Re: Connor : Sun Aug 04, 2019 12:45 am  

I think Shaul had a great season in 2016 because we offloaded the ball more and he scored some good tries from his support play. As mentioned on another thread our pack this season has performed inconsistently and when we can fix that then Shaul will pick off more tries again. In the meantime I’m in favour of Connor at FB but it would take some time to see if we’d be any better off

I’m not convinced about Connor in the halves yet and the common denominator is getting our pack performing well again. When this is sorted we have a better platform for attacking options

Re: Connor : Sun Aug 04, 2019 1:55 am  

Connor is a number 6

Re: Connor : Sun Aug 04, 2019 6:21 am  

We need more creativity and Connor at FB will at least assist with this. Radford clearly wants Kelly at 6 so if he is fit he plays there. If Kelly absent then Connor to 6 and Shaul to FB. Centres remain as is with my preference for Tuimavave to be on the left.

[Mild Rover]

Re: Connor : Sun Aug 04, 2019 7:41 am  

Connor at full back could be quite a scary prospect for your opponents. The only thing I wonder about is that he’d be heavier than most (maybe all?) other SL fullbacks and given it is a position that requires tremendous stamina to cover all the ground they have to, he might better suited to centre or 6. Obviously, what best suits a player and what best suits a team can sometimes differ slightly, but I wonder if that is why it hasn’t been tried as an option. Also, Shaul would then be rather wasted.

Re: Connor : Sun Aug 04, 2019 7:45 am  

Freddie Miller. wrote:

We need more creativity and Connor at FB will at least assist with this. Radford clearly wants Kelly at 6 so if he is fit he plays there. If Kelly absent then Connor to 6 and Shaul to FB. Centres remain as is with my preference for Tuimavave to be on the left.

It’s interesting Freddie, it’s undeniable Jake is a massive talent, and many good people think he should replace Jamie, you included.
I don’t, his very best performance is at centre, he was fantastic at Cas with Albert and Ratu, and I doubt without this combination we wouldn’t have beaten Cas, stick with it.

A second point Jake looked good against Leeds at six, especially the first twenty minutes, but he missed two bad one on one tackles later in the game, is his defence up to playing full back regular. Jamie has his faults with his passing game, but has proved a solid defender at the back, and still is quicker than Jake going forward.

It’s only my opinion and means bugger all at the end of the day, but perhaps Jake Connor should take a leaf out of Richard Hornes book, an outstanding six, a fabulous centre, and a class fullback.

Great Britain international who played on the wing, and even hooker I remember, played anywhere, no grumbling.

Having said all that we need to get him on the field, it’s centre for me at present, moving Josh to the back row.

Re: Connor : Tue Aug 06, 2019 9:25 pm  

The Hull player that Connor reminds me of most is Steve Evans although not with quite such a relaxed attitude to the game. Could and would play anywhere in the backs and because of that got pushed around in to different positions when more specialist players were brought in to the squad.

Re: Connor : Tue Aug 06, 2019 9:46 pm  

Been saying it for a long time now, Connor should be our extra pivot at full back.
That said, our lack of pace means we also need the speed of Shaul in the team.

Re: Connor : Thu Aug 08, 2019 9:20 am  

This sounds like the Richard Horne / Steve Prescott debate of 2002-3.

Re: Connor : Fri Aug 09, 2019 4:51 am  

Please please - Connor is no full back. Simply not fast enough. Also FBs don't usually create tries - they finish.

Re: Connor : Fri Aug 09, 2019 10:03 am  

Tarquin Fuego wrote:

Please please - Connor is no full back. Simply not fast enough. Also FBs don't usually create tries - they finish.

I fully agree. When Kelly plays, Connor at centre with early ball is very dangerous, particularly paired with Kelly down the same side and Ratu outside of him. If no kelly then play him at 6. Keep Shaul as he is and get our pack dominant again and he'll shine. Connor Wynne will be a natural successor to Shaul in a couple of years with the added bonus that he'll have better hands than Shaul when linking up.