Except wallace isnt a quality player.
Im not sure I'd even consider him average.
And lets be realistic here, wallace played origin when he partnered one of the all time greats. And even then only because there was a dearth of NSW halves. By next season it will be 5 years since he played for NSW.
How many players have been even close to their best for the Broncos since Wayne Bennett left? How many since Darren Lockyer left?
Nearly every player that was around while those guys were there, has declined since. They are a poorly coached side and a far weaker roster. Both of those things have a huge effect on halves.
Likewise with Jamie Soward. Wayne Bennett leaves, and they have arguably the worst coach in the NRL come in. He is paired up with an average hooker in the halves, has arguably the worst centre pairing in the NRL to feed the ball to and the Dragons forward pack is one of the softest in the NRL.
Neither of those players are in those circumstances with us. We have a decent coach, who has gotten the best out of some deadset average halves. Tom Humble looked solid at first, Isaac John was terrible at NSW Cup level and has come up and looked the part in first grade, Luke Walsh has improved his consistency (not by much), but most importantly Luke Walsh is now atleast having a go defensively. He has these blokes playing to the best of their ability. Next year we will have halves with more ability then these players combined.
Peter Wallace is no superstar. But he is a competitor, consistent and can be coached to fill a role in the team when partnered with a dominant playmaker.
Jamie Soward was a superstar, and I feel he could be again. He just needs a solid partner in the halves and some talent around him to actually make his efforts matter. Like Peter Wallace he is also a competitor. But with a huge range of talents, including one of the best kicking games in the NRL. Hopefully Ivan Cleary can also get his running game back, as he is one of the quickest halves and his running game for the Dragons was outstanding.
IMO it's easy to see how these guys fit into our plan. They're competitors. They will put in 100%. They have proven themselves of being far better then they have shown recently, and have big game experience. These are halves that can lead us to the finals, and not let the pressure of big or important games get to them. I can't believe we have signed two former State of Origin halves and people don't see that as an improvement over Luke Walsh and whoever is available that week to partner him. Both of these guys are better then Luke Walsh. We still have all of the players that have partnered him this year. Our depth has improved, but most importantly we now have two halves who have previously played at an elite level... and if they even get close to back to that footy will be great buys. Rather than blokes who are NSW Cup standard and we're just hoping for them to lift enough to be first grade standard.
Look at David Simmons for an example of what the right bloke next to you can do for a players performance. Deadset one of the most average wingers in the NRL, in the sense there's nothing flashy about him. Throw Dean Whare in the centres and suddenly he is a try scoring freak and now looks a much more confident player all around. That's a winger who is far superior due to a centre. Halves have many more players contributing to their performances then a winger. Soward and Wallace now have better halves partners, better backlines and better forward packs. Ontop of that they have a better coach. Absolutely every area around them will be an improvement over what they have, and help contribute to them playing the football that saw them represent their state.
