slammin sam

I think that was definitely the original intent but the only reason he persisted with the change was because McGuire and Hannant both suffered injuries.

I can't envision Gillett working in the middle working, at least not with our current style of play and roster. Persuade me Porthoz.
 
Gillett has actually been very impressive playing in the middle for QLD this year, just taking hit-ups with good footwork. I don't know if he has the workrate to do it 80 mins a game though.
 
He's looked likely without making too big an impact. Then you rewind the tape to last year where he'd spend stints playing in the middle and he was damn near hopeless at times.
 
Yeah, true, but he was just pretty hopeless all round last year. He has definitely been playing a lot better this year.
 
I still think he's had a fairly checkered 2013 although his form hasn't dipped off as badly as it did this time last year.

I thought his start to 2012 was pretty bloody good. It earned him a deserved 18th Man gig for the Kangaroos.
 
How'd the idea of Gillett in the middle get raised? Sure he can take a hit up but that'd be a waste of his talents. He's good at running at speed to holes and fending off smaller defenders. Thaiday and Glenn should sub for one another. That way the c or vice c is always on. And both have more impact when on. The only difference to Gillett s game when he's a sub is he roams a little more (could be good in support of parker?)
 
As Alec said, Gillett has actually been quite good in the middle in all the games he has played there.
He has a good work rate, good ball handling and footwork at the line, which can create good second phase plays with his offloads.
In defence, he generally hits hard and is actually quite solid when he isn't isolated against a fast player. He is also quick off the line and is usually splendid in rushing the kicker, which is something he would be able to do more often defending around the ruck.

You are however partially right BP. When it comes to our game plan, we do not take anywhere near enough advantage of our forwards qualities, and we need players in the backline to take advantage of it. Norman is not too bad, but his work ethic and speed still leaves a lot to be desired, Wallace is too slow and Prince has also lost his speed.

People talk about the Fish or Locke, but if we're going for an injury prone player, I'd much prefer Coote, who not only has an awesome instinct for being at the right place and right time, he has speed, good skills under the high ball both in defence and attack, and a very good kicking game to boot...

A coach with cojones, Coote and ideally a guy like Shaun Johnson at five-eight with a disciplined and solid guy like Wallace organising the team would make us contenders!
 
Porthoz said:
In defence, he generally hits hard and is actually quite solid when he isn't isolated against a fast player. He is also quick off the line and is usually splendid in rushing the kicker, which is something he would be able to do more often defending around the ruck.
Click to expand...

That's a good point. Those things aren't exactly great out wide - rushing in creates holes and he just can't seem to be able to move laterally in defence. There's less width to cover in the middle, and he can hit pretty hard...I think at least defensively it's his position.

In attack he has a good offload and a passing game. He also can hit holes strongly, but only seems to do it about 30-40% of the time. The rest is just getting the ball flat footed.

I guess I really have no idea where his best position is.
 
I wouldn't be totally against the move, but ideally I'd much rather a formation of Hannant, McGuire & Parker. Gillett can always shift into the middle and show what he's capable of but in my estimation it would require more work than *insert player here* for it to be succesful but you're an intelligent poster so you already knew that.

Coote isn't the same player anymore. If this was 2010 I'd absolutely 100% agree, I mean, I even argued Coote > Hoffman at one point but injuries and form have really affected his career.
 
I think the idea of Gillett spending a small amount of time in the middle is okay. Just in case we're a few minutes short with our forwards. Means Glenn and thaiday could get more than 40 mins a piece too. Is coote off contract? If he were behind our forward pack I think he could enteench himself as a premier fullback.
 
Well, I explained why I would have Gillett as our lock with Parker in the front row. In my opinion it would benefit the team by taking advantage of those guys qualities, as well as returning Thaiday to the fringe and keep Glenn on the left fringe, where he is a weapon (even if low on form of late).

Of course it would require an actual game plan to take advantage of our players qualities, but that is needed regardless of where each player is positioned.

As for Coote, he is still young and just needs to get right. Locky was written off as well after some gruelling injuries when he was older than Coote and look at him after that! (not that I am comparing the players themselves). Besides, he could serve as a good backup solution for an injury to the halves.

Finally, I am not convinced at all about Locke or Fisiahi. Although they do have blinding speed and good support play, they have no ball playing ability or kicking game to speak of, and I find that an absolute necessity in the modern game.
 
Porthoz said:
Although they do have blinding speed and good support play, they have no ball playing ability
Click to expand...

I find it's the opposite, Locke is really one of the better fullbacks at it. He gets injured a lot and probably can't get into the groove yet, but he was excellent at it before.
 
What's in a name is apparently far less important then about where they are told to play, and as others post, the qualities of the playmakers.

For mine Gillett and Thaiday are best on the edges and out wide. Glenn at lock. As long as Thaiday runs at the backs wide, as he was coached to do last night, and Gillett, well, I thought his aggression in defence was fantastic, as well as his actual tackling. He does not belong in and up the middle as his main role.

I reckon Locke has it all. It's whether it emerges and evolves that's the question, which also is a question of good coaching (and no injuries)
 
Porthoz said:
As Alec said, Gillett has actually been quite good in the middle in all the games he has played there.
He has a good work rate, good ball handling and footwork at the line, which can create good second phase plays with his offloads.
In defence, he generally hits hard and is actually quite solid when he isn't isolated against a fast player. He is also quick off the line and is usually splendid in rushing the kicker, which is something he would be able to do more often defending around the ruck.
Click to expand...

The other good thing about Gillett in the middle is that he rarely gets put on his back. He almost always lands on his front which means he can get a quicker play the ball. Which is just what you want from your middle players.

As great as Corey Parker is, because he's often looking to turn and offload, he does sometimes end up on his back. If he does get the offload away, that's fine, but otherwise it means a slower play the ball.
 
Gillett is best off the bench, but should play at least 60 minutes a game. James Graham at the Bulldogs is their premier prop forward and he doesn't start.

We do need another prop, but CP13 showed his ability I think on Wednesday night to complement a classic prop (Scott) and a 2RF/FRF (Myles).

The same should work at the Broncos with Hannant and Thaiday, but Myles loves/thrives in the hard yakka a bit more than Sammy. That's not to say Sammy is soft, but he's best using his footwork, ball skills and size wide of the ruck. Players like Myles just love simple roles hit up, get to knees and elbows and make as many tackles as possible.
 
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I wonder how we would go with Gillett and Parker patrolling the middle third of the field and being given the licence to off load. Of all our backrowers I think Gillett would be best suited to playing in the middle. His extra bit of pace and quick foot work could be lethal.
 
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