The Tony Martin Question? : Sat Apr 11, 2009 11:39 am  

with jamie rooney close to return should TM revert back into the centres or do we just have JR for cameo rolls or to cover injury? .

bear in mind TMs age compared to JRs

i think King kear will soon have his toughest selection dilemma ever, the only thing stopping TM being the best player so far is Drew and for me Drew is man of steel material at the moment.

: Sat Apr 11, 2009 11:43 am  

Im afraid with the quality we have at 6,7,9 jamie rooney is and will always from this point be abit part player only covering injuries as his performances havent been up to this current standard at a long time.

For me you cant drop either atkins or gleeson both are scoring try's have good defence and are developing a good partnership with their s/r and wingers. Martin when playing at centre didnt overly impress me, however he seems to have a balancing affect on the other creative players and dosent need to have the best pair of hands with brough, drew obst etc around.

So keep martin at 6 his performances warrant him staying there so have martin and atkins, the futures bright .....

: Sat Apr 11, 2009 11:55 am  

Don't forget JR can also be a valuble cover for FB as well.
It's a long season and a strong squad.

: Sat Apr 11, 2009 11:58 am  

No back should be dropped or swapped if they are playing well. We found that out last year. So when Peterson returns he should do so when the form of players or injury makes it possible.

: Sat Apr 11, 2009 11:59 am  

The Trip wrote:

Don't forget JR can also be a valuble cover for FB as well.
It's a long season and a strong squad.

i did consider that but then i thought of blymire and grix

: Sat Apr 11, 2009 12:00 pm  

The Trip wrote:

Don't forget JR can also be a valuble cover for FB as well.
It's a long season and a strong squad.

I do take that point, but we have george, murphy, grix and peterson that are able full backs with alot more speed.

It appears to me that jamie's days are numbered however, I would like nothing more for him to prove me wrong. It just seems to me all our other playmakers can do more than the "drop off" pass. We dont need him as a kicker as we have brough, martin and drew for goal-kicking duties and brough, martin, drew, obst, grix for infield kicks.

Maybe I'm being harsh but thats how I see it.

: Sat Apr 11, 2009 12:09 pm  

mwildcats wrote:

I do take that point, but we have george, murphy, grix and peterson that are able full backs with alot more speed.

It appears to me that jamie's days are numbered however, I would like nothing more for him to prove me wrong. It just seems to me all our other playmakers can do more than the "drop off" pass. We dont need him as a kicker as we have brough, martin and drew for goal-kicking duties and brough, martin, drew, obst, grix for infield kicks.

Maybe I'm being harsh but thats how I see it.

Could not agree more, i cant see a place fro jr now, and hope he can get a nice earner somewhere.

: Sat Apr 11, 2009 12:23 pm  

We have had several years of promise from jamie. He is a decent player but his main two short commings for me are his defence and the fact that he is injury prone.

Think we already have better players in the squad and his money should be spent elsewhere to strengthen the team.

If there is a club out there who have a surplus of forwards and a shortage of backs a straight swap may be a good move for all parties.

: Sat Apr 11, 2009 2:09 pm  

Although Rooney has miles left in him, think it cant be justified to rest our current backs.

: Sat Apr 11, 2009 2:12 pm  

Jamie has never had so much quality competition for his No. 6 shirt and the eternal optimist in me would hope that the setting of the bar at this new level will inspire JR to show us that he can become the quality player that we all hoped he would turn-out to be