Hurriflatch said:
Petersen had Tallis running at him and Dykes all day. I know Tallis isn't in his best form but he is hardly nobody
Petersen made 20 tackles and missed 4 while that may seem high a lot of the time he would hold Tallis up then when some support came in Muzza would drop off the tackle that is counted as a miss even though looking at the game he did very good defensivly in those cases.
I think that Petersen best position is wing and he could play there. Thse days positions mean very little
Smith could name Petersen as prop that doesn't mean he'll play there though.
Against the Broncos I saw at least 3 scrums where CAyless packed in at hooker between Cannings and Vella.
Vaealiki once packed in at 2nd row with WAgon.
In 2001 Hodgson packed in at look v Broncos @ Parra.
and it's not just scrums
in the game last week VAealiki and Grothe often swapped.
I agree that named positions mean very little in the way of scrum positions, which is essentially how a team comes out on paper and always has. Scrum positions dont mean jack and I am not talking about scrum positions and I really couldnt care if Luke Burt packs into the front row for every scrum cause it is only a scrum.
Sure if someone runs at you at this level of the game then they are going to tackle them. If not, they are really completely in the wrong level of the sport. That is not what I mean by poor defence. What I mean by poor defence is where players have "miss reads" in defence or a poorly position to effect any kind of tackles. This causes alot of distress for the players inside and outside them. These players are generally the cause of alot of breaks made but very rarely will they have a miss tackle recorded against them as they havent come within cooee of the player to lay a hand on them to even miss them. This is what Petersen's big weakness is at the moment and where a quality centre is going to cause him alot of problems. If you get a chance to have a look at the Bulldogs game you will understand that Petersen is a player that at this stage has plenty of miss reads and is poorly positioned. You 'edge' defenders (generally W/C/L on one side and W/C/FE on the other) positionally are probably the most important players in the defensive line.
I do not have an issue with Petersen or anyone in the Parramatta Club of making a tackle if someone, Tallis or anyone, runs straight at them. It's easy to learn how to tackle someone if they run straight at you!!! Alot harder if there is a 4 on 3 or even 3 on 3 or 3 on 2 situation outwide to make the right decision.
That is why I think Petersen is more suited to the wing.
