No idea if we have even considered it tbh, or Flanno jnr for that matter.
@Blade23 any idea if the club has given any thought into Avarillo as a Crichton replacement or Flanno Jnr as a 9?
Personally as much as I rate Avarillo, I think we are ok in the backs.
I am not so convinced we are. Turuva tries hard - but he is a blog average winger and nothing suggests that he will get better. He can't get taller. Can't get faster, and he won't become more elusive. History would suggest he would become a better defender and make a few less errors to make him slightly more reliable but that is it.
Has anyone else wondered why To'o seems so quiet this year? Well the solution is kick it to Turuva. He will run the ball hard but he absolutely will not break the line or break many tackles and make post contact metres.
Last year you couldn't do that to us because Taylan May was just as dangerous as To'o is, and his combination with Tago meant we often made breaks right at the start of our sets.
Panther Ball is not that complicated. It is about getting the back 3 to make big carries early in the tackle count so that our forwards aren't wasting energy running too far back to get onside - and also so they take less hit ups so they have more energy for defence or when things REALLY matter.
The problem is that if ANY of the back 3 are lacking. Panther Ball starts to break down. Sure in the recent past Staines wasn't the best at that but he had the threat of speed and had a good enough pass to get it to Edwards. Also of note is that Tago is just as good a runner and tackle breaker as To'o is. He'd often help the back three out a lot (and this led to critisim of Chricton as being lazy - which he isn't, he just isn't that style of player) and now we don't have him to help stem that weakness.
Peachey was very ordinary in bringing the ball back - he is a shadow of his former Panther self. The fact that he got selected at all must mean our current in squad alternatives might not be all that good themselves.
Jenkins I am definately not sold on. Nothing tells me he'd be anything more than a blog standard centre - after speeding a few years developing. As it currently stands - most NRL centres even in more average teams will likely dominate him. I hope I am wrong and he kicks on - but he has had time and has had old man Peachey - an over the hill utility - selected ahead of him in his specialist position. Not a good sign at all unless our coaching staff are all half blind/delusional.