Re: James Laithwaite : Thu Jul 19, 2018 10:12 am  

Bulliac wrote:

Ethan has 'good hands', I've always considered he would move to centre eventually. Hopefully not just yet though, I think the "trapeze artist" still has much more to give on the wing!

He was a centre in the academy before his call up to the first team. I've always thought from his performances in both positions though that wing is more his natural position with centre just being an option if the club is in need.

[Bulliac]

Re: James Laithwaite : Thu Jul 19, 2018 10:36 am  

HamsterChops wrote:

He was a centre in the academy before his call up to the first team. I've always thought from his performances in both positions though that wing is more his natural position with centre just being an option if the club is in need.

To be honest, I'm thinking more long term, as in when maybe the speed dips a little and the athleticism falls off a notch. I'm not certain just how long wingers are going to be doing the sort of stuff that Ethan is doing now and physically it is very risky; I'd suggest that age must catch up when the timber rolls on and that sort of, 'sky diving', must end at some point.

Re: James Laithwaite : Thu Jul 19, 2018 12:33 pm  

Bulliac wrote:

To be honest, I'm thinking more long term, as in when maybe the speed dips a little and the athleticism falls off a notch. I'm not certain just how long wingers are going to be doing the sort of stuff that Ethan is doing now and physically it is very risky; I'd suggest that age must catch up when the timber rolls on and that sort of, 'sky diving', must end at some point.

Yeah I see where you're coming from. Certainly a lot of wingers do end up moving in later years into the centres or even second row (For example I believe Danny Kirmond was a winger at Fev). On the other hand you get the likes of Ryan Hall who despite losing a bit of pace and being built like a forward, still performs very well on the flank.

[Bulliac]

Re: James Laithwaite : Thu Jul 19, 2018 1:46 pm  

HamsterChops wrote:

Yeah I see where you're coming from. Certainly a lot of wingers do end up moving in later years into the centres or even second row (For example I believe Danny Kirmond was a winger at Fev). On the other hand you get the likes of Ryan Hall who despite losing a bit of pace and being built like a forward, still performs very well on the flank.

Oh, it definitely cuts both ways, I guess, I mean we've had a few wingers over the years who weren't exactly 'delicate', like.....

Of course the game has changed too and many of the things we used to see all the time don't happen with the same regularity - like second rows 'moving up' to prop, for instance.