Which player was missed most during this EOYT ?
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I disagree. Our back 3 constantly posed a threat to all opponents in the absence of Ben Smith. We hardly shelled a lot of points through his absence either. I don't think Jordie Barrett, Israel Dagg or Nehe Milner-Skudder would have made any difference at all.
What was missing most was discipline, and that stemmed from being under pressure at the breakdowns, and not being able to secure enough turnover balls to disrupt long spells of opposition possession. I think our inside backs suffered as a result, being sloppy in the latter stages of matches - when the AB's typically run rampant.
The most notable absence was BBBR by a very long distance. It was his aggression, athleticism and accuracy that was missed whenever he wasn't playing. Joe Moody might have made quite a difference too.
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Do we care? Flush dunny move on...
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Ben Smith or Dagg were missed big time. Specifically, it was their positioning that was clearly missed. The Scots kicked well but were helped by having virtually an open ground to kick to.
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@samurai-jack said in Which player was missed most during this EOYT ?:
Ben Smith or Dagg were missed big time. Specifically, it was their positioning that was clearly missed. The Scots kicked well but were helped by having virtually an open ground to kick to.
We were certainly missing any instinctive communication and positioning at the back and as you point out this was exploited by the Scots.
BBBR was by far the most missed player though. His midfield play on both attack and defence was sorely missed. then when the opposition revert to playing close in he gets in there and smashes bodies instead.
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@cgrant said in Which player was missed most during this EOYT ?:
Ben Smith, Israel Dagg, Nehe Milner Skudder, Jordie Barrett, Brodie Retallick, Owen Franks or Joe Moody ? I would be tempted to add Kieran Read to this list because he missed the games against Scotland and Wales.
For me, it was Ben Smith because he is always making the right choice, has the ability to break the line at will and brings safety under the high balls. Without him, the AB back play was in trouble.
The second most missed player IMO was BBBR for he his the best lock in the world and an important part of the AB structure. Neither of his replacements was up to the standard. Romano fared OK but he is not BBBR.Err ... Read played v Scotland.
BBBR
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We won, so missed no one.
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I miss Jonah and Jerry...
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@taniwharugby bring back Buck!!
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We played two power wingers, which meant DMac had to cover more ground. Ben Smith would not have fixed that, but Israel on the wing might have. It's not like DMac leaked tries.
However in return we had two wingers that scored most of our tries. "Fixing" the coverage at the back by playing two fullbacks would likely have come at a cost in try scoring.
I'm 100% in the Retallick camp on this one.
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while there is no doubting BBBR quality or awesomeness, but what exactly would he have bought that would have changed anything? Would we have won by more, would we have just won better?
For me, I would go with Dagg, with Dagg there, it makes BB more dangerous and gives him more freedom to play how we want/expect him to.
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Ngatai?
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For me, I would go with Dagg, with Dagg there, it makes BB more dangerous and gives him more freedom to play how we want/expect him to.
The two best AB performances of the year were against SA at Albany and vs Aust in Sydney (1st half), and Dagg didn't play in either of those tests. No doubt Dagg would have provided another kicking option and is safer under the high ball but he wouldn't have scored the 2 tries Naholo did vs Wales either.
BBBR is the enforcer in the middle of the park (cleaning out at rucks, big tackles) and can be used as a ball player. None of SB, LR or PT gave us that.
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@taniwharugby said in Which player was missed most during this EOYT ?:
For me, I would go with Dagg, with Dagg there, it makes BB more dangerous and gives him more freedom to play how we want/expect him to.
Tough to go Dagg considering Smith plays both 14 and 15 better than him these days.
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@rotated Dagg usually does more kicking than SMith...but Smith would have been handy too...
And it is as the other kicking option where I feel Dagg gives BB ore freedom and makes him more of a threat, kicking wasnt really needed v SA in Albany (although we were shite for the first 20 mins anyway)
At the end of the day, we won, so technically, didnt miss anyone of Moody, Coles, Franks, BBBR, Read, Smith, Dagg...
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Retallick.
