I say the changes to the game have killed his game. He was tough in defence but thats been shit this year
The speed and how direct the game is now. The good backrowers now make their tackles and run hard and straight to get a quick play the ball
Well he ain't marquee anymore then. If its as simple as you say and he isn't injured he's just average now....all chad being beside him has given him his disease
Needs another experienced leader around him to help out imo. Big job taking the reins of the club in a year like this. Reckon no rep honours to shoot for mid season for the rep players probably hasn’t helped either for motivation. Particularly for the struggling teams.
he looked injured out there last night, A Fox comentator (the dreaded Roach I think) said he had sustained a rib problem during the game, and that's what it looked to me.
If he is injured why play? He was a defensive force and now he's our worst defender statistically ? 55 missed tackles is bad
He needs to be moved to lock forward next year. We need to get more athletic in the wider back row positions.
I reckon home life could be what is having the biggest impact on Wade. See it a lot with players, when they become fathers, it puts a whole new perspective on life and what’s important. Wade used to love getting into a battle, smashing merkins, making it personal - on the back of that, he then had the silky skills. At the moment he’s not getting his hands dirty doing the hard work - he’s looking for shortcuts and the easy/finesse way out, rather than rolling the sleeves up and getting stuck in. It looks like it simply doesn’t mean as much to him anymore - the desire to win a personal battle doesn’t seem to be there, the win at all costs mentality. Before kids, these things were probably his number 1 focus across his entire week/life - that’s simply not the case once you have kids, which makes performing to the same level difficult - I don’t think he’s handled that well, then throw in some serious injuries, losing some big influential characters from the sheds (Flanno, Gal, Lewis etc) and the changes to the game, and I actually think he’s cooked.
I wonder if coaches are considering it? He seems as attached to the second row as Gal was to lock. You're right tho I think, as well as the other calls for him to move to 13...I reckon he needs to be interchanged for his longevity now that he's entering the back end of his career, and played in the middle as long as it's not as a battering ram