And you guys could team up to discuss how great Wallace's "structure" and kicking game was in a game where we scored two points.
So please let me get this straight. So because I don't want to drop Wallace for Issac John after he has played 4 games for us...I'm a Wallace apologist? Heaven forbid I'd like some more evidence of him in a Penrith uniform before passing judgement. Shame on me!
Was Friday a good game plan or good attack? - NO. I don't remember any time I actually said that - I'd love for you to point that out to me. With as much ball as we had in the 1st half we should have been at least 1-2 tries in front. It was a ridiculous and frustrating game plan that was installed.
All I've been saying is to just give them a bit of time to develop their combination before wanting to change every single little bloody thing.
Do I like how our attack has been? NO...but Issac John was involved for three of those games....was our attack so good when he played that he just screamed for selection was it?
In those games we scored 18, 17 and 16 points - Well SH!T that attacking record speaks for itself!
Don't get me wrong - I don't dislike John - I rate him very highly as a player and in particular as a depth option at 5/8 or half in case of an injury. It is great to have someone of quality there to step in...but I just don't believe he is as good as Soward/Wallace RIGHT NOW - it could definitely change down the line - but as of right now I just don't believe it is so.
NOW:
1) Do I want our centres to get more early ball? ABSOLUTELY - We have arguably the 2nd/3rd best centres combination in the competition I'd like to see them get more ball to create opportunities or to take on the line themselves.
2) Do I want Kingston gone to allow for a creative player on the bench as impact? I've said that countless times that I want Peachey back in there and Seg to start.
3) Do I want Cleary to open it up and let the ball fly? Absolutely! when the weather permits it to be so but 4/6 games it hasn't unfortunately and in the other 2 we got beaten by an underrated Parra team (Who as proven last night will be incredibly difficult to beat at home) and we beat a Knights team with that many injuries I could have played halfback and won.
As such, given those two games, I don't really have enough evidence to support that with this playing group that it wouldn't be so. Now I agree with Billy that historically....Cleary hasn't done that with us...but he hasn't exactly had this level of talent with us either in ORDER to do that and that takes time to develop. I sincerely hope it does and if not I'd be supremely disappointed also.
4) Do I want Issac John to take over as half? NO I see no reason to change a combination that is 3.5 games old just for the sake of trying something different. For all the talk of John being a late inclusion - he was training with the team all week because Wallace couldn't train and he was constantly involved in pre-season work....so that's garbage.
So in between all the Wallace bashing and the quips about "oh yeah...there is nothing wrong with our attack is there!" - All I've been saying, and have said in this thread, is to just give the guys some time for Christ's sake. Let them develop the plan. We are still trying to find our identity as a team. We are building a foundation based on defense and then we'll develop the attack as combinations mature.
If it doesn't mature and we are losing games I'll be right there with you wanting changes made to improve our team. But I'm not willing to pass sweeping judgement on a teams fortunes when we are 0.500 for the season after 6 games and have shown to be a much better team than last year already even in the early stages of this current roster.
Yeah...Friday sucked but it isn't the be all and end all and it isn't the end of the season. Yeah we lacked any sort of attacking prowess but is the only answer we have to just change everything and cause more disjointed combinations just because maybe it MIGHT work? Come on now.