Re: Should Ashley Taylor Be Promoted
It's pretty obvious that for at least some of the people here Ash Taylor is just a stalking horse for moving Boyd to the wing and Milford to fullback. Realistically there's no need to rend our garments and wail to the moon because of the perceived possibility we might lose one of our promising but untried juniors when he comes off contract in two years in the somewhat unlikely scenario that he is so monumentally shit hot that losing him would be catastrophic but he's still not quite good enough to dislodge either Milf or Bhunt. But still, better sound the alarm bells and move Milf to fullback now so we can restructure our first placed team to accomodate an untested NYC player who hasn't even managed a full season in the juniors yet.
Honestly, it reminds me of a certain political party who, unable to convince anyone to accept their favourite policy, have to keep trying to come up with a new reason to implement whatever piece of shit idea everyone said no to in the first place. The party faithful cheer every new slogan but nobody else is convinced; all they see is a raving mob desperately trying to find some way to justify their predetermined solutions to a problem which doesn't actually exist.
I have made no secret of the fact I think Boyd would best serve us as wing this year with Milford at FB - playing 2nd 5/8. Lockyer played FB for what, 7 years from 20, before he moved to become as Ari posted, a genius permanent 5/8. He in part learned his craft as a brilliant 5/8 at NRL level, from the back, over 7 years, not the least came from not having the pressure of starting in the front line like Milford has had to do at 20, and starting at 19. Maybe Milford will become a superior 5/8 within the year. We all hope so for this year. I do.
But this has nothing to do with Taylor playing in the halves this year which for mine, could, and should happen, only if Hunt and/or Milford were injured, or got to rep level, and that would be subject to Bennett's view of his ability to fill in which i trust.
What's important to me is when Taylor (and Milford) come off contract in '16, and all things being equal, both want to stay. How to accommodate them both and have the best possible side?
For mine, the best, if not necessarily the only way to do that, all things being equal as to form, for 2016, is to move Milford to FB, Boyd to the centres or wing, Hodges to retire, Taylor to half and Hunt to 5/8.
Then there is Jayden and Byrnes, Kahu, and Oates as well. As B4L rightly said, this is just so much speculation and assumption but then, this is what makes the thread interesting for me, but has now reached its limit, for now.
Nevertheless, speculating about the future of promising young talent in this club is for me fun and worthwhile, if no other reason than to look at the best possible, successful futures for this great club..
