Wollo-Wollo-Wollo-Wayoo wrote:
I don't think anyone questions Grix when going forward although he has dropped off a bit this year. But on Sunday we also saw him brushed off by the diminutive Adam Quinlan and outpaced by prop Robbie Mulhearn.
Conversely, didn't he careen into someone in an earlier game this season (I forget which) and save a definite try with a near-suicidal 1 on 1 tackle?
I feel for FB's in this situation; a 1 on 1 with someone who is almost always running into you with momentum very much on their side, is a really difficult ask - if the first contact is good, it can come off and look spectacular, but if it doesn't, the FB is automatically criticised - without too much attention paid to how he ended up in that situation in the first place, which is usually attributable to poor defending by other people earlier in the play.
Funny old position is FB - a bit like the goalie in football; you're in a team game, but often acting alone - and taking the stick for a collective failure. It requires a certain mindset to even attempt to play there in my view - and one missed tackle or dropped bomb can have an effect on your confidence for the whole game. And that's before you even get into the modern interpretation of FB, which requires of you the usual receipt of kicks, organising the back line and being the last defender against an attacking move - but also now requires you to become a third hb in attacking situations.
Scott Grix is, in my view, one of the best all round FB's in SL - and I have huge respect for young Jowitt; for those saying he hasn't kicked on, I'd suggest that a) he will struggle to do so without adequate game time and b) he is learning one of the most technically and physically demanding roles in the modern game. In that regard, he's doing fine.