Wakefield Trinity • Hampshire v Williams
I think a lot of it goes back to the promotion and relegation thing - Wakefield last year for example were fighting for £75k just for finishing fifth. It makes it very difficult for coaches to look at the long term when picking their team and will almost always go for a seasoned player who will guarantee you a 7/10 performance, rather than a young player who might give you an 8 but also a 3....
With regard to Rocky his career is very much in his own hands. He's been offered a deal by Wakefield which he has initially rejected because "the numbers weren't right". Well, I'm afraid him or his agent are not really in a position to be that bold. He's had a very stuttering career up to press, and considering he's one of 4 pivots at Wakefield with no guarantees of being a first choice, I don't see where else a better offer will come from.
He has potential, but at this point I personally feel like he's miles away from fulfilling it - first and foremost he needs to nail down a regular spot at HB.
I appreciate I'm biased but when you're looking at internationals a few years down the line Trueman at 19 is likely to overtake him in the non too distant future if he doesn't nail that spot down. It's impossible to say who will be better but he's certainly getting the better opportunities and he's obviously getting the recognition having won young player of the year.
At the moment no SL HB really looks like making the international HB spot their own. Williams and Myler are awfully average, and whilst Gale excels at Cas, the polar difference between how cas play and how Bennett wants England to play means he's struggled to adapt his game. And as such, shown his game isn't the right fit for England. I think it's a little naive for some to say he simply goes missing for England - I can't imagine Bennett giving him a game plan of "play like you do for cas". He's just not the right fit. As such I wouldn't even consider Gale under Bennett.
The other issue is England at international level simply don't play enough games. It must be bloody tough to run a game from HB when as a squad you're only together for a few weeks a year for a handful of games, playing completely different systems to what you've played all year.
Granted other nations are the same, but given SOO in Australia, it's not so much of an alien concept to their players
Statistics: Posted by DAVE@CAS1990 — Fri Nov 16, 2018 2:20 pm — Replies 58 — Views 3470