But he didn't ground it.The Nickman wrote: ↑April 11, 2021, 9:30 amNot grounding that ball is not from being shot physically. He grounds that ball and the game and this whole discussion changes considerably.afgtnk wrote:He's shot physically, Nickman. That isn't poor form. He just doesn't have it in his body to do what he used to do, and the chances of getting that back are slim.
You are somehow trying to set up Croker grounding the ball as some kind of emblem or argument. It's beside the point. In general, we still see Croker's kick chase as a strength of his game.
He's been back for a few weeks now. Last year everyone was saying he needs to show some sort of return to form. With injury and whatnot, he's started slowly. I do think it's magnified by the relative plodderness of our back 5 (in attack, CNK is a superstar defensively). Absent game breakers and x factor, the magnifying glass is being turned on to who is the most plodderish and most upgradable.
Simonsen is the most plodderish and upgradable. It's a bit early still to write Croker off. But the spotlight is on him. The fact remains that as yet he is producing less on the field than our ageing winger who's lost his pace and our 7 game rookie centre. But he kicks well. He holds his own defensively, in general, in a tough position. He deserves another month or so to get it right and find a way to be more effective.
We need a little bit more spark from our back 5 imo. CNK and Rapana are known quantities at this point. Both will bust a gut getting us the hard yards and maybe break a tackle or two. But they aren't about to cut a team up. In fact, if you look at our back 5, opposition fans wouldn't break a sweat seeing any of them on the team sheet. No real threats. You'd look at them and go nobody (Simo) -adequate but zero harm (Croker, CNK, Scott) - rookie (Kris) -and has been (Rapana).
It's possible things will improve when Scott returns and picks up his good form. Either Bailey will lift with him or should probably be replaced for someone with more spark. If that works then Croker can carry on being a solid 6 and kicking goals. If that doesn't improve things, then the howls will get louder. That doesn't bother me- I think RIcky will be viewing longer term and have 2 new wingers in mind for next season before he'd replace Croker.
But I don't think our back 5 can win the comp, playing as they are, with current personel. We look like a 6th best team. The top 5 spots on the ladder are filled with teams with big weapons in the back 5. Multiple threats. We've got pop guns by comparison. There's 2 players easy in each of their back 5's I'd pick above our guys in a heartbeat. I can't say for sure they'd be picking any of ours.
Curtis Scott has been our most threatening back line player this year. He's going good, but it's a bit of an inditement on the state of our threat back there. Croker is picking up the heat for that, but it's a wider problem. I think GreenMachine has nailed it- the general plodderness back there, exacerbated by our two best backline players (Scott and Kris) not being regulars on the team sheet is highlighting Croker's weak points right now.
But Ricky will fix other positions before he chucks out his captain and goalkicker and that is right and good.