If you could sign anyone to the club who doesn't play in the halves, who would it be?

[Coxy]

Re: If you could sign anyone to the club who doesn't play in the halves, who would it

You're entitled to your opinion. I just wonder how you can rate Macca ahead of Robbie Farah, Matt Ballin, Michael Ennis or Isaac Luke?

 

[Kimlo]

Re: If you could sign anyone to the club who doesn't play in the halves, who would it

You're entitled to your opinion. I just wonder how you can rate Macca ahead of Robbie Farah, Matt Ballin, Michael Ennis or Isaac Luke?

Pretty much this.
Farah is on another level, Ballin is basically better than McCullough in every way, Ennis is an all round great player now (feel dirty praising Ennis) and Luke is really dangerous when he's in form. Cam Smith is obviously Cam Smith, no one comes close. That's 5 that are clearly ahead of him and arguably he's no better than Jake Friend, Srama, Kingston and the likes.

McCullough hasn't done anything, no premierships, no rep games, no captaincy he's just been good enough to always get selected with his best competition for hooker being a halfback.

Sure you can argue he has the potential to be one of the best in the game but actions speak and he hasn't performed well enough to suggest to me he's going to be one of the best in his position at this point in his career. That can change in one season though and he could become one of the top 3 but the same really goes for anyone in our squad.

 

[vertigo]

Re: If you could sign anyone to the club who doesn't play in the halves, who would it

He needs to bloody well start playing 80 minutes.

/brokenrecord

 

[Big Pete]

Re: If you could sign anyone to the club who doesn't play in the halves, who would it

Wouldn't be surprised to see Macca end up in the top 3 hookers in the game.

Defensively, he's arguably already in that group.

Also on 2012 form, he'd be above Ennis. Ennis hasn't been the same since 2010.

 

[Kimlo]

Re: If you could sign anyone to the club who doesn't play in the halves, who would it

Clarify what you mean by end up? By the time he finishes?

 

[Big Pete]

Re: If you could sign anyone to the club who doesn't play in the halves, who would it

Next couple of years.

As long as he puts his dummy and grubber away, he could be right up there next season.

 

[Kimlo]

Re: If you could sign anyone to the club who doesn't play in the halves, who would it

I hope you're right. We need him to be great to have a chance to be genuine contenders in future.

 

[subsbligh]

Re: If you could sign anyone to the club who doesn't play in the halves, who would it

Each of those dummy halfs ahead of McCullough exceed him in particular areas. He lacks a stand out attribute and is prone to dumb shit (like too many dummys, and getting the ball knocked out of his hands from dummy half).

McCullough lacks:
- Ennis' ball playing ability to big forwards at the line
- Farah's attacking creativity/ability to play as second halfback
- Isaac Luke's speed/dummy half running.

Off topic but the Blues would be better served with Farah over Ennis.

 

[Coxy]

Re: If you could sign anyone to the club who doesn't play in the halves, who would it

Each of those dummy halfs ahead of McCullough exceed him in particular areas. He lacks a stand out attribute and is prone to dumb **** (like too many dummys, and getting the ball knocked out of his hands from dummy half).

McCullough lacks:
- Ennis' ball playing ability to big forwards at the line
- Farah's attacking creativity/ability to play as second halfback
- Isaac Luke's speed/dummy half running.

Off topic but the Blues would be better served with Farah over Ennis.

And then you have Cam Smith who, while maybe doesn't have Luke's speed, does all those areas of the game better than anyone else I've ever seen. Macca will never be that good, and there's no shame in that at all.

 

[Alec]

Re: If you could sign anyone to the club who doesn't play in the halves, who would it

His passing speed off the ground is pretty slow too. It's not as noticeable when our forwards are dominating, but it's still there. His short range kicking is worse than anything I've ever seen, and he can still have the ball knocked out of his hands, showing us that he lacks ruck awareness. He has a long way to go to reach top 3, or even top 5 IMO.