simo wrote: ↑February 5, 2021, 7:30 pm
Papali playing middle for queensland off the bench was very similar to wighton lining up at centre for nsw. They are part if the 17 best players available and the only ones capable to fill that role.
This discussions getting a bit out of hand. Hudson young is an incredibly enthusiastic talent with high energy and just enough psycho. Sometimes too much. On an edge he seemed to focus on his role and knuckle down on what he was asked to do. In the middle he looked like he was just told to unleash hell. I hope hes given a bit more of that directive on the edge this time.
Exactly. Just jamming the best 17 together, and Papalii had the body to handle the rigors of a SOO middle forward game, and they needed him for that because he was backing up Scott and Myles at the back end of their careers and then having to clean up the mess Napa and whoever left him with to open things up.
It has ZERO to do with his play at edge. Such a strange hill to plant a flag on. Incredible really. He, Gillett and Cordner were the best 3 edge players in the game, and pending the year, you could order them any which way... mind you i doubt Cordner or Gillett could have overcome the Josh McFuckingCrone handicap the way Papalii did.
Re Young, for me his late footwork, which was the cataylst to creating so many impactful plays in the middle, was not effective on the edge. He's working against better athletes out there and his own athleticism wasnt a point of strength, the way it was in the middle. Whch isnt to say he cant be this year, or sometime going forward. It just didnt show up on game day in his time there. But it did immediately show up with him as a middle.
If he gets the first crack at the #11 spot because CHN is suspended and he proves himself to be an impactful player, by all means keep him there, and CHN can fill the tweener back-row/impact middle role off the bench. But his level of play on the edge last year... that ain't going to cut it. Im not wasting a talent like his on the edge when i have seen first hand his game changing ability in the middle