marshman777 wrote:
I was looking at this yesterday and thinking which Half backs were world beaters at 22 in Super League. We are thinking that he should be in there now doing the Briers stuff, that very rarely happens at 22 yrs old. Most half backs dont rise to the top till 24/25. Sean Long, Danny Brough, Matty Smith, Lee Briers to name a few, the odd one like Bobby Goulding and Danny Maguire are the ones i can think off that were very good at a young age. So i personally dont think he is as good as he is going to get.
You are right, and Briers really kept improving right the way through, Briers at 28 was a far better player than Briers at 22 or 23, and at 30 or 31 he had even gone on another level from that.
GO'B will improve but I also think if he was going to be a player of the highest calibre we would have seen something. The very best (like Briers) had obvious match-winning talent when he was 19 in his first season with us, his game was full of flaws which GO'Bs isn't, but you could see he always had something to work with so it was a case of ironing those out.
For me GO'B has a better temperament and is a much calmer and more mature player on the field at 22 than Briers was at the same age, he doesn't get distracted by events going against him like Briers did, but he doesn't have the ability to break a team like Briers did. This isn't a criticism of GO'B because few players have what Briers does but it means I see him as playing a different role.
I think his career will go one of two ways, he can either be a third halfback for a top club competing for trophies, or the first choice halfback at a club at the lower end of the table. Being third halfback at a top club is like being back up quarterback in the NFL - the role calls for somebody that can understand how a team plays, and when the big gun isn't available, can come in and be reliable and just keep the team ticking over so the other players can do their thing. You don't want a back player that is going to be an obvious weak link and spoil the way the team plays. But if he wants to play every week then he could probably get a gig at Wakefield, Hull KR, Widnes or a club like this. What I don't think will happen is GO'B being first choice halfback at a club like Leeds, Saints or Wigan.