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Is Seage the man for the job?

Ben

Bench
Messages
2,551
After watching Seage closely in today's win against the Tigers, I'm still not sure if he should be the man wearing the number 1. Let me explain.

Seage is a great defensive fullback. He is very safe at the back and I don't think I have ever seen him drop a bomb. He has sound hands and is positionally sound. He reads the play very well and this is shown by the way he puts himself in the right place at the right time. His support play is good, maybe even better than Thaiday, and when he sees a player that may pop the ball out with an offload, he will be right there on the spot to pick up the ball. He seems to have gotten over his injuries and that is a good sign for things to come.

However, as sound as he is in defence, he completely lacks in attack. He doesn't act as a third man in the attacking line, but rather as a support player. And with the way the Knights play, with the wide lateral game, the fullback is the linking man between the five-eighth and the centres. Seage does not do this job very well. I think we have been struggling putting points like we used to, because the ball is given to the centres before they are in position to do anything with the ball.

In summary, he is probably the best defensive fullback in the club. He is as safe as any in the competition, but probably too safe for his own good. He doesn't chance his arm and is very one-dimensional. Great fullbacks nowadays have a very good broken play game. For example, Matt Bowen, Anthony Minichiello, Wade Mckinnon. But Seage cannot do anything with the ball in his hand inside his own half.

Here is a list of other fullbacks in the club:
Milton Thaiday
He is the number one fullback in the club, and i think he may've been up for Origin this year if he didn't get injured. Has been improving in leaps and bounds ever since he joined us last year, and is undoubtedly our best buy since Ben Kennedy. Tremendous footwork and agility, combined with the ability to break tackles, makes him and elusive player. Plays as the third receiver, and is very good at beating the first defender, which creates an overlap for his outside man or a hole for himself. Where he lacks is his positional play and ability to take the high ball. But will improve as time progresses.

Nathan Hinton
I've never seen him play but is held in high regard by many people, including David Fairleigh. Is the Premier League fullback despite Seage being picked ahead of him as the first grade fullback when Thaiday is injured. Pushes Seage out wide when both play in the Premier League team.

When Thaiday gets back he will pop right in to the fullback position, but do you think that Hinton should get a chance at fullback before Thaiday comes back?
 

keeney

First Grade
Messages
6,640
Seage appears to be playing injured, at least this week and last. I agree with the point you're making, but I feel he has a lot more to offer ina ttack than he's been showing.
 

strewth_mate

Bench
Messages
2,989
Today really wasn't the best indicator of anybody's attacking skill, it was more a game of who makes the first mistake or linebreak. The way we were playing, given that everyone was out on their feet and therefore not playing with a great amount of depth, I don't think Thaiday could have done any better a job as a wide receiver and I think he would have actually been a bit quiet in a game like this.

I do agree with the points made though but Seage has always proven a more than capable backup and I think for what he did today it was a great effort. If we use Hinton, it better not be with the mindset that he will be judged conclusively on one or two performance, as tends to happen with our supporters. The fullback battle has been more of a 'flavour of the month' thing for the last couple of seasons and introducing Hinton at this stage before he's needed won't help anything I think. I don't want to break it down to "Seage is better in defence, but Thaiday is brilliant in attack", because it makes it sound like a consolation for Seage where he really hasn't got much to answer for; he's a great player. I'd be happy with either.
 

Big Tim

First Grade
Messages
6,500
I think Seage playing on the wing in PL when Thaiday is fit is much like the Cooper situation last year. The Knights know he can play fullback, but if he gets exposure on the wing in PL it will serve us well if we lose one of our wingers as we are not too deep there.

I think that is one of the reasons why Seage is on the wing as well as the fact you want Hinton playing as much PL at fullback as possible as he is a star in the making.

Im talking in circles... what Im trying to say is Seage at wing is serving 2 purposes. He gets to practice playing there and Hinton gets to improve.
 

Whats Doing

Bench
Messages
2,899
Seage is the man for the job at the moment until Thaiday comes back. He is a great attacking fullback but is not back to his top form at this stage due to the significant injuries he has had. Coming back from a knee reconstruction and requiring pace and confidence takes at least 18 months. Look at Hodges as a classic example who has taken nearly 2 years to get his top form back.
 

Roy

Juniors
Messages
864
keeney said:
I'll be happy in 07 for Seage to take Carney's spot, extremely happy.

i will second that, although uate may be there depending on how he improves this season
 

Big Tim

First Grade
Messages
6,500
I think that is Newcastles plan for 07, having Seage on the wing with Uate pushing him for the spot. It will put the best player on the field each week. Though I think Uate may be a bit green for 07.
 

keeney

First Grade
Messages
6,640
Big Tim2 said:
I think that is Newcastles plan for 07, having Seage on the wing with Uate pushing him for the spot. It will put the best player on the field each week. Though I think Uate may be a bit green for 07.

At least we have a good plan for once then. How much is Carney on salary wise? Anyone know?
 

benno

Juniors
Messages
214
Seage is playin with a shoulder injury picked up last week...but he is still not fully recovered from past injuries i wreckon...he is definantly the man for the job tho...more then adaquate
 

KniGhTs BaTTLeR

Juniors
Messages
1,699
There was a few times when seage got the ball he lacked the speed to hit a hole and had to divert sdieways. Thaiday has that acceleration where he would have been out the other end of the gap before rabs has the time to say johns to thaiday. Thaiday is light years ahead of Seage in attack maybe not defensive but since when has that ever worried the knights.

I think Seage should replace Carmont because that bloke is a dead set joke to professional footy.
 

chinorocks

Juniors
Messages
1,662
KniGhTs BaTTLeR said:
I think Seage should replace Carmont because that bloke is a dead set joke to professional footy.

Watched any games this year??? Carmont's going just fine.

I agree with all of you that Seage is a great defensive player. but I have yet to see any evidence that he is a great attacking player as Whats Doing sugested. He is pretty good at backing up and rarely drops the ball.
 

Alex28

Coach
Messages
12,005
There is no doubt that Seage is only filling in until Thaiday is back. I thought he was pretty decent in attack today (safe as houses as usual in defence), but he is playing injured.

We have to remember that he has suffered a couple of pretty major injuries and seems to be under some sort of curse where he gets injured every game he plays in first grade. He seems a little gun shy compared to the Seage we saw in 2004 - he might just need some time.

I'd like to see him on the wing in 07 - more than fast enough to play outside Gidley and solves our defence problems when Carney leaves.
 

antonius

Coach
Messages
10,104
KniGhTs BaTTLeR said:
I think Seage should replace Carmont because that bloke is a dead set joke to professional footy.
Carmont has been great for us this year, both in attack and defence.
 

Jobdog

Live Update Team
Messages
25,696
Seagey has done absolutely nothing wrong. I think he's the perfect man to cover for Milton TBH. Seagey was very very good yesterday I thought. He reads the play second to none. Milton is caught out of position a fair bit of the time, but I don't think I saw once where Seagey was yesterday. Obviously he's only keeping the spot warm for when Milton comes back, but I think he is the man for the job, as was evidenced yesterday.
 

antonius

Coach
Messages
10,104
Seage is very safe at the back. Nowhere near as threatening in attack as Milton though. I get the impression that Seagey is tentative when he is running the ball, and he always gets up gingerly after he's been put to the ground. I'm not sure he's 100% fit physically or mentaly.
 

ricki_knights

Juniors
Messages
4
of course thaiday is goin to be our number 1 fullback but we need seage somewhere in the team cause he just adds that little bit more.. he is so quick and that helps as seen wen we had albert
 

Whats Doing

Bench
Messages
2,899
antonius said:
Seage is very safe at the back. Nowhere near as threatening in attack as Milton though. I get the impression that Seagey is tentative when he is running the ball, and he always gets up gingerly after he's been put to the ground. I'm not sure he's 100% fit physically or mentaly.

Thats the exact point I was making earlier. When you come back from a knee reconstruction which takes 9 months to recover from (my son had 2!!!), you do not get back to your best both physically and mentally for another 18 months at least. Prior to his injury he was excellent in attack in the 3 games he had with the knights in 2004 and tore up the defences in the QLD cup in the 2 years I saw him prior to this.

It will take him towards the end of this year or the beginning of next year for him to get back to his attacking best. In the meantime, lets enjoy his great defensive capabilities.
 

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