Re: 1895 Cup : Mon Mar 04, 2024 9:07 pm  

I have no issue with Croft and Pratt centres. I am happy to see any two of Pratt, Croft or Thornley line up at centre.

After seeing Griffin at centre I’m convinced he should only be an emergency option there and that he is pretty much a second row now and more suited to that. Vagana was okay at second row but he was better at prop.

I’m not a fan of playing players out of positions and would always rather see 1 player come in than swap 2 or 3 to accommodate a player.

Agree about Franco and Walmsley lacking the punch but we need to play to their strengths with ball in hand and create the space. That said they are still charging it in hard and that is 100% the right attitude.

Re: 1895 Cup : Tue Mar 05, 2024 2:10 am  

alegend wrote:

When we have injury in the centres we lose pace ,factor in Gale and Hood do not have a lot of pace to get through a gap and you can see why we were it and miss .Hope pace does not come and hit us again like last year Jowitt can not do every thing, on is own

Pace is something we don't lack but as with most teams if a few of your faster players get injured you have to go for the next best-placed alternative. In the centres, as one or two have mentioned I think we should go with Pratt and Croft and in the long run it'll do Croft some good to get some first-team action and both are quick enough imo

When Thornley and Doyle come back, which I believe is meant to be sooner rather than months away, that adds a much-needed dimension to our attack. Obviously, Thornley is a huge presence at centre and brings something the other options don't, which is his size and strength. He can break or bend the line most times, plus he's no slouch. I like Doyle, he's got some pace out of acting half-back and he loves to use it & he's always looking for a break, or to put a runner into space, a different kind of Hooker to Hood, who's got a decent accurate passing game from the Ptb and gets through a load of defensive work in the middle.

If we can set more plays up to put the ball into Walmsley's hands more often, he should score an absolute bucket load this season and Franco will do a decent job for us on the other side given half a chance until Jerry returns.