Kind of. I'm not sure we have anyone in the squad that can solve the problem, but we will certainly miss Palu and Higgers in this regard.
When have you ever seen MMM, Simmons, Horwill or Mowen break the line?
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Palu won't be that much missed in that regard actually, his carrying is not as effective as it once was. Higgers has more impact, I think.
In regards to your questions, actually, a couple of times.
Simmons even made 3 linebreaks and 13 tackle busts this year, although in the first half, and ran over a couple of Tahs in the last game of the regular season (4 tackle busts in the game). Simmons isn't a great carrier, but he can do alright - at times. Hot and cold. I will say that I don't think that Simmons generally uses his frame to his full advantage, but he is being a little overly maligned. He had a strong finish to the season, playing better than Horwill did vs the Crusaders (which wasn't hard). That being said, I probably wouldn't have selected Simmons, but am not going to say he's totally out of place.
Horwill has 3 tackle busts and 1 linebreak this year, missing 7 games.
Mowen made 20 tackle busts and 5 linebreaks.
As a comparison:
Hooper made 29 tackle busts and 10 linebreaks (which is quite impressive).
Higgers made 23 tackle busts and 10 linebreaks missing 2 games.
Palu made a mere 9 tackle busts and 1 linebreak, and although he missed a fair chunk of the season (seven games), it does indicate that Palu is no longer a carrying wrecking ball.
Hugh Pyle had 18 tackle busts and 7 linebreaks.
edit: Fardy made 14 tackle busts and 1 linebreak.
edit: Gill made 11 tackle busts and 3 linebreaks.
edit: MMM made 10 tackle busts and 1 linebreak with 7 games missed, basically the same as Palu with similar game time.
Kieran Read made 17 tackle busts and 3 linebreaks, but missed six games (one less than Palu).
However, Liam Messam made 34 tackle busts and 9 linebreaks.
His replacement, Luatua, made 19 tackle busts and 5 linebreaks.
