Arona

[Guest]

Carve him up again roz.

Is it pick on a Kiwi day there or something?
I don't see anyone getting carved up

[Yak]

I am a fan of Arona. While his involvement hasn't been highlight reel material he has done his job very well. He is the player that seems to take a lot of the 3rd and 4th tackle runs that get Pearce into a good position to kick. This would be for two reasons, one it is evident that he communicates a lot with the halves if you watch closely, he also orders players into position quite often (normally his fellow forwards) this shows me that he understands the purpose behind each set and therefore knows where to be for a run on the important tackles. Secondly, he has the fastest play the ball in the team by a country mile (often to the point where he could be penalised for not rising he does it so fast). This skill is as important as bending the line back on the tackle before a kick. He doesn't get as dominated as people make out. There is a difference between tackle dominance and penetrating the line or breaking tackles. He does not break tackles often but does have good leg drive after impact, this reflects in his good metres per run statistics. I will concede that due to his small stature and relatively low body mass when an opposing forward hits him in a good solid tackle his metres stop there whereas someone like Tasi with a greater mass bounce off and come again.

To me it is obvious that he is a ball playing forward. He distributes away from the ruck nicely and with more support to the line can be dangerous with his short passing at the line.

The funny thing is in the trials (which is what his place in the team to start the season was based on) he looked like giving more than the 1% plays that he does. He scored a try in the Dogs trial powering through from 15 out. Also broke a lot more tackles than he is now. I guess it goes to show that trial physicality is very different to that seen in the regular season.

[Guest]

Is it pick on a Kiwi day there or something?
I don't see anyone getting carved up

Thats everyday.

Now kiwi rooster is it better to have ball skills or skilled balls?

[Guest]

what yak said