Maloney/Johnson- a theory

[Manu Vatuvei]

Had a few beers and in the mood to talk internet nonsense as per usual.

Just a thought- I know everyone loves Jimmy Baloney and thinks the sweat that drips from his nutsack is sweet nectar, but- is his increasing profile and status as an Origin prospect hurting us somewhat?

Every halves combo needs to be balanced, and I think with ours we've got a theoretical 50/50 split which maybe works better on paper than in reality. Johnson is a gun player who looks threatening whenever he goes to the line, yet Maloney seems to get about a 60/40 split of the ball, being the more eager to get involved and the more likely to overcall Johnson. Obviously Maloney is a highly regarded player and is entitled/expected to play a big role.

Wouldn't we go better if Johnson was the Andrew Johns to Maloney's Sean Rudder?

 

[Micistm]

Yeah agree there Manu, he's shown what he can do when he steps up and takes the main role...I'm still laughing about Maloney's sweet nutsack nectar though!
Could explain why Johnson isn;t pushing the team around as much as he should- he feels like the Jnr half, with Maloney the senior. Time for that to change. It's not necessarily a bad long term thing Jimmy is goff

 

[Izz]

Here's my thoughts, from the 3-2-1 thread:

He was dangerous every time he touched the ball. But it looked like he only really wanted to play with 15 to go. Suddenly he stepped up and was directing the team around and calling plays, whereas before he was letting Maloney and Mateo run the play.

Perhaps it's a confidence thing, but he needs to be calling the shots the whole game.

 

[Benek]

Johnson definitely showed some good signs, but he seems to clock off at times. He can't lead a team for 80 minutes, at least not yet.

Jimmy is such a good hole runner that it might be beneficial to get Johnson the ball a bit more so he could show his support play.

Also, Mateo really needs to stop thinking he plays in the halves. One good thing that I really admire about teams like the Storm is that everyone knows their roles and they do their job for the team.

I know Mateo can have strokes of genius and set up tries, but in the last two weeks he's just an error machine, forcing all kinds of passes and trying to make magic happen on every play. He has no patience.

I put some of this blame on Maloney/Johnson, but more so on the coach. They don't know their roles well enough.

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

Johnson definitely showed some good signs, but he seems to clock off at times. He can't lead a team for 80 minutes, at least not yet.

Maybe, but that's the point really....we don't know because we haven't seen him try.

 

[hitman82]

Maybe Johnson would suit more of a physical, running 6 in the Anasta / Bird / Faumuina style? Leaving Johnson to dominate the actual playmaking side of things.

 

[Fast Eddie]

Ahhhh might want to edit the names there buddy!

 

[hitman82]

Hahaha, well they are all examples of that style of player. I will throw Sutton in too. You know what I mean anyway - a less dominant playmaker... more of a ball playing second rower who can kick a little bit.

 

[Fast Eddie]

Nah I meant the two uses of Johnson....unless that was intended?

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

I'm guessing he's referring to Mateo? We're not gonna be dropping Maloney though.

 

[hitman82]

Oh sorry, no I meant it as written. What I was saying is Johnson may be better playing alongside a Sutton / Bird style player... Meaning Johnson would be more the "playmaker" in the halves pairing, particularly with long kicking.
I'd be curious to see Mateo with Johnson - this hasn't happened yet has it?

 

[Fast Eddie]

Mateo at lock?

 

[Izz]

Also, Mateo really needs to stop thinking he plays in the halves. One good thing that I really admire about teams like the Storm is that everyone knows their roles and they do their job for the team.

I find it hard to blame Mateo too much, though. He's coming on when we're down by 3 tries and feels he has to do something to get us back into the game.

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

Oh sorry, no I meant it as written. What I was saying is Johnson may be better playing alongside a Sutton / Bird style player... Meaning Johnson would be more the "playmaker" in the halves pairing, particularly with long kicking.
I'd be curious to see Mateo with Johnson - this hasn't happened yet has it?

I'd also be curious to see it, I imagine people would go nuts if that combo was named though. At least if named at 6 Mateo would be justified in doing all the ball-playing he does. Ideally though I'd still prefer him as an edge back-rower with a run first, offload later mentality- but I don't think you'll ever change Mateo.

I actually think Maloney is custom made for the role I want him to play anyway- run holes, support play, and second kicking option.

 

[Izz]

I actually think Maloney is custom made for the role I want him to play anyway- run holes, support play, and second kicking option.

Yep, agreed.

 

[Meth]

I find it hard to blame Mateo too much, though. He's coming on when we're down by 3 tries and feels he has to do something to get us back into the game.

This.

Mateo seems to have gone back to his old ways of pushing passes at every opportunity, which I think he had coached out of his game last year. But that's what you get sometimes with him. It's better than boring, 1 out stuff and with players like Fisiiahi, Locke, Maloney and Johnson in the team, we should be looking to develop more of an attack based around Mateo.

Interestingly, Lousi seemed to be involving himself a bit in Mateo-like plays yesterday. One led to Maloney's try.

 

[hitman82]

Lousi's vision in creating that play with Johnson was pretty much the only positive aspect of yesterday's game. Also, when Mannering moved to lock for a few tackles we looked much stronger around the ruck. Sadly this did not help us on either flank.

 

[vvvrulz]

Maloney and Johnson were great last year, I don't think there is any problem with that combination. Johnson seems like a confidence player and when your defense is leaking tries like a sieve, its hard to be confident.

 

[tezzah]

Have been let down with both players defence especially when considered the last line of defence. Perhaps backrowers are not working hard enough considering the many tries leaked through.

 

[beefstew]

The problem with our halves is exactly what we hear week after week year after year from ex players who are
now commentators, " the halves cant do anything, if the forwards aren't going forward", and our forwards arent
going forward. Matulino has been good, but could do more, we are consistently seeing low numbers from our
front row rotation, and are being dominated in the tackle too easily.