Our season is over and it's time to start giving a few younger players a run. Our biggest problem seems to be our running the ball out of our own half and I put that down to poor service from dummy half. It was quite noticeable last night that the moment Paix was off and Mozer was on that our forwards could run at full steam onto the ball. No rocket science there, Mozer passes from the ground and Paix feels some need to stand and pass causing our forwards to either have to check their run or receive the ball with the defence right on top of them.
I read in an interview that Reece played all his football in the halves till he was 17 and then moved to fullback. This explains his poor performance in catching bombs and his positional defensive lapses. I think next year Duffy should start at 7 and Walsh gets a whole off season to adjust to being a 6.
Haas going is certainly going to hurt our go forward but what we won't miss is his passive defence. When was the last time you saw the biggest guy on the field actually bend his back and put a hit on someone? Haas catches and stands, calling it a tackle isn't right. While on Haas, the guy has signed elsewhere so time to use him as what suits us. If we're short on forwards play him for 70-80 minutes if required. If that burns him out that's a Souths problem not ours.
My team for next year:
1 ?
2 Kaparani
3 Staggs
4 Gagai
5 Mariner
6 Walsh
7 Duffy
8 Semu/P Riki
9 Mozer
10 Willison
11 Piakura
12 J Riki
13 Carrigan
14 Walters
Goski and J Hunt need to be dropped back to Q Cup where they belong.