mate, i genuinely enjoy your comments and input here....seriously
but sometimes, i do wonder if you are looking at it too closely or with too much of a tactitian's hat on.....what exactly is a central backrow spot really?
Are you for real?
Do you ever watch any of the players when the ball isn't near them? Every team tries to line up in a definite pattern/shape/structure. It's the most basic thing about footy.
The defensive field is divided up into 3 groups - left, middle and right - consisting of 4 blokes each.
The left and right groups contain a winger, a centre, a half and a back-rower. Every team does this.
The other group, in the middle, contains the props, hooker and the remaining back-rower.
That's the central back-row spot.
For what it's worth, some teams don't even differentiate this guy from the front-rowers - they're just all 'tight forwards'. But some teams have an 80 minute tackling machine (Hindmarsh, Luck, Johnson, Fensom, Parker) and that's the "central back-rower" I'm talking about.
also, to me, if you have one powerful backrower, who canm position themselves wide and run strongly through a gap or pull players in and offload that is all you need.
Well mate, there's no nicer way to say it but you're wrong. Every team plays one on the left and one on the right. Every single team. They're not all equally as effective (especially in attack) but they do all need to be agile enough in defence to handle halves and fullbacks one-on-one.
That's why Fui runs out wide at times but he never plays in the back-row. Because his defence isn't good enough.
if you happen to have 2 that can do that (one either side as u suggest) then u are laughing, but i argue that most teams with good forwards really only have one genuine strikepower, wide-running backrower....
You're right, but every team
uses two whether they're equally as good or not. You'll find the teams with one stand out wide back-rower will tend to send more of their attack down that side.
...and Sika Manu on the other side. With Manu out they've used Proctor wide on the right. In previous years they also had Ryan Hoffman on the left.
...on the left with Beau Scott on the right.
Roosters = Braith Anasta (as strange as that sounds....)
Doesn't sound strange at all. They've also got Aubusson and Nuuasala playing wide.
Actually Gallen played in the middle until this year. He plays on the left now that Jeremy Smith is at the Sharks (Smith playing in the middle) with Tupou on the right.
really for us at the moment we have = zero.
I agree we have zero top-line wide back-rowers, but we've used 2 at all times this year, just like every other team. That's how modern
structure works (yes I'm getting sick of that term as well).
and if you mean that Hindy plays the central backrow spot by clogging the middle of the field, making 50+ tackles and making a few hitups every now and then, that's fine.
I already told you what I mean by 'central back-row'.
But i can't cop the arguement that we couldn't do with another power-running, tight-in backrower - especially - (this is key) if we have under-performing wide-running backrowers.....
Because having two in the middle would f**k our structure. Simple.
You saw what happened to our shape when Robson moved to hooker on Sunday - we had no symmetry. It would be the same without a back-rower on one side.
to me you have to go with what you have got and put your best foot foward and at the moment, simply making meters in attack is what we should be after.....let the backs put plays on - after all that's what they are for, or used to be
Key point right there, and it makes me sad that people still don't know how the game has changed since the 80s.
There really isn't any difference between 'backs' and 'forwards' any more, at least not in the sense of who can and can't attack in the backline.
That's because there are no more 'backlines', or 'backline moves'. Now they're call 'shift plays', and they involve the ball moving from centrefield (or even across it for a 'long shift') toward the sideline.
A standard centrefield shift will usually involve only one half (it doesn't matter which, because they play left and right), and will definitely contain one wide back-rower, one centre and one winger. There might also be the fullback and maybe one of the tight forwards as well.
That's because everyone's fast these days.
p.s i take your point about Shack's defence out wide, fair comment, but if Ben Smith played lock, defence is less of a problem, especially with Hindy there....to me both Lasalo and Horo are not performing
I agree Horo and Lasalo have been less than stellar, especially Horo. But we're short of quality for wide back-rowers and the fact is we need to have 2 on the field at all times. Without a wide threat we're too vulnerable to compressed defences. You think we struggled to make metres on Sunday? Imagine if we telegraphed that we weren't prepared to shift the ball.
As for Ben Smith, it doesn't mater what number he wears, his position is back-row right. 'Lock' and 'second-row' are things of the past. Every scrum has a back-rower standing out of it anyway.
p.p.s ironic isn't it, that Hindy used to be our power, wide-running backrower, in fact he was on of the best in the game for 2-3 years 
Yeah it's a shame, but to his credit he reinvented himself as a workhorse. Absolute legend.
