Lawrence

[maxxy86]

Oh come on. Lawrence has awful hands. There's simply no denying it. He does cop some poor balls from Brooks, but he drops way too many passes that the vast majority of second rowers would take 80-90% of the time. They may not bust the line when taking those balls, but they'd hold on to it and get dominated in the tackle.

I'd like to see Lawrence to the bench and Aloiai to start. Lawrence playing at full speed for 35 mins off the bench might see him cut out the mistakes from the game. He runs hard so could have a bit of impact. Not an 80 min player anymore that's for sure.

This I’d like to see him start off the bench but I’d give MCK a crack first over Aloiai.

 

[balmain boy]

Oh come on. Lawrence has awful hands. There's simply no denying it. He does cop some poor balls from Brooks, but he drops way too many passes that the vast majority of second rowers would take 80-90% of the time. They may not bust the line when taking those balls, but they'd hold on to it and get dominated in the tackle.

I'd like to see Lawrence to the bench and Aloiai to start. Lawrence playing at full speed for 35 mins off the bench might see him cut out the mistakes from the game. He runs hard so could have a bit of impact. Not an 80 min player anymore that's for sure.

This I’d like to see him start off the bench but I’d give MCK a crack first over Aloiai.

Fair call. I'd agree with that. MCK has outplayed Aloiai so far this year. He's made a great impact for us every time he's come on the field and deserves more minutes.

That run he made against the broncos close to their line, standing waiting for anyone to support him, for like 5-10 seconds and no one was there and eventually someone finished the tackle. That was atrocious team work. He sees the space, makes a half bust with his hands free. One player supports and we score under the posts. Game changing play but we missed out.

 

[maxxy86]

MCK has surprised me so far but a good offseason has kind of put some polish on this guy. It should be obvious that Lawrence’s spot is up for grabs, let’s hope IC sees it too.

 

[Russell]

Disagree - for mine, Lawrence has one spot, do what you like with the other one.

 

[jirskyr]

Oh come on. Lawrence has awful hands. There's simply no denying it. He does cop some poor balls from Brooks, but he drops way too many passes that the vast majority of second rowers would take 80-90% of the time. They may not bust the line when taking those balls, but they'd hold on to it and get dominated in the tackle.

No way to measure what you are saying, so it's just an opinion. Does he get better or worse passes than his peers? Does he catch or drop more or less passes than his peers?

Aloiai drops a lot of footy IMO but I don't see people calling him out for it. Why? Because he runs hard and I believe that flags him as a better footballer, despite way less minutes and less effective defence than Lawrence, with about half the footy smarts that Lawrence has.

That's fine, Lawrence is always going to polarise people and I personally believe it's because he used to be such an amazing athlete, people are still measuring him against what he used to be. People will deny it, they will say, "no it's about his current abilities vs other backrowers" but I honestly believe if he'd come to grade the type of player he is now, without that explosive power as a young wing/centre, people would look more kindly on his workmanship and dependability.

 

[Warble]

Overall …garbage player

For a guy that broke his body for the club, that is a garbage comment.

Well said.

 

[Tbone]

Lawrence has the most errors of any second rower in the comp this year. In fact, he has the most errors of any forward in the NRL too.

Brooksy must really have it in for him.

 

[Russell]

Lawrence has the most errors of any second rower in the comp this year. In fact, he has the most errors of any forward in the NRL too.

Brooksy must really have it in for him.

Have we got the numbers on this (like to see them if possible) - or is it just your feeling?

 

[tigerap]

I'm sure Lawrence know he has 'Burgess" hands and is working on it….he brings more to the table than he gives away....

 

[Tbone]

Lawrence has the most errors of any second rower in the comp this year. In fact, he has the most errors of any forward in the NRL too.

Brooksy must really have it in for him.

Have we got the numbers on this (like to see them if possible) - or is it just your feeling?

Unfortunately it's true. Hopefully he improves but his handling has never been good. It's just a small sample size so far. I happened to notice when I was looking earlier for Brooks's missed tackle stats (only 7 in 3 games so far - his commitment in defense has been impressive).

https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-premiership/stats/players?sortBy=errors

 

[yeti]

Lawrence has the most errors of any second rower in the comp this year. In fact, he has the most errors of any forward in the NRL too.

Brooksy must really have it in for him.

Have we got the numbers on this (like to see them if possible) - or is it just your feeling?

Unfortunately it's true. Hopefully he improves but his handling has never been good. It's just a small sample size so far. I happened to notice when I was looking earlier for Brooks's missed tackle stats (only 7 in 3 games so far - his commitment in defense has been impressive).

https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-premiership/stats/players?sortBy=errors

Having him defend in the middle has helped enormously. His problem was getting isolated out wide by big edge forwards.

 

[jirskyr]

Lawrence has the most errors of any second rower in the comp this year. In fact, he has the most errors of any forward in the NRL too.

Brooksy must really have it in for him.

Have we got the numbers on this (like to see them if possible) - or is it just your feeling?

Unfortunately it's true. Hopefully he improves but his handling has never been good. It's just a small sample size so far. I happened to notice when I was looking earlier for Brooks's missed tackle stats (only 7 in 3 games so far - his commitment in defense has been impressive).

https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-premiership/stats/players?sortBy=errors

Less errors than Tedesco and same # errors as Corey Thompson! How many pills has Thompson dropped taking a dirty hitup or running a dangerous line?

You are right 3 matches is a small sample site.

But as to his handling across his career, I'd just like someone to produce the stats for previous seasons. NRL stats has gone to hell in 2018 so that's useless now, but anyone please produce handling errors for the team from previous seasons. Happy to be proven that Lawrence is indeed terrible, and it's certainly not his strong suit, but perceptions and reality can vary so greatly in these situations.

I'm not some mad Lawrence defender; I wouldn't be upset if he was dropped. Just looking for a consistent approach when critiquing the players. We lost our first game in close circumstances and surprise surprise, only Lawrence seems to get his own thread because he put down a few passes.

 

[kh_canada]

I'm sure Lawrence know he has 'Burgess" hands and is working on it….he brings more to the table than he gives away....

Exactly. You can be certain that all the stats, individual and team, get brought up during training every week. Rowdy would be working on this aspect of the game, but it is easier said than done.