Daniel said:
Ok so the debate among manly fans here that needs clearing.
Beaver, would you call him a lock?
Would you prefer Glenn or Brett?
Would we have won last year with Boyd instead of Brett?
Is there a difference between lock and backrow?
From what I have seen from Manly lately the bloke with 13 on his back is the one doing clean up work - first back after the centre/wing hits it up from dummy half after fullback/winger first run after opposition kick.
L Williamson, Watmough, G stewart before we realised he could do so much more.
As numbers I think they are all interchangeable but generally you have a left and right edge back-rower then the bloke who defends more aggressively or with a better eye to what is about to unfold (as opposed to the one on one decision making) at thirteen.
Feliti Mateo is famously reported as being given the 13 jumper by Michael Hagan (rather than the 6 or interchange jumper he would traditionallyvhave received) because he thought he played better in that number.
So Beaver - second rower all the way - compare his style to an Owen Cunningham.
Sometimes there are three gifted attacking players in the same back row (like we currently have at full strength) eg. Gartner Menzies and Kosef and a coach will appease them by starting the 'worker' on the bench - but look for that player (Rodney L Williamson) to be started in most of the big games despite the number on their back.
To me Ash harrison/ Corey Parker are classic locks out of the Junior Pearce, Fatty Vautin, Bob Lindner, Brad Clyde, Brad MacKay, Billy Moore, Colin Vandervaught, Owen Cunningham mould - but this stems from a no longer applied 'centre a side' defence.
Jim Dymock, Glenn Stewart, Paul Langmack - and any of the countless other ball playing locks who grew too big to be five-eighth but were too skillful to waste in the grunt only role that lock used to entail.
It all depends on the make up of the team - a Steve Carter/Travis Burns type five-eighth lends itself to a Gavin Miller/Jim Dymock type lock or second row.
A maestro like Cliffy Lyons creates a freak attacking weapon like Beaver which allows a freak defensive weapon like Innes - so if this hasn't cleared things up - different strokes for different folks(clubs).
And Gift with a fully firing Boyd we win last year - only if Boyd is his biological brother. Stewarts don't stewart without being 'Stewarts'. We have all seen that.