Phil Graham - A winger or center.

[edabomb]

Opinions?

I say winger! Too weak defensively at center, and I don't like the concept of switching players on D from their offensive position. He also makes no impact when recieving the ball flat footed, which will be the case a lot of the time at center with our forward pack decimated next season. Mogg on one side with Frawley starting the year on the other.

However,if Graham bulks up, especially with some upper body strength, I have no problem with him moving into the centers at some stage.

 

[greeneyed]

Winger. Let him be fast and don't expect him to tackle too much.

 

[greeneyed]

He won't bulk up though....

 

[edabomb]

I don't think he will either. I have the same body type, I'm 72kg and havent put weight on in a year. Winger outside Mogg would be a killer right hand combo, but we do lose go forward in the kick return with him there. Although we aint losing much since Robbo ain't gonna be in firsts next year and he already made next to no ground.

 

[paulquinn49]

Winger.

Centre's need better defence. I wouldnt mind seeing him at fullback. I know he would get dominated in tackles but that already happens seems shif lays down or submits already.

Grahams pace at fullback would finally allow the forwards some breathing time. with shif he is slow to get to the ball, then jogs to the line who catches him with ease, then he submits, and finally gets pushed back.

I think Graham would at least run the ball back. Shif can go to centre.

If i could only choose Winger or Centre tho. Winger in a heartbeat

 

[Chippo Raiders]

Horrible in defense, worse than Presto......he is a winger, a bloody good winger as well

 

[Brimmer]

Winger... he can roam around a bit as well if he is in that position

 

[Mulch]

Winger

 

[DJ Raida]

winger, centre has more defence to do, and phil cant defend

 

[raiders_boy]

Wow, I'm really surprised at what everyone has said here. I think its's all right, because he can't defend well enough to be a centre, but I would have expectes lots of people to come on here shouting centre!!!

ps. Kris man will...

 

[Anonymous]

Winger-However, not for the same reasons everyone else says. Simply it's to accomodate Frawley and Mogg in the centres.

 

[jed]

I'd have Graham & Chalk as wingers, Mogg & Frawley as centres.

 

[woodgers]

I find it funny that people are saying Wing to accommodate Frawley in the Centres. Phil has played Centre and to my knowledge Frawley has only played Wing but expressed a desire to play centres. If Frawley doesn't make an impact in the centres there will be a switch on the cards pronto I reckon.

I don't mind where Phil plays, I just want him in. I do like him on the wing, the wider he is the more space he seems to find. We all know what he can do in space ;-)

 

[Anonymous]

I'd have Graham & Chalk as wingers, Mogg & Frawley as centres.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[I Bleed Green]

^ What he said.

 

[Kris_man]

Ok, this one's gonna require point form:

- the modern day winger must be excellent at defusing bombs/chip kicks: Phil has not proven this,
- the modern day winger gets involved a lot in the middle, doing dummy half runs and one-out hitups. Phil has never been good in these areas, as they require a lot of body strength, and weight.
- Phil Graham has played his best first grade footy playing at centre. he played all of his 2003 games there, and about half of his 2002 games there. i remember one afternoon against the Sharks at Shark Park, we ended up losing 36-26 (or 34-26?), but our no.4, an unknown rookie called Phil Graham, played fantastic.
- the "poor defence" argument falls on its face when you realise that all that needs to be done is Phil switches with Mogg in defence. simple. Mogg is a specialist fullback anyway, so he'd be no stranger to kick returns and bomb-defusing. Mogg would be able to continue doing his much loved dummy half runs from the wing, too. ed, you say that you "don't like the concept of switching players on D from their offence position", but you don't give a single reason, let alone a valid one, as to why not.
- size is not as important as a centre as some might think, in fact, the average winger is probably bigger than the average centre nowadays. Ty Williams, Willie Tonga, Tony Martin - there's plenty of examples of no-so-massive centres. in fact, i think Willie Tonga is a good example of how Phil could be used at centre - does Willie Tonga ever have to plough through the middle? no, he's often seen one-on-one with his man, trying to get around him. and this is exactly what Phil's strength is. in fact, i think he's better at doing it than Willie is.
- i really don't understand why people are praising Phil as a winger, when he's really never done anything special from the wing, apart from his debut 100m try . a fair few of his 2002 tries on the wing were from Brett Finch kicks. and look at Phil's 2nd half try against the Bulldogs this year at Gosford - that was a typical centre's try, as most of Phil's are.

Grahams pace at fullback would finally allow the forwards some breathing time. with shif he is slow to get to the ball, then jogs to the line who catches him with ease, then he submits, and finally gets pushed back.

1) Schif is second in the NRL for average metres per kick return, behind only Matt Bowen.
2) if you think about it, schif's dancing and piss-diddling would actually help the forwards, 'cos they'd have more time to get back. :

 

[I Bleed Green]

look at Phil's 2nd half try against the Bulldogs this year at Gosford - that was a typical centre's try, as most of Phil's are.

He was actually playing wing and came inside on a reverse from Mogg.

 

[Kris_man]

damn IBG, talk about nitpicking!

 

[I Bleed Green]

That's me. :lol:

 

[jed]

Kris using point form???? :shock:

Welcome back krisman