Again, Heighington is all about quantity, not quality. You can't measure impact. Yes he makes metres but work out his metres per run, or more importantly, the amount of metres he makes once he hits the line. Yes, he makes plenty of tackles, but they don't measure how many of them sting or hurt.
I think it is perfectly acceptable and actually spot on that he would be a bench player next season. Hope he stays in this role but I don't consider him an 80 minute player, nor is he an elite player. Again, people need to look at our side without the Tiger glasses on: I feel alot of our players are very overrated by our fans.
We only have two quality forwards who consistently perform and have IMPACT in everything they do and they are Ellis and Galloway. Blair will make it three if he is signed. The rest of our forwards are either average first graders (Gibbs, Heighington, Fulton) or promising youngsters (Dwyer, Fifita, BMM, Woods, Groat etc.) who the club is obviously hoping will continually improve and take their game to the next level over the next few years.
he makes more than blair in every hit up category.
the only thing i rate blair higher is wrestling.
rhino has made a heap of yards after contact this year,and provided momentum purely from his own back.not from waiting for the perfect time to hit up after someone else work.
does more ealry hit ups and inside our 30.
what you fail to notice is the amount of hit ups he does against a compressed defense instead of bludging on the edges.
maybe you should be looking at the culture shock blair is going to get when he sees a pack that is not as consistent as the storm pack he is used to.
the crap kicking game that does not allow him rest from repeat sets and the extra work in defense from this and our lack of ball control.
rhino has had to work through this his whole career and continues to do a fine job.
he is far from just average
You are comparing the two on stats. Stats do not interest me, impact does. I maintain Heighington is a good, solid player but not a world beater. Again, I repeat that I am perfectly happy for him to stay but IMO he is not an 80 minute player and I think its perfectly acceptable that he would be deemed a bench player next season. To say it is a joke, well I don't get that. For years and years and years people have whinged that our forwards get dominated, then we we look to be moving on some players or changing their roles (i.e Rhino from starting back rower to bench replacement) people are up in arms. You can't have it both ways.
I have no doubt Heighington works hard and has always given us 110 per cent but he does not have the impact a starting second rower should have in 2011 and there is a reason he has not played rep football. He has little variety in his game, is pretty one dimensional, has no offload, and is not a very good hole runner. He has decent leg drive when he hits the line but he is easily dominated in the wrestle and he does not make anywhere near as many metres after contact as someone like Ellis does.
Interesting you mention Blair being better at wrestling - this is something we really struggle with, we are probably the worst in the comp at it and as much as people do not like it, that is a massive part of the game at the moment. This factor alone makes him an interesting and thoughtful inclusion.
