SeaEagleRock8 said:
pjayz said:
if he was a little fitter
I'm sure he's fit.
I often look at NRL players and think wow that guy looks a bit chunky etc, but I assume their body shapes are specifically planned by the training staff.
With smaller players like Buhrer they would be trying to pack on as many kilos as possible. Gift has looked bulky at times, but he also needs those extra kilos to play his role.
Even a small player like A Reynolds looks a bit chunky around the midsection and I'm sure it's just to give him a bit more bulk so he can withstand the pounding.
There is a point of diminishing returns also in relation to protection and being able to do your job.
For years i wanted Foran to lose a little weight to improve his sharpness and the last year or so it has improved his game big time, he is starting to make breaks again and create half breaks through the line with his sharpness.
Foran has eased up on the defensive intensity playing smarter to preserve his body but is still more than effective at the slightly lower weight, a few times it does show falling off the odd tackle but there has been more positives than negatives.
Always felt Buhrer was a little soft body wise and in defence, does tend to fatigue quickly but i must admit last year and this year he has toughened up with improved levels of fitness.
To me Gift is a great ball player but the bulking up has removed any sharpness to his game combined with age. In defence he has periods of fatigue that are really noticeable which is targeted by other teams and Glenn starts to hand grab, he does rack up good tackle counts and playing the entire game he still puts in a massive effort.
Problem is most of the past 3-4 years we are getting an extra 5/8 with no sharpness and losing a backrower with some go forward which puts pressure on others to raise their go forward numbers.
We need more size and explosive strength up the middle---- to be honest it has been an amazing effort from the coaching staff to extract the levels of performance from the forwards we have had over the years but it is getting to the point now where no amount of coaching will fill the void.
This is the reason Gift is being let go not salary cap issues(well i'm sure no salary cap Gift would still be at Manly), players like Matai and Watmough still have explosive sharpness and will be retained at all costs.
Souths attack overly relies on sharp right to left plays,(very one dimensional) left to right plays are slow deep not creative and easily read this is why they are not GF material yet. Gift will help in this regard but they still need outside backs and their halves are average.
Even with those limitations Souths power game killed Manly early on in that Semi,(a sign to the future if we don't address our forward stocks) they just struggle to maintain the intensity and composure long enough. Souths attack is too one dimensional to take the load off the forwards in the go forward area, what i mean by this is not just in the red zone but going through the hands with a variation of structured plays on the edges to gain softer go forward like what Manly has pioneered and perfected which others are following.