The more I think about it, the more I think we should be going after Jackson Hastings. He has the greatest upside of all the "gettable" halves available at the moment.
I don't think he would cost more then $500-550k and if BA can manage to bring out the kids full potential then we would have one hell of a player that would rival any of the top new breed of halves coming through.
On the other hand if we go for Reynolds or Widdop, both are lackluster but stable players. Sure they can do a job, but hardly really worth the $600k+ that they will be seeking. Especially Reynolds who is so injury prone and never takes on the line. Even his passing game is limited. He really only offers a kicking game. I think I would prefer Widdop over Reynolds if I had to choose.
But really I don't want either, I want more options from my halves. Players that can do anything from nothing, not plodders. We have had way to many of those in our team and it has gotten us nowhere.Generally the best teams that excite fans and win finals matches, have dynamic players in their spine especially fullbacks and halves. We have no one that fits that bill at the moment.
Sure we will probably have Norman, but he is not very fast and having just him as our go to man will make us very predictable and the better teams will learn how to shut us down very quickly. Even the great Thurston couldn't win jack until he was partnered with a lethal running 5/8th, ball playing fullback and probably the second most creative hooker in the game. And who did they just manage to beat? The Broncos who also have a spine from hell in all four positions.
If you look at Souths, They had Keary who really is a better ballplayer then Reynolds, Luke/Karasiou, both dynamic from dummy half, and Inglis at the back. But their magic came from their monster pack that just bashed you into submission. We don't have that and won't have that kind of pack in the short to medium future.
Again, the best teams in the comp with any real chance of winning it, are the best spine teams surrounded by able to great players.
We have Norman, and that's about it. So we are looking to partner him with a consistent stable partner. Yeah it might work, especially if we had a brilliant fullback and or creative dummy half. But we don't. I think Gutho will be a decent fullback without being in the top 6 or 7. Again that make him decent, but not outstanding. As for hooker, well we just suck hairy balls there at the moment.
So anyway, we will be a decent team next year, but hardly one to get excited about after the absolute shit of a season we have had this year, hell for the last 7 years. All I am saying is I want to add spark to this team not just structure, we already have that. If we lose Semi, then the only real reliable and dynamic powerhouse in our backline is gone. Then all we we will be left with is Bevan, who is great, but weak, and Jennings, who can kill a backline movement as much as he can create one.
We need better options in our spine, If we had a top 3 hooker or fullback in the team already, then sure partner Norman with a solid steady guy, but we don't, so we need to inject more creativity not less, and I think Jackson Hasting can be that guy.
