We might have a much much bigger population than Australia, but unfortunately the catchment area for picking up young players with potential is very small and restricted to the M62 corridor and Cumbria apart from the odd player here and there who emerge from daarn saarrf, the North East, Wales etc

From the little I have seen if him, he is rapid and has both a short passing game and an all around kicking game, none of which will tear up any trees but handy to have the option. Can't comment on him under a high ball or defensively, but let it be said that the standard of full back in the NRL is ridiculously high. Tomkins was scoring tries for fun here, but he looks middle of the bunch in Aus/NZ. Inglis, Dugan, Slater and Coote are a level above Super League, thus I wouldn't let him not being a starter put us off taking a punt on him. If we have cap room and he's up for a short term deal to get in the shop window, we would be mad not to go for it.

Bailey has been injured as super beetle stated. He's also correct that Bailey isn't ready and especially in whats two big games coming up.

Maybe we will have to play the kids on wing and move swifty to fullnack if it's true about Quinlan

If he's still coming, how come we're not announcing it?

Hang on a second. I really don't think the standard of NRL fullbacks is all that high.

Take Greg Inglis for example. Magnificent player going forward. Under a high ball: total liability.

I don't think Matty Smith is up to international standard at half back. But he had Inglis on toast under the high ball. Even Slater is nowhere near the standard that, say, Garry Jack was defensively two decades ago.

Watching the NRL I half wonder whether some unwritten agreement has been struck among coaches not to resort to bombing the fullback because the number of times I've seen supposedly great players completely miss the ball is unreal.

There's a fundamentally different philosophy to the fullback position in Australia. They seem quite willing to accept any old tripe on defence providing he can link into the line well.

Had Inglis and Slater played in SL I'm sure they'd be just as successful. But I don't think either would gain such at fullback. Inglis couldn't get away with some of the blunders he makes over there. No way.

This would be the NRL where Tomkins, who was generally known for being pretty solid under the high ball in Super League, has been much more challenged defensively?
The standard of fullback is higher than ever in the NRL, because it is now the most important position in the game. Dugan, Slater, Inglis, RTS, Brett Morris, Boyd, Moylan, Brett Stewart are all better fullbacks than Tomkins at the minute, a player who (perhaps next to Wellens) is the best fullback Super League has had.

This doesn't change the fact that NRL fullbacks routinely make a hash of high balls. Or the fact that Inglis looked absolutely terrible in the test series.

It wasn't two years ago when Ben Barba was tearing it up in the NRL. A worse full-back under the high ball I have yet to see!

I have seen it all now.

That inglis is awful. Would much prefer Mcdonnell

Have you been watching the same NRL as me Mugwump? Most fullbacks seem pretty safe under the high ball (except Tomkins!).
To suggest Slater wouldn't be a success as a fullback in the super league is unbelievable considering the guy pretty much defined the role of the modern day fullback. Whereas Inglis is an absolute beast of a player who would score hat tricks most games in Super League against weaker defences. I don't remember G.I. dropping too many when the Rabbitohs beat us in the World Club Challenge


Or maybe you are suggesting that Super League has better quality fullbacks than the names that Saint #1 mentioned or James Tedesco or Lachlan Coote? Are you are basing your opinion based on former NRL fullback Matty Bowen's recent performance against us?

Good heavens if there's one position whereas Australia completely overshadow us (there's more of course) it's full back. The two best full backs we've produced over the past 20 years - Wellens and Radlinski would not have been in their top 5 selections at any given point during their careers....and 5 is being generous.

It seems I watch more NRL than many of you guys.



The issue isn't whether or not NRL full-backs are technically excellent in many departments. The issue is whether they are safe under the high ball.

In games against both the Kiwis and England, Inglis looked totally lost. On two occasions he MISSED THE BALL COMPLETELY (which has never been an indicator of "safety" in any code of rugby). Ben Barba went through a Grand Final Season as possibly the worst full-back under the high ball I've seen. That was [utwo seasons[/u ago. If the NRL has changed significantly since then I'd say it's gone the opposite way.

If you fools want to deny all the above took place - that's your business. Meanwhile, get a tape of Garry Jack and watch an Aussie full-back who really was safe under the high ball.

I forgot to mention Matt Bowen. A legend going forward. Great attacking player. But if anyone seriously thinks Matt Bowen only began to make a hash of taking high balls the moment he crossed the equator they are deluded. Bowen has ALWAYS been flaky under the high ball - especially when his teammates were unable to shield him from some of the bigger guys barreling in. No guy that small can ever be safe when you have players who are twelve to fourteen inches taller also contesting it. It's a physical impossibility.

The truth is you just don't see scrum halves constantly resorting to bombing the full-back time after time after time in the NRL. Kicking games are more evenly spread - some to the wings, some as diagonal grubbers, some as half-and-half etc. Whereas in SL you routinely see a full-back being bombed four or five times on the run.

Well as I live in Aus, I usually watch at least 3 and as many as 8 games a week


From this obviously limited NRL viewing I have rarely seen NRL fullbacks susceptible to the high ball, except a few Tomkins howlers





So Inglis is crap under the high ball on the basis of two games?



Obviously I must be a fool to disagree. Inglis is pants and stealing a living at South Sydney and if they rightly let him go because of two poor performances in the green and gold every club would run a mile and sign Jordan Tansey instead.

This is getting tedious and we're going in circles.

You're entitled to your opinion. It's not mine.

So is he signing or not? Meant to be here today?

Not as good as this pearler from the Wigan rumour thread:



At least two of those posts have to be in jest?

That's the good thing about opinions Mugwump. They can't be wrong.
Life is all about perceptions

To be fair, I think he's on about Richards' kick offs, which are top notch.

Just on the size of backs, surely by now scouts will realise that tiny nippy lads are likely to only be viable as halfbacks? Are we still in the mindset of "you're big, you must be a prop" thinking at junior level? If anything the trend to bigger outside backs is increasing. There's barely a small threequarter in the whole NRL now - most get peppered to death by crossfield kicks and end up being replaced by bigger guys.

To be honest, I wish the sport would do something about kicks. All this hoof-the-ball-sky-high stuff is a depressingly negative style of play more suited to god-awful union. It's getting that way now that teams are better suited to scoring points from kicks than they are crossing the line ball-in-hand.

The fact that we are now picking bigger and bigger players in the backs smacks of the same retarded thinking which killed football for two decades in this country.

Scrums are also a joke! slows the game down so much as players use it as a time to take a breath, one time players used to pack down quickly.

For many, many years Wayne Bennett didn't consider tries scored from kicks as a defensive mistake. He'd say something along the lines of [i"once that ball hits the foot it's a lottery what happens next".
[/i
There's something seriously wrong in the game when a beautiful piece of skill nets you no more points than a ball which is finger-tip touched after ricocheting off three players and a post.

I thought you were picking him up from the airport?
Ah shucks!