Burbo had a 'blinder' against the Tigpies at Brooky last year and even received 3 Dally M points for the game.
The question is can he hold his spot on the bench ahead of the others, in terms of a need for a back or forward?
Burbo's statistics strunned me for 2022, and while most of his attack metres probably came from the Tigers game, his tackle breaks are right up there in 2022 and even more so in 2023. When you look at Jake and Turbo, he's not quite built the same, however, he has a bit of both, so he could really surprise in 2023, with having bulked up.
Weekes has to be in the 17 to cover the halves and probably fullback plus, I guess the coaches see him also a substitute 9, although he'd be way below Lawton in my opinion when playing at 9. He reminds me a bit of Ben Barber and Phil Blake.
Keppie is probably the standout reserve prop, although he does have silly errors in his game and always seemingly at the wrong time/spot. It's not many, however, more so when and where he makes them. He may be a sacrificial lamb if he doesn't get rid of the silly stuff.
Bullemor has shown enough so far this year that he will be a great impact player off the bench, now that Seibs has him playing in the middle. He has a low error rate, his miss tackle rate and his run metres is about equal to Keppie, however, his leg speed is better, and so he tends to break more tackles.
Lawton's stats indicate he has an inpressive low error rate and his metres are around 9m per carry, and he breaks the line regularly. He covers basically all the forward positions and missed just 1 tackle in all the games he played last year.
Toff 's passion is undeniable and yet for his size, he averages around 8m per run, however, rarely breaks the line, his tackle efficiency is okay, although he gives away more penalties than others, yes, even Jake.
Fifita is an enigma, as some of the stuff he did in the trials was so exciting, however, then he'd go missing for a while. He seems to have huge potential and it's probably why the Dragons are chasing him. The question is, where does he fit? He can play everything but hooker in the forwards, but who does he replace? In my opinion, he has to replace someone in the backrow as he's almost like a David Fifita with his energy, so that probably means Bullemor, and if Bullemor is leaving at the end of the season. so be it.
Tuitavake will be playing first grade by year's end, as he's a huge talent, once he is free of injury. I don't think it's a case of who he'll replace, it will just be injury to our other props and he will be a revelation.
Just my thoughts and feel free to disagree!
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