tigertot wrote:
I have been miffed on a few occasions this season with the obsession with wingers diving as high as they can to avoid the defender while putting the ball down an inch from the dead ball line. This avoids getting knees in the back which was always the risk of the traditional slide over the try line. Minkin had 2 tries chalked off in one game when he was bundled into touch following a spectacular dive. The one exception to this has been Charnley who is almost unstoppable when he slides in from 5 yards. It looks like Lineham has learned from him.
It's a good point and I thought something similar. Lineham was doing the fancy dives 18 months or two years ago with mixed effect. And why would it succeed? He is a heavily-built winger. What he has learned is that if he gets nice and low early, his physique is going to get him over the line and it is going to take a hell of a defensive effort to get under him or knock him off course.
Good to see a player learning how to use their own attributes; not just following the trend. Hicks was the best finisher I have seen in a Wire shirt because he knew exactly how to use his strengths and mitigate his weaknesses.