Phil Graham - A winger or center.

[Tidus_Raider]

I say winger, only beacuse of the talent we have at centre. I want Ale somewhere in there and if playing centre was the basis for Frawley signing then he gets first crack.

 

[Chippo Raiders]

Ty Williams is a winger

 

[Kris_man]

nitpicking once again :x. Ty Williams is primarily a winger, but he played a lot of centre in 2004.

 

[Chippo Raiders]

I see more strength in him being a winger...truly he is a poor tackler, as I said he make Presto look like a tackling machine.....if he can get to around 75-76% effective tackle rate, he would be ok but he is at 67% even Macca was on 73

 

[SOULS 04]

yep yep
gotta be winger

 

[Kris_man]

I see more strength in him being a winger...truly he is a poor tackler, as I said he make Presto look like a tackling machine.....if he can get to around 75-76% effective tackle rate, he would be ok but he is at 67% even Macca was on 73

tell me why he can't defend on the wing and attack as a centre?

 

[I Bleed Green]

nitpicking once again :x. Ty Williams is primarily a winger, but he played a lot of centre in 2004.

I think you're confused. He played a lot of fullback when Bowen came off the bench every game towards the end of the season.

Whoops... there I go again... ;-)

 

[belindarae]

I'm going to say winger as well. I really think that with Joel gone he could fill the gap. In the games where we had Nathan Smith out there I was really unimpressed.

 

[Kris_man]

and the "effective tackle" stat is not the perfect measure of defensive capability, 'cos often when a try is scored it's not due to a mistackle, rather a poor read where the defender misses the ballrunner altogether. and are you referring to his 2004 effective tackle rate? he only played 5 games - not a very large sample to take an average from.

 

[Kris_man]

i'm not confused, Ty Williams played centre in 2004. mayube not as often as i thought, but he did.

 

[Tidus_Raider]

tell me why he can't defend on the wing and attack as a centre?

Kris our backline has struggled when players had 1 role. I cant imagine what happens if players have 2.

 

[ball boy]

kris ty williams is a winger

 

[Kris_man]

kris ty williams is a winger

oh ffs, i know!!!

Kris our backline has struggled when players had 1 role. I cant imagine what happens if players have 2.

i can - it'd make no difference.

 

[edabomb]

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.

A first grade player should be competent in offence and defence in their chosen position. Shielding players in defence is negative footy IMO. You should choose a player and back him to do his job!!!!!!

 

[Prodigiousman]

If you want to see the full potential of Phil Graham then he has to be in the centres. With Mogg as our right centre I'd be playing Phil as our left centre and watching as his (i repeat) Steve Renouf like qualities just thrive with some room to move. i don't subscribe to the theory that a guy with breakaway speed must be exclusively on the wing, because when you are on the wing if you get a chance to use your speed 9 times out of 10 you are restricted to the outside because it's hard to accelerate when you're cutting in behind your centre.

I firmly believe that if you've got a agile speed merchant with line breaking ability that isn't POWER line breaking then he needs room either side of his marker to make the most of his ability. If you recall a few games in 2003 he played centre and just made some opposition centres look silly. And the biggest bonus of playing him closer to the ruck is his availability to be a support player throughout the set of six is magnified. A kid with his speed should not be wasting away on the wing when he might be able to turn a half chance offload into a try.

Now the question of defence is answered as far as i'm concerned this way.

Play either Jason Croker or Jason Smith inside him and put Frawley on the wing outside him. Basically bookend him with two sizeable players (the first two which are great defenders) and Frawley is big. He's not a shocking defender by any stretch of the imagination and he's a lot more willing to get dirty in defence than he was in his rookie year. He may lack bulk but his cover defence isn't bad because he can catch up and jump on the back of the bloke and hang on for dear life - or jump around the ankles. The point I'm making is a centre doesn't have to be that defensively strong if he's got an excellent defender inside him. Adam Mogg isn't exactly Mr Reliable in defence remember.

I just can't see how we can develop Phil Graham into a strike force type player if we play him on the wing, if we do he'll never be anything more than a complimentary occassionally freaky tryscorer, but he won't be the jewel of our backline like I believe he can be. Now I know that if Graham starts at centre that pushes the likes of Ale and Frawley etc out wider but I have no doubt that Graham is our best chance of being the next GREAT Canberra centre if we play him in the right position and give him room to grow.

Now I haven't understood Matty Elliott's selections at times but I can't see him ignoring Graham's talents this year.

Just before this essay ends, I want to relate a story about how i heard and first saw Graham. A contact of mine in Brisbane is a big Qld Cup watcher and he tipped me off when he heard Graham had got a trial with the Raiders as something special. The first chance I had to watch him was the trial against the London Broncos at Gosford and considering barely any of the first grade squad played that game he stood out like you would not believe. He scored a long range try and showed the speed that just made your mouth water. We won that night and he was a big reason why. Heck Jimmy Dymock even played for London and they got done. But I was convinced there and then he was the real deal, the road has been bumpy since but he'll repay the faith if the Raiders give him a serious chance this year. Playing outside Jason Smith will only maximise his chances of truly breaking out.

Time for a sleep....

 

[Kris_man]

great post Prodigiousman

 

[woodgers]

Agree with Kris in regards to Prods posts (It can happen!). Great post. I do like Phil in the centres also, I am just happy if he is on the pitch. If someone says 'Phil Graham' I immediately think back to that game in 2003 against the Panthers at home. He tore them a fresh one even though we got beaten. I recall he made a break and then went around Rhys Wesser as if he was nailed to the floor. In the second half he made a huge break and was caught by Brett Howland in a fantastic cover tackle but that evening he was on fire. Someone said to me last season "you can't have Phil Graham in first grade, he can't tackle". My response was that our defence out wide in 2004 couldn't be any worse so why not put him in there because at the very least he is the best attacking player we have at the club.

 

[I Bleed Green]

I have to agree with Prodman and woodgers, that's a great way to make a case for him being a centre. I think my main reason I said he should be a winger is for his defence, but like you said woodgers, it can't really get any worse. We are focusing too much on defence nowadays, we should be going ahead with an attacking gameplan with the squad we have, and maybe Graham at centre is the best option to exploit that. Either way, as long as he's in the team, it's fine by me.

 

[Chippo Raiders]

Agree with Kris in regards to Prods posts (It can happen!). Great post. I do like Phil in the centres also, I am just happy if he is on the pitch. If someone says 'Phil Graham' I immediately think back to that game in 2003 against the Panthers at home. He tore them a fresh one even though we got beaten. I recall he made a break and then went around Rhys Wesser as if he was nailed to the floor. In the second half he made a huge break and was caught by Brett Howland in a fantastic cover tackle but that evening he was on fire. Someone said to me last season "you can't have Phil Graham in first grade, he can't tackle". My response was that our defence out wide in 2004 couldn't be any worse so why not put him in there because at the very least he is the best attacking player we have at the club.

Taht panthers game was when we beat them 40-28 when he ran around Rhys...

 

[woodgers]

No we got done at the end. We beat them away at Penrith Park in round 4, the game I refer to was at Bruce in about round 12(ish).