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May I just say, that this bloke is the reincarnation of Steve Menzies.
He has to be up there with the most mobile forwards going around. He doesn't have too much size, but has plenty of strength and pace, one mean fend, and a late movement just before he reaches the line that allows him to slip between defenders rather than try to force his way over them.
Add to that, the fact that he has a great football mind, can see a hole and hit it before the defense can blink an eye, and has an outstanding workrate in defense, where he always seems to be in the right place at the right time, and uses a technically sound technique.
Look at Menzies stats over the last 10 years of his career (when NRL stats were introduced):
221 games, 89 tries, 127 linebreaks, 57 try assists, 423 offloads, 2155 runs, 16638 metres, 4739 tackles
Average that out per season, and Menzies usually finished with approximately:
22 games, 9 tries, 13 linebreaks, 6 try assists, 42 offloads, 10 runs for 75 metres, 21 tackles
...per season, with almost militant consistency.
This is the sort of statistics I have come to expect from Aubusson. He will never be the sort of player who bashes and barges his way to 100+ metres a game consistently like a Fitzgibbon, Laffranchi, Hindmarsh, Simpson or Waterhouse. He is more in the Steve Menzies, or even Darren Smith style of player. A good amount of metres, not excessive workrate, but all his work is quality.
This kid is going to be our 13 for a long time to come IMO. Myles will shift back to prop when Ryles retires, and Aubusson will be our new and much improved answer to Ricketson. I don't know about rep honours, but he will be one of the most valuable clubmen we have if we hold onto him.
He is a shining light in a bit of a trainwreck of players at the moment.
He has to be up there with the most mobile forwards going around. He doesn't have too much size, but has plenty of strength and pace, one mean fend, and a late movement just before he reaches the line that allows him to slip between defenders rather than try to force his way over them.
Add to that, the fact that he has a great football mind, can see a hole and hit it before the defense can blink an eye, and has an outstanding workrate in defense, where he always seems to be in the right place at the right time, and uses a technically sound technique.
Look at Menzies stats over the last 10 years of his career (when NRL stats were introduced):
221 games, 89 tries, 127 linebreaks, 57 try assists, 423 offloads, 2155 runs, 16638 metres, 4739 tackles
Average that out per season, and Menzies usually finished with approximately:
22 games, 9 tries, 13 linebreaks, 6 try assists, 42 offloads, 10 runs for 75 metres, 21 tackles
...per season, with almost militant consistency.
This is the sort of statistics I have come to expect from Aubusson. He will never be the sort of player who bashes and barges his way to 100+ metres a game consistently like a Fitzgibbon, Laffranchi, Hindmarsh, Simpson or Waterhouse. He is more in the Steve Menzies, or even Darren Smith style of player. A good amount of metres, not excessive workrate, but all his work is quality.
This kid is going to be our 13 for a long time to come IMO. Myles will shift back to prop when Ryles retires, and Aubusson will be our new and much improved answer to Ricketson. I don't know about rep honours, but he will be one of the most valuable clubmen we have if we hold onto him.
He is a shining light in a bit of a trainwreck of players at the moment.
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