Danger Men On The Edge

[Vicious]

I think someone else has previously touched on this subject, but the lack of danger men on our edges is the biggest problem with this current Wests Tigers side.
Plenty of people seem to want to be quick to blame Benji for his errors, BUT he is constantly under pressure being the only one capable of coming up with the big plays and this is not helped by the fact that we play for long periods of each game with no danger men on our edges. Gareth Ellis & Adam Blair are both very good footballers, but not suited as modern day second rowers or edge players as they do not have the extra pace required to cause chaos to the opposing defenders each time they receive the football. We currently have three dangerous edge attackers in Liam Fulton, Ben Murdoch-Masila and Junior Moors and look like a good attacking side each time we have one or two of these three on the field playing as edge attackers, both Ellis and Blair need to be lock or props in the modern game.
Next season we get two extra edge attackers in Bodene Thompson and Eddy Pettybourne which can make Benji`s life so much easier if used in the right way.

 

[taco_tiger]

Simon Dwyer was building to a classic danger man.. tragically , along with Tuiaki, we've lost more than our fair share of players that could strike some fear …

 

[Vicious]

My point is that Adam Blair does not beat his opposing defender one on one often enough to be an edge attacker and neither did Gareth Ellis at this stage of his career. If a player is not capable of beating his opposing defender one on one then he should be playing as a tight forward which is either prop or lock the way teams play the game today.
Couple this with the fact that we have the least dangerous fullback in the competition and besides Chris Lawrence our centres the slowest and least dangerous in the competition and you can easily see why we solely rely on the Benji & Robbie magic show to come up with points.

 

[Eddie]

I agree with the original post. Outside of Benji and Robbie we lack the tools required to be an attacking threat all over the field.

The modern game of controlled attack is built on speed, power, aggression and size. Too many of our attacking options in the backrow are either undersized, too slow, workmanlike or just plain average. The good sides might have one tackling machine, workman like player however the other 2 will be try scoring and offloading threats. The main play for these good well structured football sides is to use that second man play and have a genuine powerhouse in the back row either running the decoy or taking the short ball and causing havoc.

Look at the likes of Tony Williams, Dave Taylor, Frank Pritchard, Jeremy Smith etc - Thats the modern day backrower. Attacking weapons that can offload or trample you. Junior Moors is the closest we have along with Murdoch. Both should we retained and worked into the structure much more.

Out wider in the centres and win we lack footwork, guile, power and speed. Look what Koribete did in just 6 games. 7 tries, numerous line breaks, quick play the balls. He turned half chances into tries. None of our other blokes in the back 5 can do that. Few errors as he is still learning the game but a heap more threat. I even look at the likes of Brad Tighe, Sandor Earl as the type who could add something to the Tigers. Someone with a bit of speed and footwork and great leaping ability. Utai and Ryan for all their good work are dead ends as far as attacking threats go.

We need to adapt to the modern game and how it is played to be any threat in the future. Blaming Benji is all well and good, and he wasn't great. However he did have 40 odd try assists and line break assists. If you put some size, speed and weaponry around him then the size will be better balanced.

 

[Vicious]

I agree with the original post. Outside of Benji and Robbie we lack the tools required to be an attacking threat all over the field.

The modern game of controlled attack is built on speed, power, aggression and size. Too many of our attacking options in the backrow are either undersized, too slow, workmanlike or just plain average. The good sides might have one tackling machine, workman like player however the other 2 will be try scoring and offloading threats. The main play for these good well structured football sides is to use that second man play and have a genuine powerhouse in the back row either running the decoy or taking the short ball and causing havoc.

Look at the likes of Tony Williams, Dave Taylor, Frank Pritchard, Jeremy Smith etc - Thats the modern day backrower. Attacking weapons that can offload or trample you. Junior Moors is the closest we have along with Murdoch. Both should we retained and worked into the structure much more.

Out wider in the centres and win we lack footwork, guile, power and speed. Look what Koribete did in just 6 games. 7 tries, numerous line breaks, quick play the balls. He turned half chances into tries. None of our other blokes in the back 5 can do that. Few errors as he is still learning the game but a heap more threat. I even look at the likes of Brad Tighe, Sandor Earl as the type who could add something to the Tigers. Someone with a bit of speed and footwork and great leaping ability. Utai and Ryan for all their good work are dead ends as far as attacking threats go.

We need to adapt to the modern game and how it is played to be any threat in the future. Blaming Benji is all well and good, and he wasn't great. However he did have 40 odd try assists and line break assists. If you put some size, speed and weaponry around him then the size will be better balanced.

Couldn`t have said it better myself Eddie. It`s very noticeable that Benji simplifies things and throws a simple short ball much more often when players like Murdoch-Masila & Moors are on the field and we look a much better attacking side for it. Nothing wrong with Liam Fulton as an edge attacker either as he might be light framed, but he`s not at all afraid to run the courage line. With Bodene Thompson & Eddy Pettybourne coming, we could have a good rotation of dangerous attacking edge back rowers, then we just need to work on getting some danger men out wide. I agree with Eddie that even someone like Brad Tighe who I believe is unwanted at the Panthers could be of some benefit to us and I don`t think Sandor Earl has signed on again with the Raiders as yet.

Although they are all contracted to us, why not tell the likes of Moltzen & Ayshford that they are not wanted in first grade, they would quickly look for other options and would get snapped up by English Super League clubs which would do us a massive favour.

 

[kh_canada]

When Sandor changed teams mid-season I was secretly hoping we could snatch him up.
We must be the only team with no attack in the centers and wing.
Before Koro made a debut, none of outside backs could leap in the air and catch a ball to make a try. It was purely diving on an odd ball or happen to crash over a couple players.
Koro has been a breath of fresh air, we can only hope we grab a couple more like him.
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_Posted using RoarFEED 2012_

 

[system]

I would have a wager that Sheens will play Pettybourne at prop

 

[Tiger_Watto]

This past season, I don't think we are actually using edge runners at all… Even though I think we have some good cattle to cause havoc out there, all our pigs seem to be playing tight.

I'd presume this is a direction Sheens is giving them???

 

[innsaneink]

We had ben teo

 

[alex]

BMM is growing into that role nicely. His runs close to the line are damaging, and he's scored numerous times this season doing just that.

See this example against Penrith:

http://www.nrl.com/smartReplay/tabid/10910/seasonID/10/roundID/437/matchId/2464/default.aspx?roundid=434&matchid=2443&videoquality=1&type=try.=2&time=1532

He only had eyes for one thing, and that was the try line. He was not going to stop until he got there.

Chris Lawrence was also a very strong, straight runner close to the line. See this try against the Warriors in Rd 2, 2011\. I haven't seen him run like this since then…

http://www.nrl.com/Video/2011SmartReplay/tabid/10910/Default.aspx?roundid=181&matchid=1198&videoquality=1&type=try.=2&time=2140