afgtnk wrote: ↑April 13, 2021, 12:58 am
Ruben Daley wrote: ↑April 11, 2021, 9:29 pm
afgtnk wrote: ↑April 11, 2021, 11:32 am
Criticism of Simo is well off IMO.
He's not going to set the world on fire or do anything too spectacular, but he's the type of cheapy that belongs in a good modern backline.
He's young, defensively solid, minimal errors, good in the air, intelligent, good top end speed, and has decent finishing ability. Big problem right now is that he's seeing pretty much no ball inside the opposition 20 to show off some of those attributes, because we don't have any attack setup on the right.
One of the last players I'd be looking at in the backline currently tbh.
I sort of agree and I can't help but like Bailey. But he's played 33 games for the green and I swear I've said aloud in each of them, "I'd really like to see Bailey in space." I truly can't remember a time when he was running in the open. Is it just me? I think he's fast but I've never seen it.
Now, I agree he doesn't get a lot of ball/a lot of quality ball but surely in a season and a half's worth of games we would've seen him run clear. Why isn't that happening?
Probably a few reasons I'd say.
- He debuted in 2019, and ever since 2019 our attack without Crawley coaching it has become far more conservative/less expansive. Far more up the guts than 2015-2018.
- He's naturally not a blockbusting winger, the type that goes looking for the ball and makes breaks midfield ala Rapana or Cotric. It's kinda like asking why Ed Lee doesn't make breaks like them - to make a break, players like that really need to have the space. I can't even recall the last time someone gave him the ball with space ahead of him tbh.
- To reiterate the point about the quality of ball being being received, forget about the quality, he just isn't flatout getting it in attacking positions. The only thing he's being used for or is really able to do in this team is make dirty hard metres, which will never make him look very good.
Yeah, I agree with this to a point. He certainly isn't getting set up much.
But he played 21 games in 2019 when we came fourth and there were plenty of tries scored. Even this year, I can remember CNK, Rapa, Curtis and Jarrod all in a bit of space without busting throw tackles. Last year, Valemei had a few runs too in his limited chances. Bailey has simply never got into the clear.
And, yes, maybe his inside man isn't setting him up. That's part of it. But you mention Edrick - he has regularly got into the clear over his career and by the 33 game mark had done it lots of times. He'd certainly scored a lot more tries by that point.
Anyway, I'm not death-riding him and I'm hopeful he'll keep improving to the point where he's a dangerous winger. I'm just genuinely amazed that a guy who is touted as being fast and has played his whole (short) career so far for a winning side hasn't got into the clear once.
Now I've said all that, I'm banking on him doing it this weekend. Twice.