LeonardCohen
Bencher
Just my two cents worth but I am firmly of the opinion that backs only perform as well as their forwards allow. There seems to be this notion that we are holding our own in the middle but being exposed on the edges. I disagree. We are being badly beaten in the middle, both with and without the ball. We are struggling to create any momentum around the ruck due to Croker's service and a lacklustre effort from a pack that lacks leg speed. It's no surprise that Bully has been the most impressive performer in the middle thus far, because he is the only middle with any speed over the advantage line. Aloiai used to have some but his knees put an end to that. Paseka and Keppie are cumbersome. I'd never knock Jake's effort but he is slow over the ad line.
Then when the opposition have the ball, they are running through us, finding their front and playing the ball quickly, then we backpedal and there's no line speed as a result. Teams shift the ball off quick ruck speed and the edges are exposed. It will happen to any edge in the competition, when their forwards are not controlling the ruck. Sure, Harper and Parker struggle to compensate for the problems in the middle more-so than other centres, but targeting the backs is not going to be the difference between winning and losing. Fixing the big problems in the middle will bring us closer to winning than moving the likes of Parker and Harper on. Of course, I'd like more dynamic centres than Parker and Harper to potentially challenge for a premiership but they are not the reason we cannot compete at the moment.
Then when the opposition have the ball, they are running through us, finding their front and playing the ball quickly, then we backpedal and there's no line speed as a result. Teams shift the ball off quick ruck speed and the edges are exposed. It will happen to any edge in the competition, when their forwards are not controlling the ruck. Sure, Harper and Parker struggle to compensate for the problems in the middle more-so than other centres, but targeting the backs is not going to be the difference between winning and losing. Fixing the big problems in the middle will bring us closer to winning than moving the likes of Parker and Harper on. Of course, I'd like more dynamic centres than Parker and Harper to potentially challenge for a premiership but they are not the reason we cannot compete at the moment.