Correct I have reconsidered my thoughts on him he will only slip into starting 17 due to injuries suspension or loss of form. After considering all facts, My starting 17 would be:
That's almost the same as mine but for Bird in the centres. I'd have Suli or one of the Feagai's in the centres and Bird on the bench. Bird is a good centre but I just feel the modern game has become that we really need a centre with more speed.
Lawrie's main asset is the ability to put him on at the start of the game and he will keep going for the entire 40min if need be without hardly slowing down. So my personal opinion is that he is starting or not in the 17.
Hmmmm that's Woods' main asset as well. Does Griffin go with both in the 17? If so, it would allow for Mbye to be on the bench. I wonder what coach Griffin will do.
Maybe his plan will be to have one of the props with greater stamina, Lawrie and Woods, on at the same time as one of the props with more explosiveness, Burgess and Molo. That may balance out pretty well. Of course there will be some "spillover" so to speak when both or one or the other are on but as long as it's not much, in theory I guess it's a tactic that could work.
Dont get me wrong he punches above his weight, he is an asset to the team therefore should be used in such a manner, no team that has been successful in recent years have asked their starting props to play 40 min stints, we did and we paid the price. The coach has seen this and recruited accordingly My belief is we need to squeeze 20 minutes out of Burgess 1st up, Woods can play longer, then Molo/Lawrie, I believe this will make us more competitive this year
Its good to have this problem this year, personally I would have a 4 prop rotation but whether it works or not time will tell
That is my thinking
I agree but I believe the coach is a loyalty kind of guy and Bird filled in where the coach believed it was necessary for his to do so, he took one for the team and club last season, and I believe Griffin will repay that loyalty with a starting position. Whether its at centre or 2nd row time will tell
This makes a lot of sense.
In the backrow Bird could also play 80min. Might seem like a waste having him on the bench when he is perfectly capable of playing 80min.
But as far as I understand it, Su'A is an 80min player as well and we know Sims is.
The good thing about this is that if you don't need 80 min from them those players can perform at a higher intensity level for the reduced time they are on the paddock
This is true. Don't have them sitting on the edge but coming into the middle on a regular basis like wingers do and then moving out to the edge. Normally it would take too much energy but if they know they are going to get a break, it's very doable. Though if he's planning to have one of the props with better stamina partnered with one more explosive (which makes sense) and have one of the backrowers take a break (which also makes sense), managing the interchange will be almost be a science.
Thats my thought process whether its the same as the man that counts time will tell
According to this, Su'A is definitely an 80min player.
If he carries on from where he left off at the end of last season, should be a great addition. At the time he was signed, it probably seemed like overs. Now it won't be significant 'unders' or he'd be talking about homesickness or whatever to get out of it but it may be seen as slight unders.
Agree my thought process was around our props. I wouldn't expect Debelin or Sua to be replaced during the game but because of our depth we now have the opportunity to give our 80 min players a breather. In today's upbeat game its important that you have that . I can tell you from experience that if you can give your 80 min players a 10 min breather each half and they know that they automatically raise their intensity for the other 60 it certainly doesn't hurt
You idea makes a lot of sense but I'm wondering about the interchange. If the props are Woods, Burgess, Molo, Lawrie all 4 will need a break. So that's 4. JDB will probably need a break if he's going to be in the middle and making super-effective tackles again and again. That's 5. One of the backrowers will need a break under your plan so that's 5. There are 8 total interchanges, aren't there? Keep one up our sleeve in the event of an injury in the backline. That's 6. How would you use the last two?