@ said:
As his defence was wanting, I used to think maybe we should play Benji as a second fullback. Have 11 in the line, Benji as a loiterer right behind it, and the fullback behind him.
I have never coached football which hopefully explains why I don't see the probably obvious reasons that may make that a stupid idea.
But it's an idea Eels could use. I give my permission Parra for you to use my idea. :smiley:
We sort of used to do that, switch Benji to a wing-type role on kick defence; it's the reason why Benji was back defending a kick in the 2005 GF when he gave THAT flick pass to Pat Richards.
But what you are talking about, the old-school "sweeper" role that many locks or halfbacks performed in the early 80s, e.g. Turvey Mortimer, the game has developed past that now.
Couple of reasons that either allowed you to field 11 in the front line or allowed the sweeper to be effective against tiring/slow opposition:
1) Teams used to only retreat 5 m, which gave the defence more time to shut down the attack.
2) Balls used to be leather and they couldn't be bullet passed flat like they are now, esp when wet.
3) Average fitness was lower due to not all players being professionals, training techniques and equipment not as sophisticated, so the really fit and quick players had a large advantage. Also teams had lower interchange, so players really did tire as games progressed.
The game is just too fast now, teams are already heavily exploited with 12-player front lines, when teams sweep their fullbacks into the attack there is by definition an overlap every time. With 11-player front lines, I think there'd be carnage in terms of line breaks, and I don't think it's realistic any more to have a super fit and quick little fellow sweeping back and forward behind the line to make cover tackles, esp when so many line breaks are made out wide.
Who knows though the game might change again in 10 years.
