In defence of Steve Michaels

[rod78]

here is the thing michaels doesnt create anything himself, the chances he gets are because the other teams defence is tight on the other side of the field crowding falou and hodges which is leaving space on the left, that why he gets so much ball and his stats are not showing the real picture. With all the space on his side, he does not make the right decisions or is incapable of capitalising on it which is the frustrating bit. Where if Hodges had that much space and time on the right we would be scoring 5 times the amount of tries on the right.

 

[Clintos]

IMO Steve Michaels has two things going for him in the eyes of Henjak;

1 - he is being rewarded for re-signing with the club when many other off contract stars decided to pursue other offers,
and 2 - he has that little bit more experience than some of the other backs at the club, and because of Henjak's reluctance to move Folau or Hodges to the left he plays an important role in the backline - regardless of whether he is performing.

I am a Steve Michaels fan, and I agree that he has made plenty of errors in attack, but in defence I think he has been as solid as anyone else running around at the moment. Unless Hodges or Folau get moved to the left I don't see who can replace him. If I had two young, rookie backs on one side and two young-ish, but much more experienced backs on the other I know which side I would be sending most of my attack - especially when you consider the difficulties Winterstein has been having under the high ball of late. I think Michaels is playing an important role in the team, and I am prepared to give him some more time to work up a better combination with Winterstein.

 

[Black Philip]

Of course Michaels has better stats, he has played 3 more games than Hodges this year. Not that you'd care about that.

[icon_lol1. I completely forgot about that fact to be honest [eusa_doh [icon_lol1. mjc = Pwnt [icon_razz1

Michaels isn't THAT bad, but his form has been average this year. Last year he was playing well but I don't think he will ever be anything more than an average player TBH.

 

[m1c]

Some people on here just have NFI

Talking about yourself again i see.

Wow, people disagree with you. Live with it.

Well those with more astute football brains than ourselves obviously agree with me..

don't you have another bandwagon to go jump on?

 

[ningnangnong]

Some people on here just have NFI

Talking about yourself again i see.

Wow, people disagree with you. Live with it.

Well those with more astute football brains than ourselves obviously agree with me..

don't you have another bandwagon to go jump on?

Haha, i hardly jumped on the bandwagon.

So what if Henjak is persisting with Michaels? That doesn't mean my opinion is wrong.

 

[Ari Gold]

Some people on here just have NFI

Talking about yourself again i see.

Wow, people disagree with you. Live with it.

Well those with more astute football brains than ourselves obviously agree with me..

don't you have another bandwagon to go jump on?

You are the worst type of idiot there is. The type that thinks that just because somebody 'expert' agrees with you, that you are by default, also right. On any number of issues you'll find 'experts' on either side of the fence. At some point they are all wrong, particularly seeing as half the coaches in the NRL loses each week and 15 of them fail to win a premiership in a given year.

If you think Michaels is fine then that's your right, but to claim that you're right just because "more astute brains obviously agree with you" is the most idiotic and pathetic arguement I've seen in a good while.

 

[ethos]

Ok, I think we should keep Michaels in the team but I'd switch him with Folau and run with..

1. Hunt
2. Winterstein
3. Folau
4. Hodges
5. Michaels

Michaels has proved to be a more than reliable finisher outside of Hodges in the past - reckon he's a better winger than centre personally. Given the fact that he's also coming of a knee reconstruction (I think?) I'm prepared to give him a bit of time.

And he has butchered a few opportunities but Winterstein has still been able to score 5 tries playing outside of him and he's managed to cross for 3 himself. So I don't think his attack is quite as bad as everyone seems to be making out.

 

[schmix]

I think Michaels is simply unlucky to be coming back from a knee reconstruction into a team that is generally in pretty good form, not to mention a backline stocked with star power. This forum always has a favourite to pick on and he's ended up that person by default. The whingers have to have something to talk about [icon_wink

He has probably been the worst performer in our backline/entire team, but I agree with others that he is not going as badly as some people seem to think. I wouldn't complain too loudly if he was replaced, but I can certainly understand why he is being given more time.

 

[rnabokov]

Ok, I think we should keep Michaels in the team but I'd switch him with Folau and run with..

1. Hunt
2. Winterstein
3. Folau
4. Hodges
5. Michaels

Michaels has proved to be a more than reliable finisher outside of Hodges in the past - reckon he's a better winger than centre personally. Given the fact that he's also coming of a knee reconstruction (I think?) I'm prepared to give him a bit of time.

And he has butchered a few opportunities but Winterstein has still been able to score 5 tries playing outside of him and he's managed to cross for 3 himself. So I don't think his attack is quite as bad as everyone seems to be making out.

I agree with this one now.

Having Folau and Hodges on opposite sides of the field would really make the opposition strung out as to where to send their defensive troops.

Apart from which, since Henjak appears to be directing play now almost exclusively towards Michaels/Winterstein, Folau seems to be wasted on the wing despite his symbolic value there.

 

[mjc]

Last week they directed lots of play down the right hand side, the Lockyer - Hodges - Hunt combo down the right was causing them all sorts.

 

[MIKEY]

I think Michaels is simply unlucky to be coming back from a knee reconstruction into a team that is generally in pretty good form, not to mention a backline stocked with star power. This forum always has a favourite to pick on and he's ended up that person by default. The whingers have to have something to talk about [icon_wink

He has probably been the worst performer in our backline/entire team, but I agree with others that he is not going as badly as some people seem to think. I wouldn't complain too loudly if he was replaced, but I can certainly understand why he is being given more time.

well said you!!! icon_thumbs_u

 

[rnabokov]

Last week they directed lots of play down the right hand side, the Lockyer - Hodges - Hunt combo down the right was causing them all sorts.

Maybe. But am I missing something here?

I seem to recall Folau scoring tries off kicks, running relatively few metres to the line off a nice final pass... But I can't remember Folau been given the ball, and beating a man one-on-one or breaking the (back)line and running away. Now that would be very nice.

The only running he seems to do is one-out on kick returns or from dummy half.

 

[Foordy]

in the courier mail today, they had an article saying how the Broncos backline was leading the stats in all key areas. they had the stats for all players individually and Michaels was leading the line break stat with 6 one more than both Folau and Hunt

 

[tallis12]

Stat's prove nothing.

He hasnt been playing the best football this season, but still deserves his spot in the team.

He will get better as the season gets into a real roll on, he is coming back from a knee reco people have to see that.

 

[rnabokov]

It's been said Soooo many times before about the place stats deserve in an overall analysis of a team's and players performance.

I place little value on stats. In isolation from the Big Picture. Teams that get truly flogged have similar stats as those that of teams that flog 'em.

And as someone posted above, for example - Locky may make only a few metres, tackles or off-loads, yet completely dominate a match, or simply make critical moves which turn a likely loss into a win.

Michaels I agree, needs a bit more time, but I still feel playing Folau at left centre, and Michaels on the wing outside Hodges is a backline worth trying.

Michaels can be a really excellent finisher.

As I posted before, imagine a team's shakes having to face Hodges on the right, and Izzy on the left, with Lockyer and Wallace in the middle.

 

[Clintos]

The thing is though that there are good arguments for keeping Hodges and Folau on the right. Teams are going to be stressing the defence on that side of the field, which could create opportunities and/or overlaps should we quickly spread it out to the left.

If anything, there is definitely an argument to suggest that breaking up that Hodges/Folau right hand side combination could weaken our attacking power overall.

 

[mjc]

We're 6-1 start to the season.

What we have now is working. Why change it? There is no need

 

[rnabokov]

So does tonight's result confirm the need for no change?

I dunno - sadly couldn't see the game, but on the logic above, our fearsome backline should have scored oodles of points.

What happened?