forward pass said:
How many times have you seen Burty make the sort of error Grothe made last week - shocking pass which resulted in a Manly try. And Grothe made some shocking blunders last year as well. I am not meaning to bag Grothe but Burty is pretty safe and doesn't give you a heart attack everytime he runs the ball up.
He is not in the side to kick goals - he has proved himself week after week. I reckon a lot of sides would like a player like Burty in their side. And read BS press conference last week. They are picking the side for defence first - so if he is such a bad defender, they would have flicked him a long time ago.
He has some poor moments - but he also has moments of brilliance too.(eg his kick ahead on Friday night when the pass was out of reach).
Great side selected - our best since 2001.
Burt made an even worse mistake last week with his pass to Tahu on our own line. What the hell was that? At least Grothe's pass actually had some purpose. The intended receiver was absolutely flying into a gap. Poor execution and the result was a try to the opposition, but that (the try) was just unlucky.
When Burt starts doing the tough stuff like Grothe did so well last week, then you may have a legitimate defense. Until then, I can't see his worth. Grothe does make some mistakes, but no more than Burt and at least Grothe's usually come from trying to create something/ trying too hard. I could never accuse Burt of that I guess, but I'd rather have a player that goes for it.
Great finisher? No, he pops up for a try every now and then, but does it no more than any other winger in the comp and very rarely scores a try that any other winger in the comp wouldn't have. Scores an average amount of tries and very rarely creates anything for himself or his teammates.
Great defender? No, he's terrible.
Great under the high ball? No, he's average.
Great goal kicker? No, he has his good days, but in general he is very average.
Great ball security. He's safe? No, he drops the ball just doing the basics.
He's fast? Yes, he is. He doesn't use his speed though.
He's a good tackle breaker? No, he gets thrown around like a ragdoll.
I hear he has his good points, like the fact that he's a great finisher, but I really haven't seen much to justify that statement. Scott Donald is a great finisher and there's plenty of evidence to prove that, but as for burt...