What Role Should Adam Blair Play In The Team?

[Big Pete]

Considered one of Wayne Bennett's key signings, New Zealand international Adam Blair has come under fire for his work ethic which includes a grand total of 6 runs for 41m total. (source: NRL Stats.com)

Does Adam Blair have a spot in the team or should he be replaced?

 

[Super Freak]

From what I've seen, he is passing the ball before the line. He is also strong defensively and he is adding more aggression. Isn't that what people wanted from our forwards?

He could take a few more hit ups, but he was never going to be the Josh McGuire type of prop.

Considering our lack of options, he should stay.

 

[broncos4life]

Of course he does. He is playing the role asked of him by bringing aggression to the middle and Passing the ball before the line which is what pretty much this entire forum wanted for the last few years. He obviously isn't a traditional prop and his best position is the backrow, but it seems pretty obvious there is plan for his placing there.

All this doesn't matter because all this has been said already in the other thread and it will just continue to be shoot down by individuals with agendas and this belief that football is a game of stats

 

[Unbreakable]

He has a spot in the team, we haven't got any better props at the moment, Wallace, Ofahengaue, Molo all have potential.. but they aren't starting first grade props for the time being.

I agree that his offensive workload has been a lot less than we require from him, his work on defence has been great, and he's not giving away any penalties or making any errors, all of which are massive pluses in my book. He's also passing the ball a lot of before the line to try and create some space for our playmakers to make something happen, which doesn't show up in the stats.

All in all I don't think he's been bad, but yeah, we are going to need some more metres and hit-ups from him eventually.

 

[Ari Gold]

Ideally I think he should probably be a lock. His defence up the middle has been quite good but his work in attack just isn't what you can justify from a supposedly marquee signing. Of course, with Parker around, the move to lock isn't going to happen.

As for his attacking role, passing at the line is good, but with our spine it's hard for it to matter. McCullough's service speed is still sub-optimal and Milford and Hunt are still gelling. Kahu offers nothing as a spine player in attack either so even if Blair was able to create the space we desire I doubt we'd be good enough to take advantage before it disappears.

The problem as I see it is we're still short of a go forward prop. There's nothing wrong with having someone in the Blair role, but the balance is awful.
-- Gillett and Glenn are edge runners and should not be used up the middle.
-- Parker is a volume kind of player but his value comes from offloads rather than his ability to bend the line.
-- McGuire is obviously excellent but he can't be the only guy we have running up the middle trying to make 100m.
-- Sometimes wingers can fill this void, but with Maranta instead of Vidot, that's a solution to nothing.

Still seems a bit out of balance to me. Almost like if you play Blair you should be playing Vidot too.

 

[Rally Towel]

Yes he does, though I think we're right to expect more of him.

I agree that his efforts in defence and ball distribution (not playing) are desirable qualities. Thought his involvement in the Wigan and Souths games was good, less so against Cronulla.

Statistics don't always tell the full story but he definitely has to run the ball more. Predominately passing makes him predictable. Alternating his passing game with damaging runs puts defence in two minds. Far more likely to yield dividends.

 

[Porthoz]

Let's not exaggerate this passing at the line thing... he carried the ball a whole 6 times. But yeah, apparently that is also a stat, so it doesn't count.

He does have a place in the team however, but not as a prop. We've been severely lacking in the go forward department, especially without Vidot in the team. Passing at the line in attacking position in set plays is fine, but we need grunt out of our half, and we're putting that load on McGuire, Parker and our edge runners.

 

[Anonymous person]

We wanted ball playing props, not terrible lazy second rowers parading as props shirking their workload and just passing instead of doing the hard yards and helping the team by doing their job.

Blair is not a prop, he doesn't do any more tackles than any other prop, he doesn't have some sort of super defense, and passing before the line isn't more useful to the team than actually making some metres.

Those with an agenda are just trying to talk up everything he is doing and trying to redefine the role of a prop while trying to tell us thats what we wanted all long just because a certain coach makes the decisions. We wanted a scott/fifita/gallen/graham/burgess, not a second rower who was the poster boy for bad signings for 3 years who is one of the laziest players in the game. We dropped 2 props, dropped our best metre gainer, and replaced them with a nuffy winger who's best trait is that he doesn't drop every bomb but screws everything up that isn't handed to him on a silver platter (and even then still does most of the time) and a shitty second rower. Is it any wonder we haven't been able to make any ground on the field?

 

[Cult]

Let's replace him with Thaiday.

 

[Anonymous person]

Thaiday is at least a better prop than Blair, and that's saying something to how bad Blair is as a prop.

 

[Foordy]

Let's replace him with Thaiday.

Even when Thaiday was starting prop he did better than 6 touches (1 hitup) for the match.

If it wasn't acceptable for Thaiday, why is it acceptable for Blair.

As i said in another thread... Try and find anothe starting prop that had 6 touches, only 1 hit up for the match. Even the ball playing props like Graham do more.

 

[Cult]

Adam Blair is probably the greatest Broncos prop ever. He does way better than anyone on here could possibly see, every single week.

Is this what you guys think people have been saying about Adam Blair on here? Everyone agrees. He's not doing enough. ****.

 

[Foordy]

You know what, if he was still at the Tigers and putting in similar performances, we would all be laughing at them for continuing to select him.

 

[Unbreakable]

Does anyone else find it amusing that it's the same bunch of people who are overly criticizing every single player that Bennett has signed or moved position.. give it a rest rofl, we get it, you guys don't like Bennett and never will, I kinda wish you guys would all pull a Bucking Beads and go support the Titans rather than persist with your constant negativity and defeatist shit every week on here.

(Move this to the Bennett thread if you want, he gets criticized in every thread anyway, so it's kind of irrelevant where it ends up)

 

[Socnorb]

I think his role should be to Smack Beau Scott.

 

[ningnangnong]

You know what, if he was still at the Tigers and putting in similar performances, we would all be laughing at them for continuing to select him.

He's played two games - one decent, one not so decent.

What is this continuing to select him garbage?

 

[Battler]

He's going to go on to play forty or so test matches for New Zealand (including a World Cup win, as well as multiple four nations wins), and he was a big part of a grand final winning side (note: no mention of the word premiership), so he has to be doing something right. He didn't take enough hit ups against the Sharks, but was very good against Souths, a game where we started to get dominated up the middle when he and McQuire came off. We need to sign an old experienced head in the vein of Shillington or Mason (someone like JWH would be preferable, but we all know that Wayne won't spend over the top money for a prop) to bend the line off the bench while Offa and Molo get some experience in the lower grades, but I have no problem with our starting props at the moment.

 

[Anonymous person]

He's going to go on to play forty or so test matches for New Zealand (including a World Cup win, as well as multiple four nations wins), and he was a big part of a grand final winning side (note: no mention of the word premiership), so he has to be doing something right. .

He did do something right - he signed up to be coached by Bellamy. He has then done 2 further things right - fleeced 2 teams out of hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.