Perhaps Parker is now a permanent bench player?
Broncos' team to play the raiders, friday 7.30pm at Suncorp Stadium:
1 Josh Hoffman
2 Gerard Beale
3 Jack Reed
4 Justin Hodges
5 Dale Copley
6 Corey Norman
7 Peter Wallace
8 Ben Hannant
9 Andrew McCullough
10 Petero Civoniceva
11 Alex Glenn
12 Sam Thaiday (c)
13 Matt Gillett
Interchange
14 Ben Hunt
15 Josh McGuire
16 Corey Parker
17 Ben Te’o
Coach Anthony Griffin
http://www.broncos.com.au/news-display/Teo-Named-To-Face-Raiders/50635
i wonder why Parker is still on the bench... he should start in place of Gillett IMO. I'm not sure Gillett is quite ready to start yet, his 2 worst games of the season came when he was in the starting side, it has been the same since his debut, he has been far better of the bench. (cue the defense of Gillett from rnabokov, arguing he should start in front of Parker)
Right on cue ... I still maintain Gillett should be in the starting 13, but not necessarily at Parker's expense.
As for Gillett's "2 worst games of the season came when he was in the starting side", v the Dragons, nearly every media commentator was talking up Gillett for Origin and Test, as well they should. He played a terrific game, despite some errors.
Given Parker, Glenn and Thaiday are going to be around for years, are you saying Gillett's place is permanently on the bench?
In any case, I suspect it is likely Parker will start and Gillett will be on the bench, in which case I will be most interested to see if we blow the Raiders off the park in the first 30 as we did the Dragons and Tigers - especially since the Raiders have a few injured players out. Again, I'm not saying that was because of Gillett, just that it was a ripper of a starting side who played so well together as a unit, until the bench rotation started.
I also hope Macca is not interchanged if he is playing well. He should stay on the field until or unless his game falls away. His defence up the middle is invaluable. When he was off, it seemed to me both the Dragons and the Tigers started making ground up the middle and scoring points.
And just to be even more controversial (or stupid as Beads will say) maybe Parker's game is more valuable up the middle as a prop rather than a back rower.
13+ win this Friday night IMO.
I also think that Gillett is better off starting from the bench as an impact player at the moment, just like Te'o, except Matt has probably more potential and talent.
Having said that, the idea of putting Parker in the props is not entirely wrong, although I would only envisage it after Civo retires and Parker no longer is an 80 minutes player, at which stage Gillett would slot into the lock position.
Glenn's work may not attract much praise or big stats, but as someone said before, he is always there when a tough hitup is needed, and is an excellent defender who hits hard every time. I see no reason to move him to the bench yet...