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The Clubhouse Bar
Tri- Nations Talent - New Zealand
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<blockquote data-quote="Darwin" data-source="post: 425697" data-attributes="member: 24910"><p>Interesting post. A few points: </p><p></p><p> Tom Marshall is a promising young player, but he is nowhere near in the class of Israel Dagg at this stage (or any number of NZ fullbacks). He is a great ball runner, but his option taking is poor, his error rate high, and his defense also very poor. There is no way he is a better defender than Dagg (who is generally a pretty solid defensive player). Incidentally I wouldn't have picked Dagg in the initial Tri-nations squad either - instead I would have gone for Cory Jane / Ben Smith. </p><p></p><p> </p><p></p><p>Though Fruean does have a great combination of size and speed he is far from a solid defender... he is a complete liability on defense. He frequently gets caught out of position on defense, and even when he is in position to make the tackle he often fails to complete the tackle. He also has a habit of fading in and out of games - he will do something wonderful then completely disappear for the next 15 minutes. If he wants to make the AB's (which he certainly has the potential to do) he still needs to make huge improvement in his defensive game and his work-rate. </p><p></p><p>Like you I would have been tempted to find room for Luke Braid (or Matt Todd, as I still think the need a specialist backup 7). Luke certainly isn't 6'4 though (despite what Wikipedia tells you...) - he is a actually quite short and stocky (the Blues / BOP websites list him at 1.85m / 1.84m - a touch over 6'). </p><p></p><p>Great to see you mention Zac Guildford!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Darwin, post: 425697, member: 24910"] Interesting post. A few points: Tom Marshall is a promising young player, but he is nowhere near in the class of Israel Dagg at this stage (or any number of NZ fullbacks). He is a great ball runner, but his option taking is poor, his error rate high, and his defense also very poor. There is no way he is a better defender than Dagg (who is generally a pretty solid defensive player). Incidentally I wouldn't have picked Dagg in the initial Tri-nations squad either - instead I would have gone for Cory Jane / Ben Smith. Though Fruean does have a great combination of size and speed he is far from a solid defender... he is a complete liability on defense. He frequently gets caught out of position on defense, and even when he is in position to make the tackle he often fails to complete the tackle. He also has a habit of fading in and out of games - he will do something wonderful then completely disappear for the next 15 minutes. If he wants to make the AB's (which he certainly has the potential to do) he still needs to make huge improvement in his defensive game and his work-rate. Like you I would have been tempted to find room for Luke Braid (or Matt Todd, as I still think the need a specialist backup 7). Luke certainly isn't 6'4 though (despite what Wikipedia tells you...) - he is a actually quite short and stocky (the Blues / BOP websites list him at 1.85m / 1.84m - a touch over 6'). Great to see you mention Zac Guildford! [/QUOTE]
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Tri- Nations Talent - New Zealand
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