: Sun Mar 29, 2009 7:30 pm
Mugwump wrote:
And all the coaching in the world couldn't have turned Steve Prescott into Paul Wellens.
He just wasn't big enough.
Again this is the British mentality coming in. If playing in Australia, Prescott would have been lauded for his offensive skills.
In Britain we slag him off because he cant stop Neil Cowie from five yards out.
The aussies dont expect their fullbacks to do that. They expect the players in the main defensive line from preventing such a situation happening.
The British fullback mentality is one that comes from Soccer culture where the Goalkeeper is a key component in a sides success. The ability to stop shots and organise defence is at the core skill of a goalkeeprs job. Its no coincidence in soccer that the teams with the best keepers generally win trophys.
We therefore translate those requirements in RL so that we look at the fullback as the last line of defence who has to make the key tackles and organise the defensive line.
There is also the fact that English teams are often poorly coached so when breaks are made they are often unsupported by their colleagues.
In Australia without its soccer culture they have learned that the fullback is the primary strike weapon. They appreciate the requirement for a layered approach to defence, but know that due to the quality of sides, that its more important for the primary defensive line to be strong, than the fullback be able to make a last ditch tackle 100% of the time.
Its rare in Australia for unsupported breaks to be made. If a player breaks the defensive line its try time, as a player will know that he has players in support and merely has to draw the fullback and hand the ball off.
Even if the fullback manages to effect the tackle from a break, the offensive team will have broken the defensive structure to such an extent that its almost inevitable in the next play that a try will be scored.
