I would never have dreamed of giving him the starting spot at the start of the season, despite the fact I agree its the best for him, and the overall high impression I've always had of the guy. I'm still not sure it's best for the team, but considering how woeful our defense has been (In the lowest 2-3 teams in points conceded, missed tackles and linebreaks conceded) he's a good fit for now. We just have such a glut of talent that he's a victim of both his utility value and lack of attacking flair. Taia, Pato, House and Simmo aren't exactly slouches.
Although we could swing in a fully fit team :
8. Tolar
9. De Gois
10. Cross
11. Taia/Simmo/Pato
12. House
13. Hilder
14. Simmo/Pato/Taia
15. Pato/Simmo/Taia
16. Faas
17. Karawana/Ndaira (Any other reasonable utilities?)
Logic behind this being, if Zeb's wide running continues to be so effective he'd be better utilised in the 2nd row than he has been at lock (where he was one of our best last year and still contributed admirably this year) plus, while it's hard to discredit Zeb's tackling, he doesn't have the motor for it that Hilder does, and it blunts his incisive running under the workload of a 30+ tackle count, something Hilder doesn't benefit from.
House is an 80 Minute player, he has been breaking the line well running wide, tackling well and without the penalties and errors of last year is quickly shaping into one of our best. He'd be difficult to shift, although he could be well utilised anywhere from front row to the bench. I'd elect to keep him there, although with the return of Simmo and his untouchable aura (deserved if not currently reflective of the aging bull, although this may change) he may find himself benched to accomodate his reputation and standing in the teams hierarchy.
Pato, could be anything. But he is prone to low workloads, and is having trouble combining the attacking brilliance of his debut season with the defensive brutality of 2008 and the first few rounds of this year. I don't know what it is, if he can ever get the two together he has the potential to be a once in a decade backrower in the BK ilk, and I don't think that's an overstatement. He can cut blokes in half, can leap for a high ball better than most fullbacks, had the best offloading vision and capability in heavy traffic I've ever seen of a rookie, plus has the agility/skill and presence of mind for the bat on, quick hands, and even the kick behind the line. Wankery aside, he's down on fitness due to lack of game time this year so I'm not going to pass judgement, but at the moment, he can't start at the expense of the current rotation. Inserting him as a strike weapon may be beneficial too. If he ever gets it all together though, he'd be too valuable to leave on the bench, you'd want 80 minutes from him.
Simmo, as has been discussed is looking older. I personally believe it's a match fitness thing, that it takes him a longer time to warm to the challenge due to the years of footy taking it out of his body, and not a case of him being old and crap now. Time will tell. My current read on the situation is that he'd be best suited to a prop conversion as he slow. There his defence hard running could still be a valuable asset. While this would also be the case in the 2nd row, it would come at the expense of the most multi faceted glut of backrowers in the comp. As a bench prop he wouldn't step on as many toes so to speak. If I was in charge he'd be being punished for the one game against the Warriors last year in which he showed his mettle at prop, and his own versatility. I'm aware the Simmo at prop experiment has failed in the past, but that was largely at Origin level, I feel he has it in him to be an excellent prop at club level.
On current form you can't drop Faas for Wicks, and you wouldn't want to carry Wicks on a bench that large. It prompts too many reshuffles if we have an injury in the backline, halves, or hooking positions. Wicks' attitude has improved, but he hasn't shown much as yet (not his fault). Faas has been our best prop week in week out, despite his hands. It's as simple as that.
Mark is only suited in the Tolar role in our team, something Tolar, Simmo and House are better at. Unless he learns how to run, he's never gonna break into the fully fit starting 17 of my team.
The first set of /'s indicate my best team currently, the second and third, potential combinations contingent on Pato and Simmo's form. The inclusion of both would create the need for more reshuffling obviously, but I didn't want it to become an indefinable mess of slashes and contingency plans.
What do you guys think? Agree, disagree? I'd love for somebody to pick apart my thoughts and to see what the general consensus is. I don't think we'd ever see this team exactly, but it's a real possibility we'll get something close to it, and it's an exciting prospect.
Discuss.
notables being when we knocked off the Storm and Titans (when they were top of the table) last year.
