Hope your watching Linnett Smith

[Guest]

Our back line next year:

1. RTS
2. Mini
3. "lucky dip"
4. "lucky dip"
5. Oldfield

[Guest]

Linnett is good. I rate him highly - it was always going to be him or Leilua.

However, lets flip it around for a second. Give Leilua the quality ball and space that Linnett receives at the Cowboys, and ask yourself - would he be doing better than Linnett?

Linnett lacked individual brilliance, but has great pace, good finishing abilities, and solid defense. Consistency is the key with him, he will give you a 'good' performance every game without being a standout. Leilua, on the other hand, is physically far stronger than Linnett, has a more powerful physical presence, a greater ability to break tackles and offload, but on the other hand can make poor decisions in defense and have handling issues.

[BUDDY]

Linnett is good. I rate him highly - it was always going to be him or Leilua.

However, lets flip it around for a second. Give Leilua the quality ball and space that Linnett receives at the Cowboys, and ask yourself - would he be doing better than Linnett?

Linnett lacked individual brilliance, but has great pace, good finishing abilities, and solid defense. Consistency is the key with him, he will give you a 'good' performance every game without being a standout. Leilua, on the other hand, is physically far stronger than Linnett, has a more powerful physical presence, a greater ability to break tackles and offload, but on the other hand can make poor decisions in defense and have handling issues.

The right decision was made keeping BJ over Linnett for the money the cows offerred. But keeping SKD over Linnett on nearly double? Someone deserves a slap across the head.

[Guest]

BJ, SKD and Moga can do things with the ball Linnett could never dream of doing. Linnett is a good solid first grader who runs a nice straight line and is a decent defender. In an ideal world it would of been nice to keep him but you can't keep them all. In the end we made the right call.

I do agree though with Buddy about the money SKD is on, it's a disgrace. He is great with the ball but his efforts in defence are embarrassing.

[Guest]

It all came down to, does Smithy want an a polynesian or caucasian centre? We already have 1 caucasian centre and we all know Smithy's preferences. No contest in that regard for Linnett.

[Guest]

The Cows love our ex players. Winterstein, Tamou, Linnett, Mitchell and soon Rona. What do they know???

[Guest]

Don't forget Ben Jones

[melon....]

BJ, SKD and Moga can do things with the ball Linnett could never dream of doing.

Like dropping it or passing into touch?

[Guest]

The question is, would you take Linnett over SKD, Moga, BJ, or RTS?

My answer would be no.

Whilst SKD has been a bit down on form of late, he is a match winner when he pulls his finger out.

[Guest]

Like dropping it or passing into touch?

Ha that and other things. Linnett is a good player but all he is doing is running a straight line off Bowen or Thurston. He can't do it on his own.

As stupid as SKD is he can sniff out a try as good as anyone. I would like to see his career strike rate compared with other centres.

Also while Moga has struggled in defence he has shown more with the ball than Linnett has his whole career. Quite a few times this year he has picked up a ball with nothing on and beaten 3-4 guys and run 50 yards. You can teach players how to do those things, I know which player I would prefer.

[elo]

You guys are tough on Kane eh, he had 5 tackle busts, 2 line breaks and 2 tries up after 25 odd minutes last night, I didn't see both line breaks but the one I did see he just ran straight through the defense with a nice inside step there was no magic ball from JT or Bowen.

[Cockadoodledoo]

Ha that and other things. Linnett is a good player but all he is doing is running a straight line off Bowen or Thurston. He can't do it on his own.

As stupid as SKD is he can sniff out a try as good as anyone. I would like to see his career strike rate compared with other centres.

Also while Moga has struggled in defence he has shown more with the ball than Linnett has his whole career. Quite a few times this year he has picked up a ball with nothing on and beaten 3-4 guys and run 50 yards. You can teach players how to do those things, I know which player I would prefer.

Linnett also is statistically the best defensive centre in the NRL, it is not all about attack.. SKD and Moga need to score at least twice a match to make up for the tries they let in.

[HEGtheROOSTER]

Unfortunately for our backline, aside from Carney in 2010 we have not had a 5/8.

IMO Braith has never been a 5/8, and unsurprisingly had his best year (Dally M Captain of the Year 2010) playing in the backrow. Carney's 2011 was a write-off....

It's been painful to watch really.

I think Maloney will remedy this problem next year.

Linnett is a good solid player, and was always going to look better in a team with a decent 5/8 and a pack making metres, as all outside backs do. Good luck to him.

[mightyrooster]

I was sorry to see Linnett go but the Cows offered him far more money than we ever could. We already had SKD locked in on a long term contract, Leilua was also signed for 2012 and young talent such as Moga and RTS were coming through. It does not surprise me to see him doing so well outside of Thurston and I think he would do just as well at Easts with a decent 5/8 to feed him good ball. He is also an excellent defensive centre.

[BUDDY]

The question is, would you take Linnett over SKD, Moga, BJ, or RTS?

My answer would be no.

Whilst SKD has been a bit down on form of late, he is a match winner when he pulls his finger out.

When was the last game SKD pulled his finger out and won us a game and how often? That intercept maybe? Even FPN has a better strike rate than SKD at pulling his finger out and being a match winner.

I would take two Linnetts over one SKD any day. We paid overs for SKD. If he was on the open market today I wouldn't pay him half of Linnett.

But I would take the other three over Linnett.