The Rothfield Plan - Sack Cayless.

[The Colonel]

Repaying loyalty with some tough decisions

• By Phil Rothfield From: The Daily Telegraph
• March 16, 2010 12:00AM

Incumbents...Parramatta skipper Nathan Cayless (left) and NSW captain Kurt Gidley are battling to hold their respective positions Pictures: Mark Evans, Gregg Porteous
Source: The Daily Telegraph




CAPTAINCY is going to be a big issue in rugby league this year for two of the best coaches in the game - Daniel Anderson at Parramatta and Craig Bellamy with the NSW State of Origin side.

Let's get straight to the point here - I don't believe Nathan Cayless should be in Parramatta's run-on team and I think Kurt Gidley will struggle to make the Blues' starting line-up.
We'll start off with the situation at Parramatta, which has taken only 80 minutes of football to become a serious issue that could make or break their entire season.
Any decent football judge will tell you that Fuifui Moimoi is the most explosive front-rower in the game and should be in the Eels' side with big-money recruit Justin Poore as the starting props.
This would relegate the veteran Cayless to the bench, from where you can't captain a football side in the NRL.
I believe Daniel Anderson is close to making that decision.

Without Fuifui in the starting line-up, Parramatta struggled in the opening exchanges against a willing Dragons pack at Parramatta Stadium on Friday night.
They were down 12-nil before Fuifui came on in the 23rd minute and immediately the Eels got some momentum.
Later on when Cayless was back on the field, the Eels edged back into the game through a Luke Burt try in the 63rd minute.
But they lost possession when Cayless spilt the ball from the kick-off and immediately released pressure on the Dragons.
These days Cayless only averages around 100m a game from his hit-ups. That's compared to the top three from the weekend - Petero Civoniceva (159m from 19 runs), Ben Hannant (147m from 15 runs) and Dan Hunt (146m from 16 runs).
And now to the difficult part. How does Anderson make the call to dump such a loyal player who has given the club a wonderful service over the years?
Sentiment would tell him to put that call into the too-hard basket. But sentiment doesn't win football games, let alone premierships.
So how does he ask Nathan Hindmarsh to take over as skipper, knowing there is a good chance he would reject it because Cayless is his best friend?
Who else could do the job? Luke Burt, maybe, but that's about it.
The easy way out is to keep Cayless as club captain until he retires at the end of the season to handle all the media and sponsorship requirements.
Or make him co-captain with Hindmarsh like a lot of other clubs are doing these days.
Anderson is not the only one with a prickly problem. Just ask Craig Bellamy, who gave Kurt Gidley one of the most prestigious jobs in the game last year because there was no better candidate.
I still don't know if there is a better skipper for NSW - but I do know there are better players in Gidley's fullback position.
Two champions, actually, in Jarryd Hayne and Brett Stewart.
Gidley is versatile enough to play hooker, halfback or five-eighth but not ahead of Robbie Farah or Michael Ennis at hooker and not ahead of a stack of halves options in Mitch Pearce, Todd Carney, Brett Kimmorley, Jamie Soward, Jarrod Mullen, Greg Bird and Terry Campese. Which raises another point ... Who would captain the Blues if it's not Gidley?
Farah is a possibility but he can't be guaranteed a starting position for all three games ahead of Ennis. Paul Gallen has captained Cronulla but has more repair work to do on his image before he could be considered a state captain.
Presumably Bellamy and the selectors will pick the best team available - and then worry about putting a "c" next to someone's name once it is chosen.
And therein lies the difficult part.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/n...-tough-decisions/story-e6frfgh6-1225841125393

 

[Parra Guru]

Calling a spade a spade. I agree on both players, except I believe Gidley's leadership qualities are easier to replace than Caylo's.

 

[Gronk]

Dual captains between Hindy & Caylo is the answer. It will allow Anderson to bench Cayless as required.

 

[Suitman]

I can't say I disagree with him.

Suity

 

[Maroubra Eel]

Dual captains between Hindy & Caylo is the answer. It will allow Anderson to bench Cayless as required.

I agree Gronk. And hindmarsh is inspiring.

 

[Stagger eel]

unfortunately, Caylo's impact off the bench would be quite minimal and all though he started and his metre gains are mediocre at best he still made 40 tackles which is something that the sloth chose not to include in his column.

 

[fish eel]

Yeah, I reckon Cayless is the third best front rower at the club now.

 

[Jake the snake]

Wow that's actually a good article for a change. It raises some important points. We were all bagging the bloke yesterday but he came up with some interesting issues that we can debate.

One things for sure, If Cayless does read this and I'm sure he will .... he will be a man on a mission. Thanks Rothfield.

 

[ParraMatt]

I think a better option would be to have Cayless at Second Row, interchanging with Ben Smith.

Something like this.

8. Justin Poore
9. Matt Keating
10. Fui Fui Moi Moi
11. Nathan Hindmarsh
12. Nathan Cayless
13. Feleti Mateo

14. Kris Keating
15. Tim Mannah
16. Ben Smith
17. Brendan Oake or Justin Horo

Cayless has a good offload and on the fringes could be lethal forming a partnership with Tahu or Reddy closer to the sideline.

There has been talks in the past of Cayless playing Second Row and now with the loss of Shane Shackleton and with Justin Poore who can play 80 mins, We only need Tim Mannah to replace Fui Fui and Cayless can be replaced by Ben Smith leaving Oake & Horo as forward back ups.

Thoughts?

 

[Jake the snake]

unfortunately, Caylo's impact off the bench would be quite minimal and all though he started and his metre gains are mediocre at best he still made 40 tackles which is something that the sloth chose not to include in his column.

If he's no good for the bench (which I agree with ya), So are we carrying him out of loyalty then?

Cayless after this article has got to lift his game. Just for this year at least. And someones got to make him aware of this article. No better motivation than to prove people wrong.

 

[Parra Guru]

Gidley has had one (losing) series as skipper in a position that he is about 3rd or 4th best for. Again, if the selectors would pick Hindmarsh in the starting side....

 

[Stagger eel]

If he's no good for the bench (which I agree with ya), So are we carrying him out of loyalty then?

Cayless after this article has got to lift his game. Just for this year at least. And someones got to make him aware of this article. No better motivation than to prove people wrong.

I'd say so..

 

[Parra Guru]

I think a better option would be to have Cayless at Second Row, interchanging with Ben Smith.

Something like this.

8. Justin Poore
9. Matt Keating
10. Fui Fui Moi Moi
11. Nathan Hindmarsh
12. Nathan Cayless
13. Feleti Mateo

14. Kris Keating
15. Tim Mannah
16. Ben Smith
17. Brendan Oake or Justin Horo

Cayless has a good offload and on the fringes could be lethal forming a partnership with Tahu or Reddy closer to the sideline.

There has been talks in the past of Cayless playing Second Row and now with the loss of Shane Shackleton and with Justin Poore who can play 80 mins, We only need Tim Mannah to replace Fui Fui and Cayless can be replaced by Ben Smith leaving Oake & Horo as forward back ups.

Thoughts?

Not a bad idea at all Matt. Caylo does have the ball skills and may be better suited running out wide.

 

[The Colonel]

I think a better option would be to have Cayless at Second Row, interchanging with Ben Smith.

Something like this.

8. Justin Poore
9. Matt Keating
10. Fui Fui Moi Moi
11. Nathan Hindmarsh
12. Nathan Cayless
13. Feleti Mateo

14. Kris Keating
15. Tim Mannah
16. Ben Smith
17. Brendan Oake or Justin Horo

Cayless has a good offload and on the fringes could be lethal forming a partnership with Tahu or Reddy closer to the sideline.

There has been talks in the past of Cayless playing Second Row and now with the loss of Shane Shackleton and with Justin Poore who can play 80 mins, We only need Tim Mannah to replace Fui Fui and Cayless can be replaced by Ben Smith leaving Oake & Horo as forward back ups.

Thoughts?

Poore may be able to play eighty but not as a front rower. You need the rotation. The loss of Shackleton is going to be an interesting situation - he has the skills to play in the backrow and the size to play up front.

Smith was probably the best player on the park for us and to demote him isn't really an option. As a prop you will still have the same minutes off the bench or starting.

The biggest issue I think is the fact that Moimoi didn't come on until after Shackleton - they should have come on together or Moimoi much earlier than he did.

 

[The Colonel]

So are we carrying him out of loyalty then?

I'd say so..

To a point yes but name me a better prop option that we currently have? Not sure he would have the impact off the bench but then really neither does Mannah.

Moimoi should start. So should Poore. If we are after impact then we are at a loss after that.

 

[ParraMatt]

Not a bad idea at all Matt. Caylo does have the ball skills and may be better suited running out wide.

by no means do I think he is a superstar, But I just think if we want to keep that loyalty and keep Moi Moi and Poore on from the beginning that is our best option.

Whether DA will take that risk is up in the air, But I do believe Cayless would be better suited running out wider at the outside backs with his cheeky offload to Reddy or Tahu.

 

[parra pete]

One round, that's all it took.
Nathan Cayless.....the 'born again' scapegoat...

 

[strider]

caylo is the key player in what made us a force last year - 2nd phase play .... he is our primary offloader of the guys who hit it up the middle, drag in 3 defenders, make a bit of space, then give it to someone else to dart off

take the larger minutes away from him and we end up like st george/melbourne/whovever, just banging it up the guts - something everyone was calling "boring" from the dragons after last friday

is this better from the bench? maybe - altho it'd be nice to do it from the start also .... the problem last Friday was that Poore didn't really give us go forward at the start of the game - something I believe he was brought to the club to do .... we managed with Caylo and one other go-forward prop last year, why should it not work this year?

I also think Caylo is a WAY better defender than either poore or fui ... caylo's smaller size serves him well in defence - the bigger boppas are slower and less mobile

I dunno - I'm undecided on this one - don't really know what is the best approach - maybe try both and see what works

 

[84 Baby]

I agree with the move but disagree with his reasons. "Only averages around 100m a game" - ONLY? A 100m game is a damn fine game especially when you add in 30-40 tackles. And it sickens me that he singles out the dropped ball after the last try. That was Caylo's only error. Love your work slothfield you jerk, nothing but muckraking

 

[The Colonel]

I agree with the move but disagree with his reasons. "Only averages around 100m a game" - ONLY? A 100m game is a damn fine game especially when you add in 30-40 tackles. And it sickens me that he singles out the dropped ball after the last try. That was Caylo's only error. Love your work slothfield you jerk, nothing but muckraking

It was the bloody good hit from Saffy as much as it was Cayless dropping the ball.

After Friday's effort, while we may have paid a lot of money for Poore - it would be he that starts from the bench IMO as opposed to Cayless.