NEWS Badel: Milford to stay

[winslow_wong]

If isaako is fullback it’s time to bring back the inside pass play. He has the explosiveness to make it work.

 

[Nashy]

At least if Isaako is at FB, it means he's the furthest away from both sidelines.

 

[abashii]

At least if Isaako is at FB, it means he's the furthest away from both sidelines.

I dunno, he was already pretty far from the sidelines as a winger.

 

[Nashy]

I dunno, he was already pretty far from the sidelines as a winger.

Yeah, but with ball in hand he was always on the wrong side of them!

 

[Galah]

At least if Isaako is at FB, it means he's the furthest away from both sidelines.

First one under the highball though, yeeshhh.

 

[rnabokov]

At least if Isaako is at FB, it means he's the furthest away from both sidelines.

HAHAHAHAHA .... priceless

 

[Kooly87]

I think Isaako at Fullback has a lot going for it if he can get back to his 2018 level of composure.

I know it was only the Nines, but I think we already saw some glimpses of him being a lot happier and more dangerous at Fullback. It's not a huge amount to go off, but it's still better than nothing.

CNK was hardly setting the world on fire at Fullback before this year, and look at the season he just churned out. Anything is possible and I personally think if his personal life is a bit more settled he may well surprise us all.

 

[rnabokov]

I understand that Isaako was FB of the year in the ISC a few years ago. That bodes well for him being given a go at the back next year.

From where I sit I will be most interested in his positional play, particularly defensive reads and how well he plays as a 2nd 5/8

 

[theshed]

Isaako at fb will do for now. I can’t help but get big Hoffman vibes from Isaako though (in the field).

At least at FB he’ll have less distance to walk to kick.

 

[NSW stables]

I understand that Isaako was FB of the year in the ISC a few years ago. That bodes well for him being given a go at the back next year.

From where I sit I will be most interested in his positional play, particularly defensive reads and how well he plays as a 2nd 5/8

Im prepared to get pulled to pieces here but who says that he has to play as a second five-eight? Why cant he play fullback in a style that suits his skills.

Inglis was never the greatest ball player (he wasnt bad, just not great) but he was a successful fullback because his team's gameplan was designed on his skills (mainly using his running game). This is also the case with turbo.

Isaako is pretty agile, has good footwork and acceleration. I would have him following our forwards and/or hitting gaps. If we want to continue second man/sweeping plays, why dont we use our halves to play both sides of the ruck and have the halves as the sweeping player?

 

[PNG Broncos fan88]

Lockyer says Milford's best is yet to come at 2nd receiver,...

That best-is-yet-to-come line from our greatest ever player is starting to annoy me now

 

[BroncsFan]

I'm excited to see what Isaako can do at fullback and I hope he kills it.

Watching him at the moment I get the sense that he's playing within himself out on the wing and he's little unsure of how to inject himself from out there so he just hangs out on his wing waiting for the ball to come to him or goes in for his obligatory hitup on get out sets.

Compare that to Rapana who looks a natural winger that is also able to inject himself in the middle of the field... or Mansour / Nofo who come in and try and create things with offloads, etc. rather than just taking a hitup for the sake of it.

Even for NZ if there was a hitup out to his edge with a quick play the ball you would be wanting your explosive guys to be pushing up around the ball on the next play to burst through, but he would kind of sit back and be happy to let someone come into dummy half to push it back to the middle of the field.

I just get the sense he is totally lost out there on the wing and I hope a move to fullback could translate into a more natural looking game from him.

I'm not sure of his ball playing abilities, but even on the wing he doesn't mind throwing a long pass to get it back to the middle of the field on kick returns so he has the skills (right to left passing) but whether he has the vision and confidence to execute is another thing.

To me he is an explosive runner so hopefully he's not over-coached to become a ball player and instead things are worked around getting him the ball to utilise his speed... similar to how Val was used by the sharks in 2018.

Seibs was able to get Johnston to execute sweeping plays for Souths (who I would consider to be a very poor ball player) so I think as long as he has the basics to pull them off whilst also setting up situations where he can utilise his running could make him more than useful at fullback and also add another dimension to our offense.

 

[rnabokov]

Im prepared to get pulled to pieces here but who says that he has to play as a second five-eight? Why cant he play fullback in a style that suits his skills.

Inglis was never the greatest ball player (he wasnt bad, just not great) but he was a successful fullback because his team's gameplan was designed on his skills (mainly using his running game). This is also the case with turbo.

Isaako is pretty agile, has good footwork and acceleration. I would have him following our forwards and/or hitting gaps. If we want to continue second man/sweeping plays, why dont we use our halves to play both sides of the ruck and have the halves as the sweeping player?

I am talking about positional play as much as ball skills. For mine, a good FB has good ball playing skills. It's part of the FB's arsenal these days. They don't have to be the "greatest" ball playing skills whatever that means, just that they can pass the ball outside and inside after positioning themselves in the line at the right time. It's about vision and reading the play, and working with the 6, 7 and 9.

That is what I want to see. Isaako hasn't shown any of that yet of course. However, in the back of my mind is his problems as a winger, reading the play in defence.

 

[Broncapz]

My only concern with Isaako is his handling. He's got the right physical attributes, and everything else can be coached.

 

[Jedhead]

If we are talking about potential weaknesses in JIs game I'd need to address his apparent lack of yards made when returning the ball. I did mention this during the season, so please forgive me if I sound as if I have an agenda.

I might be mistaken but it always seemed to me on many of his kick returns he was invariably grabbed - held-up - and pushed back several meters before he managed to get to ground. I recall on a few occasions this resulted in him being driven back in goal.

There is also that annoying 'skip' he begins with which fools no one and all it does is rob himself of another possible yard or two he would have gained if he just took off from the get go. I know this can all be coached out of him so I'm not too concerned until I see how he goes in 2020.

 

[mitch222]

Isaako at fullback really only works if we play to his strengths. The biggest strengths of Isaako are his running game and elusiveness. He wont be able to pick passes like Boyd and the short kicking game wont be as good. Now here in will lie the problem. For many years since really Lockyer was fullback, we have always relied on our fullback to be like another 5/8 in attack. Bennett run teams loved this in Lockyer, Hunt & Boyd because they were a massive link in the attack. Isaako I don't think can offer this so we need to change the attack around a lot more. We need our halves linking more in plays on both sides of the field and we need to find another ball player to compliment the halves (maybe a lock). Isaako should really try to model his fullback game on RTS to begin with straight running and looking for holes in attack. If he can develop a pattern for reading overlaps and a pass to go with it he can be an elite fullback. But if he nails down the fullback spot on round 1, we cant play like we have in attack for the last 15 years because it simply wont work with the skillset Isaako possesses currently at fullback.

 

[Marty Deutschmann]

Issako needs to play the Karmichael Hunt / RTS game of fullback.

 

[pagey]

Issako needs to play the Karmichael Hunt / RTS game of fullback.

I'd be happy if he played like Slater/tedesco, busy and on the ball. We don't need another 5/8 at the back, we have ball playing in the 7,6& 9 . Add to that TPJ and bird and we're good.