Like I said at the start of the discussion, Blair is a solid enough player. The problem is that he is being paid as one of top tier players (whatever the specific number is) and he isn't that. Further, there is nothing in his game that isn't replaceable by another player. For instance, I basically see Fulton and Blair as interchangeable (with Fulton perhaps being slightly better) despite the difference in salary between the two.
Blair is a solid defender, but he is not like Ellis who was able to single-handedly stop the momentum of opposition teams with a dominant tackle. In fact, Blair rarely has dominant tackles and is actually more likely to allow quick play the balls in which the markers aren't able to get set. Numerous tries last year were scored off the back of such tackling. He generally falls off to the side of tackles and doesn't have the strength to hold players off the ground. Ellis, as a contrast, was able to grab a player, stop them and put them to the ground whenever he was good and ready to do so. Blair's defense has been less of a problem this year, but he isn't a dominant defender and cannot reverse the momentum of a match.
In attack, Blair has good hands and is reasonably mobile, but he is not an impact runner and does not create much second phase play. Worse still, his play the balls are only of average speed, so he doesn't contribute to the momentum of the team. He simply doesn't have the size or aggression to be a threat. To his credit, he is not particularly error prone and he generally makes good decisions with the ball (even if he doesn't really create much opportunity).
Finally, he regularly concedes penalties for ill-disciplined play, which costs the side badly. This wouldn't be such a problem if he was intimidating opposition and causing turnovers and as a consequence occasionally concede the odd penalty. But, Blair doesn't do this and so his penalties are frustratingly unnecessary.
For these reasons he simply isn't an elite player. I would not be playing him for 80minutes (he isn't valuable enough on the field to keep him on) and I would love to get rid of him. There are a long list of better second rowers who have more impact including: Watmough, Stewart, Hoffman, Taylor, Thaiday, Bird, Mateo, Myles to name a few just off the top of my head.
Would any team accept him if we pay half his salary or something like that?
