Can't remember against who, but I remember a young Tom Johnstone coming from nowhere to nail someone a few yards out at the Southern end of the ground.

Think it was against Wigan, Alex Walker was once again nowhere to be seen when they broke and Johnstone just appeared miraculously to stop the player.

The best one I remember is Lewis Murphy v Warrington at BV 3/4 years ago, Warrington winger flying down the touch line looks certain to score, Murphy dives from behind grabs the ankle and keeps hold, Warrington man goes down and loses the ball. Trinity win the game.

Kevin Locke vs Hull FC best 1 on 1 tackle I’ve seen.

Not quite the distance but a good call, they are rare.

Just watched the try saving tackle back, it was Jowitt who got stepped in the first place to start the break, what a way to make up for the error though.

Both the breaks stopped by Jowitt were from a missed tackle grab and a dropped pass on the break. I noticed this on game day. Regardless they were two good efforts.

But as always he got stepped because he had two to take

You got to give Max credit ,he said both breaks were is fault ,so he had to put it right when been given the man of the match reward

Full Back is the hardest position on the field defensively!

You are often exposed 1 v 1 with space either side of you for the attacking player to exploit

You are often caught covering across the field at full pace which leaves you vulnerable to being stepped back on the inside

You are often faced with a 2 v 1 putting you in a no win situation unless the ball carrier makes an error

You are often tasked with making an aggressive tackle on a bigger opponent right on your line with not 1 inch to spare behind you

These situations mainly arise due to someone in front of you has made an error, missed a tackle or the defensive line got stripped for numbers by a slick attack

Even then it’s too often seen as your fault if a try gets scored!

It can be a thankless task that mentally wears you down and erodes your confidence.

I tip my hat to those who play that position well

I agree with all that, but Max wasn’t at FB he was at S/O.

I know but Max often gets criticised for his defence at Full Back especially when in 1v1 situactions

does he? often??



I don't recall anyone with any credibility in the sport doing so. Perhaps you would be good enough to point out some examples... I would love to see the context in which they have been espoused.

A small few fans do get on his back when he misses the odd tackle which is in reality a very rare occurrence. Not sure why this minority come out of the woodwork when Max makes a rare mistake (as all players can).



Max has made many 1 v 1 saves over the years. Many more than the odd ones he misses.



IMO max is a very well rounded player and his defence is perfectly fine. Even top fullbacks makes few misses here and there.

They made their mind up on him some time back, and need to save face I think. He let's the odd soft tackle get through, but his good points outweigh the bad.

I never mentioned the ‘credibility’ of those criticising him

There’s examples going right back to Ryan Atkins just brushing him away many seasons ago but I wasn’t meaning it to be a criticism of Max rather a defence of all Full Backs who play the position well especially the defensive side of it. It’s a difficult position to get right

I wouldn't have thought the criticism was aimed at your remarks - probably more the OP?

E

Not sure what my credibility rating is, but I did mildly criticise his defence a few years back and rightly so imo. However I accepted he was young, and had time to improve and I did one think he has. He’s as good as any British FB currently playing in SL.



I don’t think his tackling will ever be his greatest asset but it’s now fit for purpose. Which means he can now excel at what he does best, game awareness and creativity and become a genuine playmaker, whether at FB or SO, we are lucky to have him.

I would add his superb goalkicking to his attributes has to be one of the best in the game!