Re: Player Awards Today (9th) : Mon Sep 10, 2012 9:58 pm
Saddened! wrote:
Indeed. It's why players like Greg Inglis and Sam Tomkins, already established in other positions, were moved there. It's arguably now the key attacking position certainly, due to how unpredictable it is. If you know the opposition has a world class halfback, you can plan for that, you know where he'll be and you know what he'll be looking to do. You can't do that with a world class fullback as they could join the line anywhere, from pretty much any angle and from deep at speed. How a fullback returns the ball is pretty important as well. If he gets you on the front foot it can be worth 30-40m over 5 tackles. If he returns it and gets buried 2m after he picks it up, your second and third carries are pretty much dead in the water as there is no momentum.
It's certainly not the position you want to be carrying players in.
It's certainly not the position you want to be carrying players in.
Of your two exemplars (if you can two), Tomkins is very selective when he returns the ball. He may catch (or attempt to catch recently) kicks but often its been Charnley who returns it. Prior to Richards's injury, he would often cover kicks and return the ball himself. His defence frailties and poor positioning will continue to put his team under pressure. Thankfully for them, they have managed to batter teams in many other departments to counter his poor defence. All the other stuff you noted, about speed and angle of attack, joining the line, being difficult to mark and arguably being the key attacking position I agree....but not to the detriment of the defensive qualities of a full back. The internationals will show Tomkins is not a full back.
Haven't seen Inglis play more than a handful of times