I think our pack of forwards is a bit predictable. We've got a lot of hard work and graft but not much in the way of a powerful runner or intelligent ball player. Faz is by far the best we have. Even on a bad day he's making 30-40 tackles with barely any missed and over 100 metres in a game.Fan4Fifty wrote: ↑Wed Aug 12, 2020 5:27 pm Just going back to the topic, for me the most difficult aspect of the Wakey performance, particularly in the second half, was the succession of one-man drives even at the end of sets when we were within 30 metres of their line. So reminiscent of the pre-lockdown Salford game. I want to be positive but we don't seem to have a Plan-B and a pack with Smithies, Havard, Byrne still doesn't have the physical presence to dominate bigger and more mature forwards yet. Especially when our bigger, more mature forwards, Faz and maybe Bullock (for a time) excepted on Sunday are not really cutting it. And despite some nice touches, surely we should be using Hastings better than as a drop-off pass giver to Faz.
What we don't have is back row forward in the mould of Hock, Hoffman or Tomkins. A big presence who can hit gaps and stretch defences but also chuck out an offload. I'm pretty sure the idea was for Greenwood to be that player and when he first arrived he was. Unfortunately it hasn't worked out. Thankfully for next year we're bringing back Bateman, who might not have had the size of the 3 above but definitely troubled the defence in much the same way. For this season though, and indeed last, we don't quite have that threat with Isa. He's not really a smart offloader or strong runner. He's a solid 7/10 player most games but when he gets the ball I don't think any defender is expecting anything other than a hard run at them. I'm not sure we'd get anything more from Smithies in that role as he's another grafter. I just think that in particular makes our attack less threatening.
Then when you look at our props, the one player who should be the biggest handful, Burgess, is nothing of the sort right now. Bullock is a hard runner. Havard a quality player but only 19. Then we've got a lot of players whose strength is mainly their defence - Partington, Flower, Clark, Clubb. Byrne offers more in attack but is also very much head down and drive, make as many carries as he can.
I doubt many teams could match our forwards in terms of their commitment to the defensive side of the game. I just think we lack that consistent threat that will keep defenders occupied down the middle and open up space, or a player with a good offload that can hold the defenders in the tackle for just a little bit longer. If Burgess was up to speed he could easily be that sort of player. Greenwood in the form when he first arrived would also make a massive difference, while Bullock at his potential could be a real threat. If those 3 players were playing as well as they could do then not many teams would fancy their chances against us. Ultimately that's not quite happened as intended.
