Equally though - watch Melbourne when Cronk play badly. Watch Canterbury when James Graham plays badly. Watch Manly when Cherry-Evans plays badly. Their teams' structures revolve around them for points, and they don't play badly very often, which is why they're high on the ladder. I don't think the fact that SBW is a second rower is really a problem when building a side around him. A couple of years ago I absolutely would have, but you can use a second rower as your main creative ball-player these days and absolutely get away with it as long as your halves do their niche jobs well and the rest of the team compliments them. Given he stands a lot at second and third receiver - optimal ball-playing positions - and gets the ball with space in front of him a lot, there's nothing wrong with it IMO. I don't think the Roosters are a genuine threat either, but it's not because their main source of points is a second rower. That's fine in 2013 IMO.
What would the Roosters do if Mini was injured? Aside from play much better, that is. RTS to fullback and Oldfield on the wing?
Lol at the commentators saying Mini was a quality player and would be an asset now that Hayne is injured, they all agreed aswell.
Im happy with Nielsen in the side, quality player has been a little quiet in attack of late. Still offers lots with his last pass etc but needs to run more.
Not really. He and SKD are still terrible in defence. If he isn't put at fullback, I'd drop both of them.
I've been like a dog with a bone with the "Mortimer is actually a fullback" thing since 2009 when people were rating him at Parra, but I really think it'd work great in this Roosters side. He'd be so much better at the support play on the right side that Mini runs for SBW, especially since he'd be able to catch his inside balls, and he'd provide another ball-playing option on the left for Maloney. Different roles for each side of the field but I think he'd handle them both fine. The only thing that he'd be weak in at fullback is kick returns. It's a big part of a first grade fullback's role to nullify the opposition kick chase with a strong return charge, but Tupou and especially RTS are really good there so Mortimer could just link up at the back. 1. Mortimer 2. RTS 3. Oldfield 4. Jennings 5. Tupou 6. Maloney 7. Pearce 8. JWH 9. Friend 10. Moa 11. SBW 12. Aubusson 13. Cordner 14. Seluini 15. Kennedy/FPN 16. O'Donnell/FPN 17. Guerra/FPN Make it happen Easts. That's a team I'd have some faith in.
I was actually going to type out another paragraph clarifying what I consider, and you apparently do not, to be a distinction between the Roosters, and Melbourne and Manly. Melbourne are still capable of winning games without Cronk or with him playing badly. So to Manly with Cherry-Evans. Truth be told I think Manly go worse when Lyon plays like shit but anyway. I really don't see the Roosters winning too many games with SBW flailing. It's retarding the halves for one thing.
Simply swapping Minichiello and RTS would make them a much stronger side. And yes, Oldfield should fucking walk into this side, fucking three-quarters they got now.
That SKD thing is the perfect example of our attack last night though. It was last tackle and everyone was lined up on the left side ready for a kick but Pearce decides to go ad lib and it costs us the game. Why not just play out a structured set, put in a kick and get a repeat set or hope Tupou pulls something off? Why do they have to make up a play on every tackle? Yeah RTS to fullback, Oldfield to wing and Moga to centre. That will be fucking gun.
There's no doubt the right hand side suffered as a result but I much prefer him in a roaming role. Some of his interchange of passes around the middle with Pearce & FPN were always threatening and I defintiely think his offloading game suits running down the left more than it does down the right and he basically plays like a 5/8 on the right which he still did last night. Going forward I definitely think it's the best role for him, the key is just finding 2 good fringe players (1 of whom can handle the defensive workload in the middle). I'm not convinced Guerra is the answer, would much rather Cordner in the role.
