Ash Taylor granted permission to look elsewhere

[Unbreakable]

Damn it Milford, why couldn't you stay in Canberra so we could hypothetically keep an NYC Halfback who might eventually be good in the NRL. Selfish bastard.

 

[lynx000]

This place never ceases to amaze me. We have a half back, who has shown tremendous patience, wonderful loyalty to the club and signs of tremendous ability. This half back has already played for Australia, been on the cusp for two seasons of origin selection. When he was finally (and very belatedly) given the opportunity to play in his preferred position, he carried the team last year with non-effective halves partners throughout the season. He is a player who continues to develop and continues to work on the weaknesses in his game.

We have a five-eighth who has taken to a new position far quicker than I (if most of you are honest) ever thought he would. I have seen improvement in him in almost every game. His defence (other than one notable game) has been quite good as well. He has an x-factor that the team has missed for years, and is a damaging ball-runner. The sky is the limit as to where he could go provided that his attitude remains good and he has luck with injuries.

We have a full-back who is a club junior, who has won a premiership with this club and another with his next club. He is seasoned representative player for his State and Country. He has won a Clive Churchill medal. He is adding a point of difference to our attack and a mature head at the back. He has come through a very tough personal time apparently a much improved, settled and happier human being and this is being reflected in his football. He rehabbed through a serious injury and came back ahead of time.

Which one of those three do you want to throw under the bus for an untried NYC half with an injury history who may or not make it?? I agree with some of the sentiments above, if it was good enough for Hunt to bide his time behind such stellar talents such as Wallace, Prince and Norman, I don't think it too much of an expectation for Taylor to bide his time and improve his craft in the ISC. If he is not prepared to do that and wants an NRL position now, then we should let him go and let him try his luck.

 

[ivanhungryjak]

Wayne Bennett's belief that young Broncos half Ashley Taylor is ready for the NRL will see the Queensland under-20s representative head to the open market after being given permission to negotiate with other clubs.Currently contracted to the Broncos until the end of the 2016 season, Taylor was given permission to look elsewhere on Saturday with his path to an NRL debut at Brisbane blocked by representative stars Ben Hunt and Anthony Milford.
Having first linked with the Broncos as a 12-year-old growing up in Toowoomba, Taylor didn't close the door on a return to Brisbane in future but was grateful for Bennett's understanding in allowing him to look for an opportunity elsewhere in the NRL.
"I'm just thankful to Wayne for letting me do it," Taylor told NRL.com. "He also thinks I'm NRL-ready so he just wants me to find the club to play first grade.
"He obviously thinks I can't be a regular first-grader at the Broncos so I'm just thankful he's given me the opportunity to go somewhere else and hopefully play regular NRL.
"It was always a dream [to play NRL for Brisbane]. I'd always loved to have played in the Broncos jersey but there's nothing to say I'll never come back to the club.
"Mid this year I just thought there was never going to be an opportunity to be a regular first-grader and that's what I need for my career, to be a regular first-grader, and that's what I aim to be.
"Wherever I end up hopefully they give me a chance to play NRL and I'll take it with both hands."
Currently in camp as an assistant with the Maroons, Broncos assistant coach Kevin Walters was surprised to learn of Taylor's imminent departure.
With the Titans and Knights just two clubs on the hunt for a halfback in 2016, Walters endorsed Taylor as a young player ready to take the next step in his career.
"He's just a genuine footballer. He can play to the structure but he reminds me of a backyard footy player," Walters said.
"A lot of the opposed stuff that we do at the Broncos he's on the other side and he's always getting everything right so he's a good listener and a good learner.
"He's going to turn into a real top-line [half] I would have thought.
"His maturity will come with it but for his age he's very smart, very clever.
"He's got a good career ahead of him, it's just a shame it won't be at the Broncos."
In addition to training with the Broncos' NRL squad, the 20-year-old has stepped up to play for Souths Logan in the Intrust Super Cup this year and on Wednesday night has the perfect opportunity to impress prospective clubs.
Three separate shoulder injuries restricted Taylor to a lone Queensland Schoolboys jersey in his junior days and after training opposite the Maroons in an opposed session on Sunday is going to treasure every moment on Wednesday night.
"It's definitely an honour. You don't get to represent your state very often growing up and I'll be definitely taking this opportunity," he said.

Some good quotes here. From the NRL site (Tony Webeck).

 

[lynx000]

I should also add, that because he leaves now, it does not mean that he will not be back at a time when we need him in the halves. Many a player has left here and found that the grass is not necessarily greener on the other side. The history of backs that have left us is generally of underwhelming performance elsewhere, recent examples include Moon, Beale and Denan Kemp. More distant examples are Ben Walker and Brett Seymour. The jury is still out about Norman

Our current captain is a prime example of a player that left and returned, and Boyd is another.

 

[Porthoz]

This place never ceases to amaze me. We have a half back, who has shown tremendous patience, wonderful loyalty to the club and signs of tremendous ability. This half back has already played for Australia, been on the cusp for two seasons of origin selection. When he was finally (and very belatedly) given the opportunity to play in his preferred position, he carried the team last year with non-effective halves partners throughout the season. He is a player who continues to develop and continues to work on the weaknesses in his game.

We have a five-eighth who has taken to a new position far quicker than I (if most of you are honest) ever thought he would. I have seen improvement in him in almost every game. His defence (other than one notable game) has been quite good as well. He has an x-factor that the team has missed for years, and is a damaging ball-runner. The sky is the limit as to where he could go provided that his attitude remains good and he has luck with injuries.

We have a full-back who is a club junior, who has won a premiership with this club and another with his next club. He is seasoned representative player for his State and Country. He has won a Clive Churchill medal. He is adding a point of difference to our attack and a mature head at the back. He has come through a very tough personal time apparently a much improved, settled and happier human being and this is being reflected in his football. He rehabbed through a serious injury and came back ahead of time.

Which one of those three do you want to throw under the bus for an untried NYC half with an injury history who may or not make it?? I agree with some of the sentiments above, if it was good enough for Hunt to bide his time behind such stellar talents such as Wallace, Prince and Norman, I don't think it too much of an expectation for Taylor to bide his time and improve his craft in the ISC. If he is not prepared to do that and wants an NRL position now, then we should let him go and let him try his luck.

It's not about throwing anyone under the bus. The single focal point, which your "story of amazement" seems to ignore, is that we didn't need to bring Boyd to the club. It's convenient for everyone supporting the decision to make it about Milford at 5/8, because it makes it so much easier to dismiss Taylor for Anthony!

You also fail to mention the glaring deficiencies in our halves paring, and more importantly, you completely ignore the fact that to bide his time, there should be a chance at an opportunity in the near future, which given Hunt and Milford's age, is very unlikely. So much so that WB has told him to look elsewhere.

Whether Wayne is right about this decision or not, will become apparent in the future.
I could wait and see, then be an hindsight hero if Taylor becomes what I suspect he will become, or simply pretend nothing happened if Taylor doesn't deliver on the promise, but I'll just stick my neck out now.

 

[lynx000]

It's not about throwing anyone under the bus. The single focal point, which your "story of amazement" seems to ignore, is that we didn't need to bring Boyd to the club. It's convenient for everyone supporting the decision to make it about Milford at 5/8, because it makes it so much easier to dismiss Taylor for Anthony!

You also fail to mention the glaring deficiencies in our halves paring, and more importantly, you completely ignore the fact that to bide his time, there should be a chance at an opportunity in the near future, which given Hunt and Milford's age, is very unlikely. So much so that WB has told him to look elsewhere.

Whether Wayne is right about this decision or not, will become apparent in the future.
I could wait and see, then be an hindsight hero if Taylor becomes what I suspect he will become, or simply pretend nothing happened if Taylor doesn't deliver on the promise, but I'll just stick my neck out now.

I have watched with great interest this debate, and in my view (note this is my opinion) your take on events is through the prism of your tainted and well publicized view about the circumstances in which Bennett came back and the decision to bring Boyd back. Given that the existing fullback options were Barba (who is setting the world on fire at Cronulla) and Hoffman, who could not nail the position down here, and is failing to do so at the Titans, I very much believe that there was a need for Boyd. But we will just have to agree to disagree about that. You are entitled to your well established opinion about that, and I am old enough to realize that you will not shift in your view (and nor should you have to).

If we adopt your line of argument and we accept that Boyd was not required, I presume that you would have played Milford at fullback and who would you have played at five-eighth? The options are fairly slim. Taylor may think he is ready for NRL, he is not (once again in my opinion) He is about a year to two years away yet. You talk about the glaring deficiencies in our halves, and I take it again that in the world of Porthoz the panacea for all of that is an under 20's half who has yet to play a full season of under 20's, has an injury history and has deficiencies in his own game? Do not get me wrong, I think he is going to be a good player, and potentially a very good player, but does potential supplant what Hunt has shown and is showing? It may be the case that Hunt does not further develop, only time will tell.

And by the way, I did not at any time state that either Hunt or Milford were finished products incapable of improvement, once again a common tactic of yours in putting words in other people's mouths. I would have thought that even you should have picked up that the comment `and continues to work on the weaknesses in his game' was an open acknowledgement that there are weaknesses in his game, but perhaps I should have made it more obvious. Ultimately, you will never be swayed from your viewpoint, which either arises from the prism of your views about Bennett or Boyd, or from rose coloured glasses about Taylor. I personally would like to see him stay, but I will watch with interest to see if he develops into this superstar that you and others have tagged him as.

 

[Brent81]

This place never ceases to amaze me. We have a half back, who has shown tremendous patience, wonderful loyalty to the club and signs of tremendous ability. This half back has already played for Australia, been on the cusp for two seasons of origin selection. When he was finally (and very belatedly) given the opportunity to play in his preferred position, he carried the team last year with non-effective halves partners throughout the season. He is a player who continues to develop and continues to work on the weaknesses in his game.

We have a five-eighth who has taken to a new position far quicker than I (if most of you are honest) ever thought he would. I have seen improvement in him in almost every game. His defence (other than one notable game) has been quite good as well. He has an x-factor that the team has missed for years, and is a damaging ball-runner. The sky is the limit as to where he could go provided that his attitude remains good and he has luck with injuries.

We have a full-back who is a club junior, who has won a premiership with this club and another with his next club. He is seasoned representative player for his State and Country. He has won a Clive Churchill medal. He is adding a point of difference to our attack and a mature head at the back. He has come through a very tough personal time apparently a much improved, settled and happier human being and this is being reflected in his football. He rehabbed through a serious injury and came back ahead of time.

Which one of those three do you want to throw under the bus for an untried NYC half with an injury history who may or not make it?? I agree with some of the sentiments above, if it was good enough for Hunt to bide his time behind such stellar talents such as Wallace, Prince and Norman, I don't think it too much of an expectation for Taylor to bide his time and improve his craft in the ISC. If he is not prepared to do that and wants an NRL position now, then we should let him go and let him try his luck.

what he said....ps Seymour, Smith....pretty sure they were all 'the next big thing' how are they going at the moment?

Taylor might prove to be good, he may also prove to be a complete fucking dud...we don't know. That some people on here want to punt on an unproven half makes me think that those people are more interested in pursuing their own agenda than anything else....

 

[Foordy]

I agree with [MENTION=2221]Porthoz[/MENTION] 100% while i intitially had an agenda with Bennett returning, which I have previously admitted i was wrong about (I don't have the same problem as Porthoz, with how the decision to bring Bennett back came about).

Part of my concerns about Bennett was that he has an inability to be objective with regards to Boyd. And i think we are seeing that to a degree now.

FTR, I'm not saying that we should cut any of Boyd, Milford or Hunt loose, just that we should alter their positions slightly to bring in a talented player , that Wayne Bennett himself thinks is ready for the NRL, a player that has attributes that this team currently misses (like a pin point kicking game, organizational skills, etc).

Hunt and Milford both player a similar style of game. Both are super talented themselves, but are off-the-cuff players. Kicking is a weakness for both players and neither are top notch organizers. A player of Taylors ability would compliment Hunt and Milford perfectly and only make our team stronger in the long run.

If it came down to a decision of only keeping two of the Nikorima brothers and Taylor, then sadly Kodi is the one that should have been released because as talented as he is, he is the less talented of the trio


disclaimer: the contents of this post is the humble opinion of the awesome bloke that posted it

 

[Foordy]

what he said....ps Seymour, Smith....pretty sure they were all 'the next big thing' how are they going at the moment?

Taylor might prove to be good, he may also prove to be a complete fucking dud...we don't know. That some people on here want to punt on an unproven half makes me think that those people are more interested in pursuing their own agenda than anything else....

When Milford came to the club, he was an unproven half. People had no problem with us taking a punt on him yo be Hunts halves partner

 

[Alec]

How many players become proven without being taken a punt on? Look at guys like DCE, Cronk...even Hunt for us, all completely unproven at the time.

 

[lynx000]

I agree with @Porthoz 100% while i intitially had an agenda with Bennett returning, which I have previously admitted i was wrong about (I don't have the same problem as Porthoz, with how the decision to bring Bennett back came about).

Part of my concerns about Bennett was that he has an inability to be objective with regards to Boyd. And i think we are seeing that to a degree now.

FTR, I'm not saying that we should cut any of Boyd, Milford or Hunt loose, just that we should alter their positions slightly to bring in a talented player , that Wayne Bennett himself thinks is ready for the NRL, a player that has attributes that this team currently misses (like a pin point kicking game, organizational skills, etc).

Hunt and Milford both player a similar style of game. Both are super talented themselves, but are off-the-cuff players. Kicking is a weakness for both players and neither are top notch organizers. A player of Taylors ability would compliment Hunt and Milford perfectly and only make our team stronger in the long run.

If it came down to a decision of only keeping two of the Nikorima brothers and Taylor, then sadly Kodi is the one that should have been released because as talented as he is, he is the less talented of the trio


disclaimer: the contents of this post is the humble opinion of the awesome bloke that posted it

Once again, you are well entitled to your view. I am interested in your view as to the alteration of positions that you suggest should occur? I presume that it is Milford to fullback, Boyd to the wing, Hunt to five-eighth and Taylor to half-back, is that it? Once again I do not presume that this is correct, I am interested in what you suggest the alteration should be?

 

[Dexter]

How many players become proven without being taken a punt on? Look at guys like DCE, Cronk...even Hunt for us, all completely unproven at the time.

How many of those guys got their chance at the expense of someone young and playing great footy in a side leading the comp?

 

[lynx000]

How many players become proven without being taken a punt on? Look at guys like DCE, Cronk...even Hunt for us, all completely unproven at the time.

No issue with that at all either Alec. The fact was in the case of Cronk, that the Storm were minus a halfback and had to manufacture one. In the case of Manly, Hodkinson moved to the Dogs, and they had a space at halfback to fill, hence DCE whom they had been nurturing via the Sunshine Coast. Hunt for us arose from us moving on the halfback, or having the other alternative retire, once again we had no other option at the time. In none of those cases was an established spine tinkered with to bring an untried player, it was a case of necessity in each instance.

I would have liked to see him (Taylor) given a chance by us to show his worth in a couple of games prior to the decision being made, but unfortunately that has not occurred.

 

[lynx000]

Dexter beat me to it.

 

[Nashy]

I agree with @Porthoz 100% while i intitially had an agenda with Bennett returning, which I have previously admitted i was wrong about (I don't have the same problem as Porthoz, with how the decision to bring Bennett back came about).

Part of my concerns about Bennett was that he has an inability to be objective with regards to Boyd. And i think we are seeing that to a degree now.

FTR, I'm not saying that we should cut any of Boyd, Milford or Hunt loose, just that we should alter their positions slightly to bring in a talented player , that Wayne Bennett himself thinks is ready for the NRL, a player that has attributes that this team currently misses (like a pin point kicking game, organizational skills, etc).

Hunt and Milford both player a similar style of game. Both are super talented themselves, but are off-the-cuff players. Kicking is a weakness for both players and neither are top notch organizers. A player of Taylors ability would compliment Hunt and Milford perfectly and only make our team stronger in the long run.

If it came down to a decision of only keeping two of the Nikorima brothers and Taylor, then sadly Kodi is the one that should have been released because as talented as he is, he is the less talented of the trio


disclaimer: the contents of this post is the humble opinion of the awesome bloke that posted it

You want Bennett to eat humble pie, and drop the well performing Boyd, move the well performing Milford to fullback, move the well performing Hunt to a position he doesn't play, and bring in a rookie, who is extremely young, and has zero NRL experience?

You want him to basically tear apart the insides of the team that is currently first in the competition, who have shown some of the gutsiest wins this year that we've seen in years.

You want to do all of that, because you believe that Bennett holds some bias when it comes to picking our current fullback? You can't honestly believe that?

The reason we had no issue with Milford is because we knew he was a huge talent. We knew that from watching him play and gain experience in the NRL. The real game, where it counts.

 

[Foordy]

Once again, you are well entitled to your view. I am interested in your view as to the alteration of positions that you suggest should occur? I presume that it is Milford to fullback, Boyd to the wing, Hunt to five-eighth and Taylor to half-back, is that it? Once again I do not presume that this is correct, I am interested in what you suggest the alteration should be?

Basically. But if Boyd wanted to be closer to the action, i would be happy for him to move to center as well.

I only say Hunt to 6 and Taylor to 7, because IMO, hunt plays more of a traditional 5/8 style while Taylor is more like a half back. But 6 and 7 a pretty much interchangeable these days.

Also as good as Milford has been going at 6, the extra room at fullback (not to mention his time playing 6 and developing his play making skills) would make him so much more dangerous.

Boyd is a solid dependable player, a good runner of the ball, good finishing skills and an ability yo set up his outside man ... The perfect player for center or wing.

All my opinion of course

 

[Foordy]

You want Bennett to eat humble pie, and drop the well performing Boyd, move the well performing Milford to fullback, move the well performing Hunt to a position he doesn't play, and bring in a rookie, who is extremely young, and has zero NRL experience?

You want him to basically tear apart the insides of the team that is currently first in the competition, who have shown some of the gutsiest wins this year that we've seen in years.

You want to do all of that, because you believe that Bennett holds some bias when it comes to picking our current fullback? You can't honestly believe that?

The reason we had no issue with Milford is because we knew he was a huge talent. We knew that from watching him play and gain experience in the NRL. The real game, where it counts.

I have repeatedly said Bennett has done a great job since coming here (hard for me to do giving how loudly protested his arrival)

What i want Bennett to do is make this team stronger. And yes there might initially be some short term pain while they gell, but we will be stronger for it in the long run.

Hunt basically plays 5/8 anyway, so it wouldn't be that hard of a transition for him.

And given where the season is now, it's probably the wrong time to make the change (barring an injury), but make the change in the pre-season where they have time to form combinations.

 

[Nashy]

It's a massive, massive risk. That's the type of risk you take with an under performing team. Not this team.