You can add Donaldson to that list. He works hard but has no impact with the ball and we have oodles of second rowers. We've made some mistakes with big name signings - Tetevano, Fusitu'a and Sezer are yet to do anything to justify big money, but they could come good. For years an equally big issue has been retaining these squad fillers.
The justification is always 'they won't get in the first 17' - the problem is, any injuries and they do. If Donaldson was playing 5 or 6 games a year then fine, but he's likely to play 20+. If Sutcliffe stays he'll probably do the same even if he's not notionally in the top 17. These fillers are a crutch for coaches that need to be kicked out. We could afford Ian Kirke in the days when he was the only one and we had a remarkably injury-free squad. Nowadays we seem to be missing 3 or 4 first 17 players every week at best, and these fillers are playing far too many games with no need (or ability) to get any better or pressure on performance.
We need to be much more ruthless and focus on getting the highest quality first 20 players combined with youth development. And then give kids a chance but be ruthless if they're not up to it - no more Sutcliffes hanging around because nobody has the guts to get rid.
