Poor planning

[theGman]

Have to disagree there Roz. Taka provides the team's best second phase play which is going to be crucial next year with the lack of creativity we have in the halves. I agree that Leilua and Cherrington are both "potentially" better backrowers but lets face it Leilua is not being considered as a backrower by Smith anyway and will most likely spend most of the year on the wing if Moga comes on early in the season (not that i would agree with him on the wing again). And Cherrington is hardly a certainty to ever play first grade again, let alone be as effective an offloader as he was (very difficult for people overcoming serious knee injuries to take focus away from body position and knee orientation in order to focus on offloading the ball while being tackled). Guerra has an offload but only really uses it after a half break because his hit and spin positions him well. When he is stopped at first impact he never considers offloading (not saying that's always a bad thing). Ryles is gone and he gave us a lot of good 2nd phase. FPN should concentrate on his running because he's best used 3rd or 4th tackle getting us on the front foot for a backline movement next play. I would have Taka on the bench to start the season without any hesitation. I think people would be surprised to see how many times a line break or try was created off the back of his offloading and footwork at the line. He certainly does need to work on his fitness over the pre-season though. He never stops trying but does look pretty buggered out there half the time. Despite this I have not yet seen him make a poor read in defence or drop off an important tackle.

What impresses me most, and I've expressed this a few times on here, is his passion when he plays and the things he does that go unnoticed by many that make up the sort of player I want playing for the Roosters. He berates himself like no other player out there when he makes a mistake which is much better to see than all this high-fiving bullsh!t. And an example of one of the 1%ers that I've noticed was in the game against the Sharks. There was 10 seconds left and we were 5 points ahead. The ball was played out on the right side just before FPN scored, Taka was on the left side. From dummy half Friend went to the short side and as he passed Takairangi started sprinting from the other side of the field over to the right side about 10m behind the play just in case of an intercept or drop ball so there would be someone to defend beyond the front line (as Mini was up attacking). The ball got switched to FPN and he went across the field to the left and Taka sprinted back from behind the play to get back on the left side, even called for the ball mind you, and was the first one to FPN after he scored to celebrate. It might seem small and irrelevant at the end of the day but that's the guy I want in my team. A guy who puts in the extra effort with 10 secs left and no real chance of defeat just to make sure.

Sorry about such a long post just to make a point but I thought you of all people would understand.

Very, very good points Yak. Especially about Cherro. When Cherro gets back on the paddock Smith should instruct him to not worry
about the fancy stuff yet, just simple yards and good field positioning.