hornby was doing a better job last year than fien is now.
For a player that is supposedly out of form and over the hill he is not doing too bad for a 34 year old who played hooker past few years and has only played in the halves on a more regular basis this season. Not sure why he cops such a bagging from some people on this forum
Interesting....out of curiosity, what classifies as a try assist? Do you have to throw the last pass, or be involved in the lead up work? Is it a subjective thing - i.e. some statistician will observe each try and say 'player x assisted in creating the try'?
I am one of the main opponents of Nathan Fein at half-back. I am not an opponent of him as a man (he seems to be a terrific bloke), I have no issue with his effort (top shelf) and I agree that he does not pick himself and his No 6 is close to absymal. Having said all of this he is not up to it; he is not the future creative leader in the halves and every week he gets picked the opposition yound halves such as Reynolds (21), Cherry-Evans (22), Johnson (22) get better and better.The good well led clubs make the tough decisions at the right time. We signed a young half from Manly Under 20's who Andrew Johns had huge wraps on last year. I agree that he has not set the world on fire in the NSW Cup; but shouldn't we still see if he is up to be the future No 7? Let's be clear, Nathan Fein is no the future No 7.
A few points
* Cherry-Evans is 24. Johnson and Reynolds are 23 this year.
* Drinkwater debuted earlier than those players. Only Johnson was the same age when he debuted.
* Drinkwater has some wraps from the U20s but if he's not stepping up and playing well enough to force Price's hand then he's either not ready or not good enough.
* Fien may not be the future 7 but maybe Drinkwater isn't either.
A few points
* Cherry-Evans is 24. Johnson and Reynolds are 23 this year.
* Drinkwater debuted earlier than those players. Only Johnson was the same age when he debuted.
* Drinkwater has some wraps from the U20s but if he's not stepping up and playing well enough to force Price's hand then he's either not ready or not good enough.
* Fien may not be the future 7 but maybe Drinkwater isn't either.
I wholeheartedly disagree with your last post - as you mentioned, DW is a year away from being where Reynolds/DCE were when they made his first grade debut, there is nothing to say he wont be a future 7 for our club. He may not play for Australia but he has creativity, good organisational skills and if he works with guys like Hornby, Fien and Widdop he could easily become a great No. 7 for the saints.
The great FireUp! on fbi show had a statistician (from Fox sports) as guest a couiple of weeks ago and they asked about this. Apparently the definition varies between the stats providers. At Fox, they define a TA as the person who "contributes most" to setting up the try, and not necessarily the last pass. So if the halfback draws two defenders and throws a cutout pass to the centre, creating a two-on-one, when the centre draws in the defender and puts the winger over, the TA goes to the halfback.Try assist = last pass/kick before a try.
Not a perfect system but it's a decent enough indicator.
From memory most of Fien's assists have been kicks apart from the pass to Weyman against the Broncos
A lot of young players have all the promise in the world, then it amounts to nothing. That's just the reality of it.
Look at Beau Henry, Under 20's player of the year in the whole NYC. He's now a fourth string half for the Titans, after being moved on by us and Newcastle.
Not saying this will happen to Drinkwater, but with 20 minutes of First Grade to his name, judgement can only be reserved at this time.
we'll never win a comp with fien at halfback.