Re: Back to Rugby, back to Rocky : Tue Dec 10, 2019 12:26 pm  

Fishermanscap wrote:

It would take a very brave coach to change a players position as completely as the and tbh I can’t see it. The only way it would happen is if both Woods were injured and Ryan wasn’t required elsewhere. Then if he did well then perhaps, who knows it’s very subjective.

There are natural progressions, winger to centre or back row to front row but not so much elsewhere.

I swear blind Jowitt is a 6 but as yet no obvious move in that direction. However with the return of the A teams there is a place to experiment, I really hope CC does.

I agree it would take a bold move by a coach and it would be a move that both player and coach would want to try tbh, that's why i was asking if he'd had any history of playing No.9 in his junior career.

It's just I've thought it before about Ryan and him really nailing down a place, I was also reading an article on the NRL site about the changing roles of Hookers over the pas few years and it again reinforced what I'd thought before, that his skill set really does fit in line what they were talking about.

Re: Back to Rugby, back to Rocky : Tue Dec 10, 2019 12:44 pm  

TheDreadnought wrote:

He played Hooker for his first game against Hull KR, in which he scored from dummy half. Didn't look to come natural though and it was off the bench.

Bloody hell that's some memory, I can't remember what I had for breakfast mate.

[PopTart]

Re: Back to Rugby, back to Rocky : Tue Dec 10, 2019 12:50 pm  

I think he'd be battered in defense. I've no doubt he'd do it but having to make those tackles will take something away from his other skills.

Also as his flaw is sometimes over playing or not being able to manage the game, it would hold him back in this role as that is a key skill.

Re: Back to Rugby, back to Rocky : Tue Dec 10, 2019 12:58 pm  

PopTart wrote:

I think he'd be battered in defense. I've no doubt he'd do it but having to make those tackles will take something away from his other skills.

Also as his flaw is sometimes over playing or not being able to manage the game, it would hold him back in this role as that is a key skill.

The defending side of things, particular near the middle f the park was my first thought when thinking of things against it, but Ryan's defense is pretty good and Wood does the business there. Anyway it's just a thought I'd had for a bit and also that NRL article made me think even more about it (wish I could find it) & just wondered what others thought.

Re: Back to Rugby, back to Rocky : Tue Dec 10, 2019 2:05 pm  

PopTart wrote:

I think he'd be battered in defense. I've no doubt he'd do it but having to make those tackles will take something away from his other skills.

Also as his flaw is sometimes over playing or not being able to manage the game, it would hold him back in this role as that is a key skill.

Agree entirely, in fact, that was they were the words I was looking for earlier, he 'overplays' definitely.

Re: Back to Rugby, back to Rocky : Tue Dec 10, 2019 2:15 pm  

Shifty Cat wrote:

Bloody hell that's some memory, I can't remember what I had for breakfast mate.

Re: Back to Rugby, back to Rocky : Tue Dec 10, 2019 2:23 pm  

bellycouldtackle wrote:

Starting 7 or 6 for me, he was our best player in 2019, he is the most naturally gifted player we have, he has that bit of class that wins games, creates something out of nothing. He has to start. Brough and Miller on the back of really poor seasons in 2019 to fight it out for the remaining half back spot.

Obviously I'm not going to agree with you. He wasn't our best player last year but he was consistent and very versatile.

Miller had an ok season apart from injuries, Brough had a bad spell. However to use the Beatles analogy 'Ryan isn't the best drummer in the world, he isn't even the best drummer in the band'.

If you take the rolls of 6 & 7 in their traditional sense, though I accept the lines have become blurred, a 7 is an all-action player who works quickly at either the PTB or the base of the scrum before making himself available as the move progresses. He has to make a near-instant decision often on pure instinct. In that role I don't think Ryan is far off, he needs a better kicking game but that comes with practice.

A 6 is a more composed position and if the team is playing well he becomes the link man, turning the SH's initial plays into something far wider. He has more time than the SH and needs to make good decisions. It took Miller the best part of a hundred games to play anything like that and Ryan is about as far off a 6 as Miller was when he started.

I don't think it helps to put unrealistic expectations on a player and it certainly doesn't help when people over hype, something that IMHO has dogged Ryan throughout his career.

Ryan is now a proven FB, a very competent winger and has shown glimpses of being a very good SH, the position I would like to see him end up in. He isn't a S/O at the moment IMHO but then three positions mastered is pretty damn good! No need to over-egg it is there.

Added to this Brough is coming to the end of his career there is no way around that, so to me, it makes far more sense than Ryan understudies Brough, whilst we leave the much younger Miller to get on with it.