Bullseye wrote:
When we signed Welham it did make me have doubts that Neilson was coming back. As has been said he was decent defensively but he offered surprisingly little in attack.
Do we need another centre if we have Welham, Purtell, Blythe, Baile and Ethan Ryan, Mendeika and Uaisele as back up?
Think baille and blythe are more 2nd rowers these days. Neither impressed at Centre when they did play there last year. Mendieka was terrible defensively in centres and is rumoured to have a long term injury. Uaisele has said he prefers Centre but not sure if hes played there for us, maybe moved there during a match due to injury?.
Nielsen didnt impress in offense but not sure how much service he actually had. IIRC gaskell was missing every game he played apart from million pound game. Where nielsen did make an impact was in defense. our defense down that side was a revolving door all season down that side and improved very noticeably when he arrived.
Biggest problem we need to address this year across the team in our poor defense. We've shown in odd games that we're capable of defending well but then in other games we look like we've never played together and defend as individuals rather than as a team. Improving that single aspect of our game will make a big impact IMO.