Every week I seem to find myself sticking up for one of the boys for what I think is an unjustified bagging so I figure I may as well make it a habit. This week I reckon both Grothe and Cayless are getting a raw serve..
Eric Grothe: When I watched the game for the second time this week, I paid careful attention to Grothe because he has copped a pasting since Saturday and I certainly didn't recall him playing that badly. He's been doing a heap of work out of dummy half (8 on the weekend), he's generally proving difficult for the opposition to bring down and he can take the largest share of the credit for the Daniel Wagon try with his very clever bat down. Even his offloads were much better on the weekend and he managed to get five of them away, a few of which generated some good additional metres.
Nathan Cayless: I noticed in the player of the match threads that a lot of people had Hindmarsh in their top three. Now I know stats aren't the be all and end all but they do give a pretty base level indication of how a player goes. Hindmarsh ( 33 tackles, 17 hitups, 177 metres). Cayless (31 tackles, 17 hitups, 135 metres). Yes, Cayless made one error in the game but I fail to see how those stats justify one player being touted as one of the top three players, while the other has people saying he should be back in reserve grade. I'm not suggesting either player are playing anywhere near their best but they haven't deserved the crap they've been getting either.
Eric Grothe: When I watched the game for the second time this week, I paid careful attention to Grothe because he has copped a pasting since Saturday and I certainly didn't recall him playing that badly. He's been doing a heap of work out of dummy half (8 on the weekend), he's generally proving difficult for the opposition to bring down and he can take the largest share of the credit for the Daniel Wagon try with his very clever bat down. Even his offloads were much better on the weekend and he managed to get five of them away, a few of which generated some good additional metres.
Nathan Cayless: I noticed in the player of the match threads that a lot of people had Hindmarsh in their top three. Now I know stats aren't the be all and end all but they do give a pretty base level indication of how a player goes. Hindmarsh ( 33 tackles, 17 hitups, 177 metres). Cayless (31 tackles, 17 hitups, 135 metres). Yes, Cayless made one error in the game but I fail to see how those stats justify one player being touted as one of the top three players, while the other has people saying he should be back in reserve grade. I'm not suggesting either player are playing anywhere near their best but they haven't deserved the crap they've been getting either.
