Once were Loiners wrote:
Not sure what you're saying there. The one thing everyone agrees on is that Olpherts was really poor last year. Smith will know that better than anybody. The only questions are whether there's a decent option elsewhere for Olpherts, and what happens if he stays. On a personal level I hope Olpherts can turn it around regardless, as I did with Hooley. The difference so far is that Hooley really only had one bad game, but Olpherts kept making mistakes all season.
Its not impossible for him to change that, as he clearly wasn't that bad at Cas, but unless he manages a complete reset in the off season he looks shot.
I'm convinced it is all psychological at this point. There is no way that a player has got to top-flite level rugby without the ability to catch a ball. He has got into his own head, and is now dropping the ball before it has left the other players hands.
The club needs to be putting him in front of a sports psychologist and then giving him some confidence building catching drills. Once he sorted the basic handling errors, he should be a reasonable cover player.
On another note, a coach friend of mine suggested that his errors look like those made by someone who habitually overuses grip spray. I've never used the stuff, but surely it would take a coach 5 minutes to check.
