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Yes it's an article in the Telecrap but it's actually a good one. I hope Mini, Nick and whoever our coach will be next year has read it.
The fullback is now the most important man in an NRL team
THE fullback has surpassed the halfback as the most dominant position in the game.
It used to be No 7 who held his coach's future lived and died on, but not anymore.
This weekend the eight finalists will send out eight halfbacks ranging from two rookies, several journeymen, two high on potential and one who has all the goods, but not one outright champion.
The fullbacks are a different story.
Ben Barba is the Dally M Player of the Year and, right now, the most light-footed ball-runner in the NRL.
More kids would walk more kilometres to see him play than any other.
Then there is Billy Slater, already being discussed as an Immortal.
Brett Stewart averages nearly a try a game, the best fullback at Manly since Eadie, and maybe before then.
Matt Bowen has a ballet dancer's touch.
Josh Dugan is still developing his game, like a baby giraffe finding his feet, but already does things that educated football brains can't explain, only endorse.
And then there is Greg Inglis, who just might be the best of the lot.
In each case you could argue these fullbacks are more vital to their team's success than their halfback.
It has created a new economy within the game.
The money always used to go to the chief playmaker. The halfbacks, like Langer and Stuart, Sterling and Mortimer. Without them you couldn't win a premiership.
The changing trend was begun by Melbourne, who years ago rolled out Matt Geyer, normally a winger, to play five-eighth in a grand final.
Everybody began to look differently at the way they used their playmakers.
At the same time fullbacks drifted towards the middle of the field, no longer chiming into the backline, as they say, but instead looking for scraps around the ruck, following forwards.
Now, they get their hands on the ball as much as anyone.
It makes them the most valuable players on the field.
While the AFL denies, secret meetings are taking place about the possibility of Israel Folau coming back to rugby league, amid sums that will take out much of the sting from his decision to walk away from AFL.
Why would anybody want to pay it?
It can't be justified.
The fullback is now the most dangerous ball-runner on the field.
The centre that makes more metres than any other in the game is Justin Hodges, but the bulk of it comes from dummy-half running.
Centres don't touch the ball enough to justify big pay demands.
Splitting the halves has done something similar for the half and his five-eighth.
Michael Maguire doubled Inglis' value when he switched him to fullback.
Inglis was a caged bull in the centres, never able to get the ball with traffic all around, never able to break free.
Now look at him.
After successive knee surgeries Bowen has returned to full fitness this year and, with it, provided the perfect foil for playmaker Thurston.
Similarly, Barba spent the first four seasons of his career looking for a home, drifting from fullback to the halves and struggling without confidence in either position.
Des Hasler made clear he was his fullback, and concentrated on improving Barba's deficiencies while remaining aware what his talents would eventually bring.
The trick for Barba is the same as it was for Bowen; how to survive in a big man's game.
The answer is the same as it has always been: speed.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/spo...-1226464978894
The fullback is now the most important man in an NRL team
THE fullback has surpassed the halfback as the most dominant position in the game.
It used to be No 7 who held his coach's future lived and died on, but not anymore.
This weekend the eight finalists will send out eight halfbacks ranging from two rookies, several journeymen, two high on potential and one who has all the goods, but not one outright champion.
The fullbacks are a different story.
Ben Barba is the Dally M Player of the Year and, right now, the most light-footed ball-runner in the NRL.
More kids would walk more kilometres to see him play than any other.
Then there is Billy Slater, already being discussed as an Immortal.
Brett Stewart averages nearly a try a game, the best fullback at Manly since Eadie, and maybe before then.
Matt Bowen has a ballet dancer's touch.
Josh Dugan is still developing his game, like a baby giraffe finding his feet, but already does things that educated football brains can't explain, only endorse.
And then there is Greg Inglis, who just might be the best of the lot.
In each case you could argue these fullbacks are more vital to their team's success than their halfback.
It has created a new economy within the game.
The money always used to go to the chief playmaker. The halfbacks, like Langer and Stuart, Sterling and Mortimer. Without them you couldn't win a premiership.
The changing trend was begun by Melbourne, who years ago rolled out Matt Geyer, normally a winger, to play five-eighth in a grand final.
Everybody began to look differently at the way they used their playmakers.
At the same time fullbacks drifted towards the middle of the field, no longer chiming into the backline, as they say, but instead looking for scraps around the ruck, following forwards.
Now, they get their hands on the ball as much as anyone.
It makes them the most valuable players on the field.
While the AFL denies, secret meetings are taking place about the possibility of Israel Folau coming back to rugby league, amid sums that will take out much of the sting from his decision to walk away from AFL.
Why would anybody want to pay it?
It can't be justified.
The fullback is now the most dangerous ball-runner on the field.
The centre that makes more metres than any other in the game is Justin Hodges, but the bulk of it comes from dummy-half running.
Centres don't touch the ball enough to justify big pay demands.
Splitting the halves has done something similar for the half and his five-eighth.
Michael Maguire doubled Inglis' value when he switched him to fullback.
Inglis was a caged bull in the centres, never able to get the ball with traffic all around, never able to break free.
Now look at him.
After successive knee surgeries Bowen has returned to full fitness this year and, with it, provided the perfect foil for playmaker Thurston.
Similarly, Barba spent the first four seasons of his career looking for a home, drifting from fullback to the halves and struggling without confidence in either position.
Des Hasler made clear he was his fullback, and concentrated on improving Barba's deficiencies while remaining aware what his talents would eventually bring.
The trick for Barba is the same as it was for Bowen; how to survive in a big man's game.
The answer is the same as it has always been: speed.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/spo...-1226464978894
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