Chris Lawrence

[sunshine_coast_tiger]

Why do we knock Lawrence so much. I rate him as in the best 5 centres in the NRL. He is a solid defender, puts his winger away, runs great lines and has pace. We score plenty of points on our left hand side because he is there, any winger would love to play outside him. Okay the bomb wasn't great but based our his past record who's doesn't think he can work and fix that part of his game.

Why turn him into a backrower we have tons of them. Good centres are very hard to find. Some one mentioned Beau Champion as a top centre; well I would take Lawrence every day of the week over him. If you think Lawrence has trouble in defence watch Irdis closely; he will have to be a backrower as his lateral movement is diabolical.

 

[TIGER]

The reason I say he's a level below rep standard is that rep level centers can **create for themselves**

When nothing is doing, Jennings / Inglis / Morris / Folau can do something individual…....get in at dummy half and sniff something out, step a few blokes and create....look at Jennings try last night.

Chris is a very solid player who can't really do those things. He's a good player, but he lacks the absolutel 'class' of the elite blokes.

Very happy to have him here though and he's a 10 year player no doubt.

He's just not going to be the Kangaroo level player his rookie season suggested he might become. No disgrace in that, he's still very good. Just not 'elite'.

Agree 100% he goes good when halves are putting him through holes because he's quick and strong and can bust a tackle but isn't all that agile on his feet and doesn't move laterally well also has trouble beating players on the outside and setting up his winger.

 

[Chadman_s_Ghost]

Physically, he's superior to anyone in the Tigers squad- big, fast etc.

But his reads in defence make me worry he might be a knucklehead. Give him to Folkes for one-on-one defensive coaching- when to come up, when to hang back, who to take on etc. Too often he rushes up with what looks like no plan in his head, often taking a bad angle, a poor read, and leaving his winger exposed.

I'm all for up & in defence, but do it smart.

His attack will always be a result of the guys inside him- if the halves can't create for him, he isn't a guy that creates for himself much. Would love to see Fulton play alongside him more- best ball playing forward at the Tigers.

 

[The_Tooth]

I mentioned his attitude towards defending bombs last week was worrying. Well it was made very evident on the weekend. His overall off the ball play needs a big adjustment. He's never there in support. Its always Lote backing up.
He looks to be stuck in a rut where he is becoming a proffesional robotic player and commits onlt to his specified role at centre.
He just needs to play footy more and not worry so much about his role in the team structure. Thats how i see it anyway.
Wether thats more Sheens doing then Chris's himself I'm not sure.

 

[jirskyr]

The reason I say he's a level below rep standard is that rep level centers can **create for themselves**

When nothing is doing, Jennings / Inglis / Morris / Folau can do something individual…....get in at dummy half and sniff something out, step a few blokes and create....look at Jennings try last night.

Chris is a very solid player who can't really do those things. He's a good player, but he lacks the absolutel 'class' of the elite blokes.

Very happy to have him here though and he's a 10 year player no doubt.

He's just not going to be the Kangaroo level player his rookie season suggested he might become. No disgrace in that, he's still very good. Just not 'elite'.

Agree 100% he goes good when halves are putting him through holes because he's quick and strong and can bust a tackle but isn't all that agile on his feet and doesn't move laterally well also has trouble beating players on the outside and setting up his winger.

That is rubbish. Look at how many tries TNT and Tuqiri have scored in the past 18 months and tell me again that he doesn't set up his winger. In fact I would argue Lawrence scored less last year because he was unselfish in setting up his winger. Compare to someone like Hodges or Cooper who never passes the ball.

I don't disagree that Inglis and Jennings are the best centres in the world, both can create something out of nothing. One through strength and creativity, the other through sheer pace. But Lawrence is as good as anyone in the next tier of centres. E.g. Josh Morris is a great finisher but doesn't create opportunities without good ball either. Folau is murderously dangerous 10m out from the line but does bugger all in midfield.

Lawrence is a different style of centre like you said - you can't expect him to be the evasive 1-1 Jennings type when he is built like that. He is a direct hole-runner, and the amount of times Benji goes looking for him proves that. In typical Benji style Lawry gets a fair amount of hospital passes and gets belted for his troubles, but he runs hard and straight. He's also still fast when he gets a little wind-up, we saw it clearly illustrated last year.

I think the talk of him becoming a backrower eventually is correct. Because he is a quality footballer he will play for 10 years, but his speed probably won't last that long.

He's made a few mistakes in the past weeks but that is only when you compare to his previous and consistent high standards. We also tend to remember the mistakes more when we are losing rather than winning.

Last thing I will say is his defence when first coming to grade was ordinary, but he worked hard and got it right. Maybe it has slipped a little but we know he is capable of a very high quality. And considering how often we've absorbed crap defenders like the old Benji, Head, now Lazzo - I think Lawrence's defence is low on our list of worries.

 

[TheSunTanSuperman]

The reason I say he's a level below rep standard is that rep level centers can **create for themselves**

When nothing is doing, Jennings / Inglis / Morris / Folau can do something individual…....get in at dummy half and sniff something out, step a few blokes and create....look at Jennings try last night.

Chris is a very solid player who can't really do those things. He's a good player, but he lacks the absolutel 'class' of the elite blokes.

Very happy to have him here though and he's a 10 year player no doubt.

He's just not going to be the Kangaroo level player his rookie season suggested he might become. No disgrace in that, he's still very good. Just not 'elite'.

Agree 100% he goes good when halves are putting him through holes because he's quick and strong and can bust a tackle but isn't all that agile on his feet and doesn't move laterally well also has trouble beating players on the outside and setting up his winger.

Trouble setting uo his winger? You have got to be kidding? Some of you people really have no idea what so ever, in fact, I think it is safe to say that you judge a players worth solely on the amount of tries next to his name.

Chris Lawrence is the best centre in the game. I say that with no pre-conceived bias at all. There is not one centre in the world going around who has the speed, power, creativity, defence and maturity that he does. You'll find lots of centres who have some of those attributes, but I'm hard pressed to find any centre other than Lawrence who has it all.

Go ask Lote Tuqiri and Taniela Tuiaki what they think of playing outside Lawrence.

 

[Centaur]

Physically, he's superior to anyone in the Tigers squad- big, fast etc.

But his reads in defence make me worry he might be a knucklehead. Give him to Folkes for one-on-one defensive coaching- when to come up, when to hang back, who to take on etc. Too often he rushes up with what looks like no plan in his head, often taking a bad angle, a poor read, and leaving his winger exposed.

I'm all for up & in defence, but do it smart.

His attack will always be a result of the guys inside him- if the halves can't create for him, he isn't a guy that creates for himself much. Would love to see Fulton play alongside him more- best ball playing forward at the Tigers.

I can tell you one thing for certain, Chris Lawrence is not a knucklehead. As a matter of fact, I dare say he would be one of the brightest at the Tigers, if not the whole NRL.

He has made a couple of costly errors this season, but as a whole, I still think his defence is very solid.

It is an interesting point made in regards to him not creating his own chances. He never really gives himself a chance. I can't remember the last time I saw Chris Lawrence supporting a break - if has always baffled me as he is supposed to be one of the quickest at the club. He should be one of the players ready to take a hit-up off the play ball post-break when the defence is struggling to get back - he can utilise his speed and power in these broken play situations. You only ever see Lawrence get the ball these days at the end of a backline movement or if he takes a run from dummy half (never from a quick play the ball mind you).

 

[Lukic]

I don't see the knock on his defence. He's very solid, obviously not a Cooper or Beau Scott but he's not going to be the reason for many linebreaks/tries. Couple this with the fact he defends outside Benji, and he's doing a fine job.

His attack has slowed down a bit recently though, he's as good as any when hitting the hole and putting his outside man away, but he's lacking in support play and with his size, I'd like him to do some more of the dirty work at the beginning of the sets rather than the usual suspects in Ryan and Fitzhenry running the ball up.