OPINION Do you think we should move Backrowers to Wing before moving our Centres?

[Mustafur]

I ask this because Centre seems to be the most vulnerable position defensively on the edge and they are arguably our best 1 to 1 defenders in our team, when any other position covers it, there is a noticeable lack of defence there straight away and it seems to dictate everything about our defensive game.

With a full strength team we are usually the best cover defence team in the game throwing wingers on jams and having our centre hold back for the cover throwing the attacking winger to the line for a turn around, that wingers defensive job is in most cases you would think is doable by a backrower our fastest forwards if needed, in my opinion.

Them playing centre and moving our centres to wing I would argue is making our team worse defensively ten fold, we need our Centres to stay where they are.

If we can have Oates score over 20 tries in a season I think a backrower can play wing, heck Piakura and Riki are probably faster than Oates on a sprint.

 

[Mr Fourex]

I'm faster than Corey over 50m.......

 

[Wolfie]

I'm faster than Corey over 50m.......

I could probably arrange that race

 

[Old Mate]

I was thinking the same thing during the game and seeing the shemozzle our side was. Only thing I’d do is have the centres drop back for kick returns though.

 

[Foordy]

you're on to something here.

Centre is the hardest position on the field to defend in and backrowers tend to struggle defending there there

 

[Big Del]

I ask this because Centre seems to be the most vulnerable position defensively on the edge and they are arguably our best 1 to 1 defenders in our team, when any other position covers it, there is a noticeable lack of defence there straight away and it seems to dictate everything about our defensive game.

With a full strength team we are usually the best cover defence team in the game throwing wingers on jams and having our centre hold back for the cover throwing the attacking winger to the line for a turn around, that wingers defensive job is in most cases you would think is doable by a backrower our fastest forwards if needed, in my opinion.

Them playing centre and moving our centres to wing I would argue is making our team worse defensively ten fold, we need our Centres to stay where they are.

If we can have Oates score over 20 tries in a season I think a backrower can play wing, heck Piakura and Riki are probably faster than Oates on a sprint.

I think the 2nd rower could be even more isolated and vulnerable .
At least at centre he has team mates inside and out .

It`s decision making and mobility .
That would be exposed
eg turn and chase a grunber . Jam in or stay out . A good #1 or #7 will find them out IMO .

 

[Galah]

I could probably arrange that race

+1 for attendance

 

[Mr Fourex]

I could probably arrange that race

+1 for attendance

......I should have thought this through.

 

[theshed]

Personally I would just choose to not have injuries in the first place. Not sure why so many teams go that route, seems obvious that no injuries would be the best strategy

 

[Mr Fourex]

 

[Mustafur]

Personally I would just choose to not have injuries in the first place. Not sure why so many teams go that route, seems obvious that no injuries would be the best strategy

over powered strategy.

 

[Mustafur]

I think the 2nd rower could be even more isolated and vulnerable .
At least at centre he has team mates inside and out .

It`s decision making and mobility .
That would be exposed
eg turn and chase a grunber . Jam in or stay out . A good #1 or #7 will find them out IMO .

Centre does have the players around them but defensively it's very specialised, the back rower is usually 2 in from them having the half in between so they are actually closer to the middle than centre in defence.

The main issue though would be the fact our backrowers are big when it comes to backrowers which makes it hard, Riki and Piakura have good speed in a straight line but the agility with the bigger body hurts them alot defensively at centre(Piakura has it in attack but stepping and getting your centre of gravity right for tackles are two completely different things).

Of course learning the holding back on the later tackles is a skill they need to know to play wing efficiently but I feel that is easier than learning Arguably the hardest defensive job in the game.

The other alternative is just moving the Half to Centre in the defensive line which I have seen plenty this year by other teams, but while I think Mam could Handle that, Madden and Reyno is a tough ask, Rogers I don't have enough data, but Sailor would struggle too.

The biggest thing they would have to handle though is tough catches, but considering we have big backrowers they have the height in their favour for it.

 

[LittleDavey]

Our wingers also jam in, leaving our centres to trail back in from the inside behind to cover their outside. Putting a slower second-rower in this position just doesn't work, so it really messes up our defensive strategy.

 

[Broncosarethebest]

Our wingers also jam in, leaving our centres to trail back in from the inside behind to cover their outside. Putting a slower second-rower in this position just doesn't work, so it really messes up our defensive strategy.

I have liked that this year, shuts down the spread pretty quickly. It is an achilles heal when our backs get injured though.

 

[Mustafur]

Our wingers also jam in, leaving our centres to trail back in from the inside behind to cover their outside. Putting a slower second-rower in this position just doesn't work, so it really messes up our defensive strategy.

Slower is subjective, Riki and Piakura are faster than Oates(assumption but from everything I have seen suggests it to be the case), but learning the jam and handling the highball from kick returns would be the question there.

Staggs might struggle in that not being used to wing as well, where as Cobbo understands the position as one of the best wingers in the game previously.

I think it's something we can manage if we give them training there, which shouldn't be absurd given it's happened 3 times already where it could be applicable in the first 10 rounds.

I would feel more comfortable if our Backrowers can handle the wing role rather than moving our centres tbh, given we have fast backrowers but they are a bit too big for centre defensively, it wouldn't be an issue if they were closer in size to Alex glenn was, who could play both comfortably.