Seems an ideal time to rest Ellis tbh. He's not been at his best over the last month but was great at start of year and as good as anyone in the WCC. He's gone from being a spelled prop to a big minutes forward and that transition wont just happen immediately for him.
I've seen them bomb a quarter final, bottle a semi final, finish as league leaders, but I've still, never, seen the Wire win the league Doom and gloom, doom and gloom
I’d keep Ellis in if he needs a rest during the game get Mago on. Mago looks to me to have enough to be a ball playing 13 but I don’t see us ever getting 80 mins from him. I’d have Walters on the bench, Nsemba was great last week but was blowing out his backside the last 20, he gets through a big shift for us in defence and attack. I think rotation at 2nd row will be massive for us Nsemba seems to have taken over from King doing the yardage carries in early set, would be great to have him do that for 40-50 then replace him with Walters, surely would strike fear into to opposition having to defend Nsemba and then Walters
I'm not sure Ellis has dropped off that much tbh, certainly not from a statistical viewpoint anyway. He's been steady in that regard throughout the season but when you see the level he can play at in the WCC you want it more often and I don't think we've seen it enough. I think that stands for many players though and it's been an issue of mine with our middle forwards in particular, both this season and in years gone by.
I look at Ellis, Byrne and even Havard to a degree (not much he could do about it in the last 12 months) and I see them put in some incredible performances but they're not consistent with it (they're never poor, they just have great games and then a run of decent performances). If they can find that high level more often, they can really kick on and in the case of the latter two, can play for England. They're all still quite inexperienced at first team level, so it's not a criticism, it's just an observation. If they look at guys like Walmsley in the past and their own team mate now in Luke Thompson, they kicked on from having some really good performances now and again, to banging them out week after week and dominating. That should be the aim for all 3 of the guys I mention.
Strong side but still can't help but think Liam Byrne stands out big time as the weak link. I'd feel happier playing any of Havard, Cooper or even Hill there.
Joined: Feb 01 2010 Posts: 3007 Location: Under New Springs bridge wit' rest of trolls
MadDogg wrote:Strong side but still can't help but think Liam Byrne stands out big time as the weak link. I'd feel happier playing any of Havard, Cooper or even Hill there.
Hopefully he can find the form he showed at the back end of last season, if he can't soon he can count himself very lucky to be in the 17
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