Boris wrote:I agree vis-a-vis McC and Tommy at 9. Riddell was always an odd choice for mine. He was avergae at best in the NRL. One week he was hot, for the next 6 weeks you would not even know he was playing. I'd bin him, and keep the rotation of Tommy and McC at 9.
As for tomkins at fullback i can see some thinking in this. Lockyer afterall is a fullback turned into stand off. Many of the top fullbacks are ball players. Kurt Gidley, Karmichael Hunt etc. It could work.
If you watch many of the NRL teams they really use their FB. on some teams the FB is their main source of attack. They link up superbly in attack as a deep lying second receiver and are used to create overlaps to out number out wide.
Just watch KM Hunt, Gidley Slater and Stewart.
All outstanding and create so many attacking options, Manly have really missed Stewart this season, and Slater was rated best player in the world and he's a FB.
How was this benefit Sam? for starts he won't be in the thick of it and under so much pressure to create every time he touched the ball. He could watch and observe more experienced halves from on the field with them and overtime revert back to being a running 6.
Remember, Brisbane did this with Lockyer and we did this with Shaun Edwards, and they turned out alright!