Quote: Spannerz "Can't agree about Platt, but that's just my opinion. When we first signed him he was a decent fullback. Unfortunatly under our Coaching he seemed to get worse. Doesn't help when your suporting players don't support (Centres and Wingers) confidence takes a knock. The problem for Platt is we seem to have an abundance of Fullbacks or players who can play fullback (Kearney, Halley, Sykes, Reardon and Platt himself) Quality Centres and Wingers we don't have. Platt may well come good in the Centres as his confidence and fitness improve. The whole back line need instucting that when they receive the ball carry in both hands, look to the opposition sticks and run that way. Don't stop, don't think, just run! Stuart Spruce seemed to manage it most weeks. He never tried to fool anybody with fancy running, he just left the opposition with one choice, do I tackle him or not and run at them full tilt.'"
No he didn't.
His basic tactic was to run along the line, looking for the lazy marker, which he was an amazing exploiter of. Having found the 'hole' he had the guile and pace to run through it. To suggest he was a mindless muppet who just ran full tilt into the defenders is almost libellous. We had props for that........even back then!
