HoldenV8
Journey Man
Manly lose more games when Jake in not on the park than when Tom isn't. Mind boggling that some people can't see our middle third open up so dramatically the second he goes off
We actually do see that. Often during games I've pointed out how soft our middle defence becomes when Jake isn't on the field. Even though he is the worst in the NRL for ruck infringements (6 agains), our middle defence is always better with him on the field than it is when he's not there.
His defence isn't in question. For almost a decade his tackle efficiency has been up around 96%. I seriously doubt any forward in the NRL can match that over a similar time period, especially considering the amount of minutes he plays each game.
Its what he offers in attack, or doesn't offer much of anymore, that is in question.