I agree. Flegler and Hetherington look like they want to intimidate and eventually will but they don't have the ability / experience to do it regularly just yet. Napa brings a bit of fire and I honestly don't really care if he is cheap and gets suspended, I want teams to fear us and in terms of fire, I think he could teach our forwards a lot. Capewell brings the dedication and discipline and will be our vice captain / in the leadership group. I like it and Napa would bring something different to what we have. He brings a bit of what Lodge did but on a FAR cheaper contract.
Again, I totally get where most people are coming from saying they don't want him, absolutely legitimate reasons, I have just always been a fan and I think he will pleasantly surprise quite a few people.
I totally appreciate where you're coming from, but sadly the role of an 'enforcer' is dead now in rugby league. Any player who sets out to play in a fiery, aggressive way is going to continue to be penalised, binned and suspended out of the game and be nothing more than a liability to his team. The NRL actively penalises and is on a crusade to stamp out aggression, roughness and physicality. It's more akin to something like basketball nowadays - where everything comes down to skill, fitness and execution and they've drained all of the 'war' and 'battle' and 'spirit' out of the game. It's an empty, soulless, sterile spectacle.
What used to be such integral traits of a rugby league player - fire, toughness, anger, aggressive - are now liabilities. You can fight? Great... but if you throw a punch then we play the game with 12 men. You can lay a huge legal hit? Fantastic... but its still likely to get binned 50% of the time simply for being 'too rough' or because the opposition player fell into your shoulder in an unavoidable manner and then you'll sit out for 3-4 weeks. That sort of passion and fire can lead to the occasional error, in the old days that was a fair trade-off... in the 6-again era, a single error can kickstart an avalanche which sees a 20 or 30 point rally which instantly puts the game out of reach.
We all have fond memories of games where a leader stepped up, took the bull by the horns and belted the opposition into submission... Thiaday vs JWH in 2015, Tallis vs Anyone, Tunza... but it's just not the same game anymore. It's not a game for the tough-as-nails, ultra-dedicated, hard-working, passionate player who loves his club and gives 110% on the field and flogs himself and plays on adrenaline and pure emotion and physically asserts himself - It's a game for 20 year old freak athletes who can run hard, find their front quickly, play the ball in record time and then back up for a support / decoy run then repeat over and over again like a well-drilled machine.
