Wolfie
International Captain
- Jan 14, 2015
- 23,568
- 38,872
- Thread starter
- #18,595
I think Kobe and Tyson are both enjoying/suffering from the Turpin Effect. That's when your baseline of expectations have fallen so low, a player with no preceding hype might only need to perform at a reasonable level to spark enough energy to lift the team.
As the team gradually raises its bar, expectations rise with it. Fans no longer want someone who's not a potato, they want a star. We no longer want to avoid the wooden spoon and massive deficits. We want to make the top 4.
Is Kobe a top 4 lock? I'm not sure either. I agree with you on that.
As for lock, it's the one position in the team that doesn't have a clear job description. Some locks are just props. Pat Carrigan, for example, offers nothing more. Tackle. Hit it up. Try not to drop the ball. Rinse and repeat.
While others are like a five-eighth crossed with a brick shithouse. They become an extended part of the spine. Kobe falls into this latter type, which makes him vastly more exciting than Patty at the back. Regardless of how good Patty is in the extended prop role.
I agree that Kobe is still very much on trial. You know when you have a good lock because you hear his name shouted every other set. Players like Taumalolo, Gallen, Ray Price, Bradley Clyde, Sam Burgess. These guys made a massive impact every game. Maybe that's the job description.
I think we do have to define how we want to play and how our lock fits in with that. We dont need a ball playing lock if we dont play a style that suits one. My personal opinion is we should be playing with one, and Bennett for example clearly saw this shift back to a ball playing lock coming when he signed Bird to play there, its just he was made from sticks and couldnt stay fit. With what we have here now, i think Robati or Hetherington are the obvious choices at the moment for that 13 shirt.