- Mar 5, 2008
- 9,586
- 8,889
Quite simple really ... He is playing out of position with us.
The ball he got at the Raiders was generally from:
Offloads - he was able to sniff around the ruck waiting for an offload, then he could use his speed and footwork against a fractured defensive line... you can't do that as much from 5/8.
Receiving the ball deeper - by standing at fullback, so he has more time and space to do things.
Supporting line breaks - we haven't made many line breaks for him to support, but if we did, he would be better able to support them from fullback, where he can follow the play rather than trying to create for others.
Teams have been trying to figure out how to nullify Milford, turns out that we did it for them
I agree with you. My problem with Milford is not that he won't make a good 5/8 ... in another 1... 3...5... 7 games or seasons.... He probably will make a very good 5/8 providing the coaching staff set up decent attacking structures and work on combinations which last night just wasn't there.
it's because Milford can for mine offer so much more from the back for the reasons you say. At least Kahu showed a lot more at the back last night which made it easier for the team to survive a woeful Sharks.
I shudder at the prospect of playing the Roosters and other top teams with the form - defence excepted - that we showed last night.
But this has been done to death hasn't it. Milford is 5/8 and we just have to wait till his selection there bears fruit. At the same time, There's a lot more which has to happen - like a decent attack and in many ways, I see very little difference in attack to the last few seasons. In fact, I think our attack is worse in some ways. The only excuse is a new roster and a new coach but again, the attacking patterns and lack of structure for mine doesn't bode well.
It's as if we are leaving attack up to individual skills rather than a plan