Cassius88
Sydney Middleton (9)
Okay, I just had to throw my 2 cents in here about McCabe, and as you can tell from my DP, I'm talking through slightly rose-tinted glasses.
Firstly, some people use the fact that he doesn't have a kicking/passing game as a negative, and that's irrelevant because he's been selected as a hard-running 12, not a second 5/8. I don't want to get into the argument of having a ball-playing 12 versus a running 12 (I prefer the latter), but when Deans selected Pat at inside centre he would have specifically told him what he wanted from him, and positional kicking/long passes wouldn't have featured once.
The people that say he doesn't have enough footwork have obviously missed the point as well. Deans doesn't want him to be dancing around looking for gaps, he wants him running straight at his opposite number and getting over the advantage line, which he does bloody well. The value of front-foot ball on your second phase cannot be overstated. If you watch Pat for a whole game, his leg drive in contact is incredible which means that his yards after contact are second to none.
As for people saying he's too small to be in the enforcer role, I think his body of work speaks for itself. We don't have any Tuilagis or Rangers in Australia, and I think his heart more than makes up for his lack of size. Personally, with all the jumped-up divas in Australian rugby these days, I'd much prefer to have someone prepared to cripple himself for the gold jersey over someone who's just on the field waiting for his next endorsement to come through.
The Horne vs McCabe argument is a good one. I have never liked Horne as a player but I think he has really stood out this year as having improved his contact work and his off-loading has been good as well. The thing is, so has Pat. In the very limited game time he has had this year he has had some really nice offloads, one of which set Sio up for a try.
As far as this tour is concerned, I really don't think Pat has played enough minutes to be starting, not to mention the fact that Lilo has been great. As I said, I don't like having a ball-playing 12 (between your 9, 10 and 15 you should have all the kicking/flair that you need), but if that's what Deans wants then he can't look past Lilo. However, I would love to see Pat on the bench as he's a great asset to have to seal up the midfield once the starting players have tired a bit and there are some holes opening up.
Firstly, some people use the fact that he doesn't have a kicking/passing game as a negative, and that's irrelevant because he's been selected as a hard-running 12, not a second 5/8. I don't want to get into the argument of having a ball-playing 12 versus a running 12 (I prefer the latter), but when Deans selected Pat at inside centre he would have specifically told him what he wanted from him, and positional kicking/long passes wouldn't have featured once.
The people that say he doesn't have enough footwork have obviously missed the point as well. Deans doesn't want him to be dancing around looking for gaps, he wants him running straight at his opposite number and getting over the advantage line, which he does bloody well. The value of front-foot ball on your second phase cannot be overstated. If you watch Pat for a whole game, his leg drive in contact is incredible which means that his yards after contact are second to none.
As for people saying he's too small to be in the enforcer role, I think his body of work speaks for itself. We don't have any Tuilagis or Rangers in Australia, and I think his heart more than makes up for his lack of size. Personally, with all the jumped-up divas in Australian rugby these days, I'd much prefer to have someone prepared to cripple himself for the gold jersey over someone who's just on the field waiting for his next endorsement to come through.
The Horne vs McCabe argument is a good one. I have never liked Horne as a player but I think he has really stood out this year as having improved his contact work and his off-loading has been good as well. The thing is, so has Pat. In the very limited game time he has had this year he has had some really nice offloads, one of which set Sio up for a try.
As far as this tour is concerned, I really don't think Pat has played enough minutes to be starting, not to mention the fact that Lilo has been great. As I said, I don't like having a ball-playing 12 (between your 9, 10 and 15 you should have all the kicking/flair that you need), but if that's what Deans wants then he can't look past Lilo. However, I would love to see Pat on the bench as he's a great asset to have to seal up the midfield once the starting players have tired a bit and there are some holes opening up.
alu
