You raise some good points. Ant is very important to the Reds. As for who is the best centre?? I guess that's still up for debate but probably in another thread. Mainly because 12 and 13 are becoming vastly different positions these days. My question of you I think was a reaction to your criticism of his game on the weekend. I thought, and still think it was a bit tough.
Funny thing is that we're debating two players in their capacity at 13. To solve an argument between a work mate and I, I tweeted them both a while ago and they both said they saw themselves as a 12.
Oh I've always seen Ant as a 12. He plays well at 13, but i've held the view for a while that we're going totally the wrong way with our centres.
IMO Beiber is the one who should be playing 13. The game has long moved on from the small ball playing 12, we've never won anything without a genuinely hard, straight ball runner at 12. If he has ball skills, all the better, but think back: Tim Horan, Nathan Grey, (world cups, bledisloes, tri-nations, Lions series, Number 1 ranking) then.....Giteau, Barnes...(um.....a decade without the Bledisloe....no tri-nations...no world cups....) ?
The kiwis switched onto this after about 2003/2004, and went with Nonu, and a smaller, more agile ball playing 13. The problem with the 2nd fly half at 12, is that there isn't anyone to straighten up the attack before the ball goes wide. With no one forcing the defence to hold ( by always running straight and hard and at the goalposts rather than the sideline) and tackle the 12, they just drift, and we end up needing a Mortlock style 13 to actually make metres.
If we went with a
Cooper, Fainga'a, Beiber
Lealiifano, McCabe, Beiber
....we would be in much better condition. The 12 leads the defence, tackles OFFENSIVELY (IE on the OTHER side of the gainline) and forces errors in the opposition backline. Barnes is a great tackler, but he's very passive, as was Giteau.Yes, a centre rushing up can be exploited, but that is what you have flankers/halfbacks for, to run a covering line and mop up any potential bushfires). At the height of our powers, (1999-2002) we had Nathan Grey eating anyone foolish enough to run into the 12 channel, forcing 2 things: The opposition to look before they catch the ball (you do, if you get levelled in the first 10mins of the game, for the rest of the match you're always keeping an eye out for that hitman who belted you), which means more errors and less fluency in the attack. 2nd, it forces them to either go the 10 channel which will give Pocock and Hooper a field day, OR they go wider and attack at 13/wings, which...brings me back to what they're doing to us: then we can shepherd them wide to the sideline, cramp their space, and ask more questions.
At the moment, they make metres running at 12. They may go down, but they still get forward momentum, and build pressure (especially with that stat about the kiwi's finishing their rucks in less than 3 seconds, 60% of the time, as opposed to our 20-30% - we have hardly anytime to realign and organise and it puts more pressure on us).
Beiber is a great tackler and defender, but isn't an aggressive defender in general. If paired outside Fainga'a/McCabe, he's following their lead, and the man HE is marking is under much more pressure from shit passes/less space/less time etc etc, so his around the leg style tackling is perfectly suited to the 13 channel. What we can NOT do, though, is pair 2 players like McCabe and Fainga'a together, because then it does stunt the attack. That could only work if we had a fully fit and firing back three of Mitchell/Beale/Beiber.
I'm not against Taps, but he has to prove himself for another few seasons, and show that without him his team is poorer, like Fainga'a has.
TBH, I just don't know yet who is the better 10, Cooper or Lilo. Lealiifano was immense this year, though he hasn't stayed fit for long enough to show us what he's got at test level. Cooper's passing game, and ability to beat an entire backline's defensive set up with nothing but a delayed long pass (ala Bernie), is invaluable, but if he's chosen then you HAVE to model your gameplan and backline around HIM. You can't say 'this is the plan, fit in or fuck off', and then pick Cooper. You have to tailor the game/attack/players to his style which the Reds have done to huge success.
