League_God said:
im a big fan of bailey. he has more potential then 90% our forward stock including ciraldo.
and dont give me the "theres a difference between potential and proven ability lecture". bailey has made huge improvements in the off-season
I think "huge" is the key here in another sense. The Brian Smith game plan seems to involve a certain amount of aggregate physical presence from the 10 forwards in the 17-man squad... ie. unless the strategy changes we won't see Hilder and Bailey in the same team, unless Bailey is in the halves or at centre (or starts eating half of Danny Wicks's lunch).
I am also a huge fan of Bailey and I don't need to be convinced by improvement in the off-season. He played a game at five-eighth last year that was the best attacking running-and-passing game by any Knight's player in the number six since the beginning of last season--including any performance of Mullen's at 5/8th. His organisational and kicking skills are still to be proven though. I do remember one very impressive long raking kick when we were under pressure last season, but overall, the only thing I know is that Joey was reportedly doing a lot of work on Bailey's kicking game in the off-season and was impressed. So that's got to count for something.
But still the problem with Bailey is he seems to be a terrific cure for a non-existent ailment. If Dureau or Mullo get injured we're going to be very lucky to have him. But in the form they're in as a combination at the moment, how could you split them?
Of course Bailey seems the perfect utility benchie. But the balance of the team at present seems to require a gritty workhorse in that role. Hilder is doing admirably in that capacity, and it really isn't Bailey's go.
Just speculatiing, but I wonder if Simmo's return will create a change in this regard? He'll play close to 80 minutes and do a mountain of work in defence, opening up an opportunity for an impact player on the bench... ie. Bailey replacing Hilder. I acknowledge Simmo started in round 1 with Hilder in the 17, but I still think it's the way things might develop. I originally thought Hilder would be indispensible because Smith obviously wants to take some of the load off Bedsy at dummy half, but we now have quite a few player's capable of serving some duty there, especially Gids and Mullen.