My quoting of stats is to refute specific claims. There are opinions that accord with facts and there are opinions that don’t. You said almost nonexistent offloads. That is an opinion that is not backed by the facts. I didn’t say a lot, I said there’s only 5 full time centres who offload more than hm, and he offloads at a significantly higher rate than the average. You can be of the opinion that doesn’t mean a lot, but it’s factual to say he’s in top 6 offloading centres, and equal first for effectiveness when he does.
My opinion is that Lafai is a very good centre, who and I agree with you here, is at his best when offloading more. Last year he was one of the top handful in his position. He’s not that high this year, but he’s still very good, and I think better than Mann would be. I don’t think it’s just his offloads he brings either, he’s got great footwork, he breaks tackles with the best, he attracts defenders and runs good decoy and attack lines, he’s generally an excellent defender and he contributes a lot to yardage and set starts. Some of those statements are opinions that rely on subjective observations, but every one of them that is able to be compared to objective record, accords with the facts. He’s also equal 3rd for try assists if you want an answer to does he set up his winger - also not opinion, but objective fact. When I find out my opinions are contradicted by evidence, I re-evaluate my conclusions, you’re under no obligation to though. Mann would likely be better than Aitken in his current form, and we’d get most value for the team by making that swap when Widdop returns in my opinion.
