real threatening purpose.
I put this down largely because of a lack of footwork. They don't seem to have that step before the line at speed that allows them to evade the defender. Why not should be the next question? It's not like they can't, we see them do it every now and then, so why not do it just as they hit the defense and go through more often? Again, why aren't the coaching staff addressing this and honing our halves natural speed to its fullest? It should be major weapon and a lethal game changer way more often.
I remember a season or two ago listening to either Gus or Fitler on the channel 9 commentary waxing lyrical about how all the Roosters player including the forwards could and would make breaks during games because they ALL posses footwork at the line at speed. This was not always a natural trait that all the players had when they first came to the club, but something that Robinson and the coaching staff insist that they spend countless hours at training and learning how to do with footwork drill over and over again.
So why do we not do it? I'm sure someone here will ask, "how do I know we don't" right? Well the proof is in the way so many of our players play that's how. We chase the collision and therefore want to run over the top of each team. That filters down to all the players including the backs and halves. Well I have stated many times on here, I think that that is a flawed strategy against the best teams. For example, does anyone here really think that we have 4 full on power games in us against the best teams in the comp during this semi final series? Good luck with that. I would be stoked if we can put 2 together back to back.
Yes, by all means train for aggression and the collision, but also teach the players finesse and subtlety as well. At the moment we have not done anywhere near enough of this and we can see it in the way our players move and play, especially our halves who don't even know how to threaten the line with the most natural talent that they were born with. Hell until last game against Melbourne, Brown didn't even know how to take the space and run to the line before passing.
Just some musings and observations I have been lamenting about. Anyway I hope we start to address this area. It wouldn't take all that much to get it right if we made it a thing during the offseason. But it would be a huge positive change during games and our overall threat with the ball in hand and the doubt it would create for our opposition to deal with.
