HoldenV8
Journey Man
100% @Turbo . We've got another 10 games to play including this Monday against the Cows. Unless we do lose Tom to injury I would keep him in the centres where his running is potentially limited, if only to not over stress the ankle. And even then unless he physically can't, you know he's still going to run for close to 150 every game. At fullback he'd be doing close on 200 most weeks.
But I honestly believe that a fully fit Tommy will be a revelation at fullback for us next year. He has what it takes to be RTS like with his running numbers from the back and defensively he is learning quickly.
The advantage of having a fullback who can make as many metres as Tom does is understated really. For the past few years Snake has not made many metres running the ball back from kicks. Quite often he makes maybe 10-15 metres at a time and sometimes less than that. What that actually does is put pressure on the wingers to do more work so that the forwards have time to get back onside to take hit ups. And it means that the forwards have to run further to get back onside to then take runs. Do that often enough and pretty soon the bigger guys are running out of gas. You have a fullback who makes 20-30 metres or more on kick returns and the forwards aren't doing as much work to get back onside and can go for longer because they aren't running out of puff as quickly.
Snake can potentially finish the season on a high. He just needs to get his head right and play smarter. He may not have his running game any more but the skills are still there. The main on-field concern really is his now non-existent defensive game. Once considered the best defensive fullback in the NRL, he is statistically the worst defensive fullback in 2016. But it would also help if the line in front of him wasn't so brittle.
But I honestly believe that a fully fit Tommy will be a revelation at fullback for us next year. He has what it takes to be RTS like with his running numbers from the back and defensively he is learning quickly.
The advantage of having a fullback who can make as many metres as Tom does is understated really. For the past few years Snake has not made many metres running the ball back from kicks. Quite often he makes maybe 10-15 metres at a time and sometimes less than that. What that actually does is put pressure on the wingers to do more work so that the forwards have time to get back onside to take hit ups. And it means that the forwards have to run further to get back onside to then take runs. Do that often enough and pretty soon the bigger guys are running out of gas. You have a fullback who makes 20-30 metres or more on kick returns and the forwards aren't doing as much work to get back onside and can go for longer because they aren't running out of puff as quickly.
Snake can potentially finish the season on a high. He just needs to get his head right and play smarter. He may not have his running game any more but the skills are still there. The main on-field concern really is his now non-existent defensive game. Once considered the best defensive fullback in the NRL, he is statistically the worst defensive fullback in 2016. But it would also help if the line in front of him wasn't so brittle.
