Sydney Roosters

Lineup for Saturday morning will apparenlty be;

1. Latrell Mitchell
2. Joe Burgess
3. Dale Copley
4. Shaun Kenny-Dowall
5. Daniel Tupou
6. Jayden Nikorima
7. Jackson Hastings
8. Sam Moa
9. Jake Friend
10. Dylan Napa
11. Mitchell Aubusson
12. Aiden Guerra
13. Sio Siua Taukeiaho

14. Kane Evans
15. Vincent Leuluai
16. Issac Liu
17. Ian Henderson

Mitchell Frei & Blake Ferguson with a broken finger will miss out.

 

Gotta say Round 1 was extremely disappointing.

The scoreline probably wasn't a fair indication of just how far off first-grade standard we were. You'd seriously find more cohesion in backline movements at Harrold Matts level. I get that you don't just go into a new season with a new fullback, 2 new centres, 2 new wingers, a new left edge 2nd rower & 2 new halves and just click straight away, they're literally all new combos but there wasn't even a sign of promise to cling hope to.

I think individuals showed promise and I thought all the debutants held their own so it's hard to be critical of any individuals. I think the team is extremely talented & I actually wouldn't swap anyone bar Ferrguson who needs to be moved to centre but I reckon there's a couple yers of development and training to come before we compete seriously again. And that is concerning because hopefully the club don't panic and abandon some of these youngers or Robbo.

 

Aubusson is the least of our worries and Taukeiaho is way too important to our middle third atm without JWH he's our strongest yardage carrier.

I saw enough from Hastings on Sunday to say he'll be excellent for us this year down the left-hand fringe when Pearce gets back and he's relieved of some organisational & game management duties. Having someone like Aubusson who's going to run honest overs and unders lines for you all day is one of the few strengths we have going for us at the moment in attack on the fringes. It gives Hastings some good structure to play off & a genuine attacking option runner in good ball zone every time.

I actually think Guerra is the under-performer since switching back from lock to the 2nd row last year. He gives our right-hand fringe absolutely no structure, can't pass and often crowds his ball player and it's even more evident now with a rookie half in Nikorima on that side.

 

The only season Aubusson has played a full year in the second row (2010). He made 17 linebreaks.

193 career games with 84 linebreaks @ 0.44 per game

Compare that to other fringe runners with similar game tallies currently in the game like;

Gavin Cooper - 211 career games with 55 linebreaks @ 0.26 per game
Alex Glenn - 169 career games with 47 linebreaks @ 0.28 per game
Luke Lewis - 259 career games with 121 linebreaks @ 0.47 per game
Wade Graham - 164 career games with 43 linebreaks @ 0.26 per game

He certainly isn't ineffectual as an attacking option runner on a fringe.

I don't think Aubusson could be a second rower in a lot of other teams because he just flat out doesn't contribute enough to yardage sets but we're probably one of the few who are fortunate enough to be able to carry someone like that.

 

Just for interests sake and to back up my prior point below are a collection of stats for the games started in the second row by players currently playing in the NRL.

Mitchell Aubusson is almost god-like in this category.



Note: I haven't included players with less than 24 games (a full season) and I haven't included players who used to play 2nd row but are now playing other roles for their team.

 

Jumps from 0.30 to 0.35 since he went back to the Cowboys in 2011.

 

Foxsports.

I assembled them into a table myself though.