I would agree up until about 3-4 weeks ago, however I think Simonsson is starting to find his place at the end of our backline. Sure he has had some misses in defence but that seems to be the norm for our wingers and I won't be crucifying him for letting Turbo get the better of him a couple of times. Generally though his defense has improved and his kick-returns and general attack is now starting to look good. He is no longer losing ground when tackled like he was in the first few rounds.
The thing that we get having him and Waqa in the team is more pace. I reckon Bailey is probably one of the fastest outside backs we have and so having Sivo with Waqa on the left gives us strength and speed and having Penisini and Simonsson on the right gives us guile and speed. If Penisini can beat his man and give Bailey a bit of space, I reckon we will see some nice tries down that right edge.
Whilst I don't think Opacic deserves to lose his spot, I think we are stronger with more speed than he can offer and as The Ram keeps reminding us, speed is everything.
Agreed. But I also think Russell has speed and over the long haul will be a better player that can play at fullback, centre and wing. I would be tempted to give the kid the wing spot and let him settle into it for a while now to see what he can do versus Simonson who we now know more or less what he brings to the team.
The kid is still primarily an unknown as far as what he is capable of. I feel he could be a second tear star level player. You know not quite on the level of a RTS, Papenhuyzen, Teddy, TT or LM, but just under those sorts of guys like your Clinton Schifcofske, Luke Patten, Michael Morgan, Michael Gordon, Jack Wighton and currently Dillon Edwards types. All high quality players and stars of the game with superb moments in the game, but not quite in the stratosphere of mega super star.
But he has time and size on his side that if we give him the opportunity now in a very strong go forward and balanced side we can nurture him along in these early games in his career without him getting bashed around as would happen in a poorer side. In other words he can find his NRL feet without worrying about to much other then his own game and whatever the coach has asked him to do and focus on.
As we all know outside backs cop the brunt of it when teams are weak and not playing well as a whole. They are the ones that look the worst generally in defense and don't get many opportunities in attack to show what they can actually do. We have seen star players that are of representative level play like dog sh*t or look disinterested at the end of an ordinary backline. So I would like to see this kid get his chance now and let him fly a little to see how he moves, steps, thinks, and defends not to mention his topline speed and off the mark speed while he is playing for a team that is a contender.
Next season can go very bad very quickly depending on how we fair on recruitment and the year after could be even worse depending on how we go on retention, so this could be our only season for a while that a young player like him will get to play for a title contending team. So like I said, I want to see what he has got. Sure it won't be anywhere near the finished product, but most high quality players tend to make the right decisions even at the start of their careers and the way they move and execute is also very telling. It's the strength, experience and confidence stuff that time will add.
We should give this kid the flank and keep him there. I don't think Simonson can do better then him. He is what he is and that is a decent and handy NRL player, but not all that much more. But Russell will probably eclipse him by the time he has played his 50th NRL game and he is one of our own. I say give him his chance now while he has every opportunity to experience the NRL as a winner and develop good habits and build his confidence as an NRL player that can cut it and who belongs. The last thing we want our young players experiencing are weekly losses that knocks around their confidence. As we have seen before some of our young star players never quite recover.
I would have Russell in the team and interchange him and W. Blake between centre and wing to see which is the better fit, but initially just leave Russell out on the wing and let him just focus on that. If he is excelling out there then I would switch him and Blake around and see how that pans out. But that might be to much to be asking of the kid this season unless he exceeds all expectations. This year he should probably be just a flanker learning his trade.
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