Carlos Alberto wrote:
If we're keeping Wello, and playing Wello then it pretty much confirms to me that Pryce won't be here next season, as this leaves Lomax, Gaskell and Hohaia to compete for the halfback roles.
I think you might have forgotten what Simmons said in the press when Hohaia was first recruited, which was just after Eastmond made his decision to leave. He said that Hohaia was recruited to be our first choice no.7 and that every club needs four halfbacks, to cover injuries. Also, at that time, it had been decided that Wheeler would play at centre. That was the context in which Hohaia was appointed. At that time nobody knew how well or otherwise Lomaskell would do and, let's face it, while they have both done extremely well, they have had a lot of support from the senior players. When Wello was fit, and people on here were saying he was having a good season, Wello himself said that he had been asked by his coach to act as third halfback, to help out the young halfbacks but also in recognition of the role now played by fullbacks.
All that people are whinging about on here is something that we have always known about Wello, and I'm sure he knows about himself: he doesn't have Billy Slater's pace. But he has enough pace to be on the shoulder of our players in all the attacking moves, as proven by his try assists and his tries. His kick returns are slow, made slower by the lack of strong wingers such as Gardner (who also isn't fast, but we have missed his go forward on kick returns). However, Wello has 'beaten a man' on his kick returns when he has used his halfback sidestep. If he can develop that, then that may negate his well known and longstanding (like lifelong) lack of pace.
Paul Wellens should be rewarded for his club loyalty. That is the right thing to do IMO. Personally, I continue to be unsure of his on-field suitability as captain because he gets all irate when he (or others) makes a mistake. But he has done all that is asked of him over the years, has been a superb performer for us, continues to be (when fit) the best defensive fullback in the league with the ability to support attacking play to good effect. Most of all, though, he can read a game superbly and has bucketloads of experience in a squad which I think everyone can agree is relatively young and inexperienced.
I can fully understand why the club continues with Wello and I don't see why having four halfbacks (assuming Wheeler is to play at centre) is a problem. The person who will be difficult to fit in will be Meli. Even though he is a bonus in attack at centre, he is still indifferent in defence - some of his missed tackles have been atrocious. He is the player we shouldn't have re-signed but this season I am glad we did because Wheeler has missed so much of the season with injury.
And cute as well.
