Quote: Winslade's Offload "
But Patton is a mystery. I watched him in the U19's where his long kicking game was already well developed, but he was inconsistent. One game he would kick the opposition to death, the next 2-3 he would hardly feature. Now his skill set has improved a lot, his short game is good, he takes the line on much more and can drop bombs into the opposition corners. But he still seems to disappear from one game to the next - and I don't really understand why. Perhaps it is all about game time and experience. Perhaps we all remember the Lee Briers at the end of his career and forget how long it took for him to fine tune his game. So the only way we will find out if he can make it though is by playing him.'"
Briers never really disappeared. In his earlier era he would make mistakes but I don't remember ever thinking "Briers has been invisible today".
An early Briers of 1997-02 era would be more like this:
- Kick a 40/20
- Miss a tackle that led to a try, Fletcher St end go "-kin ell Briers!"
- Shoot out of the line and pick an interception then go half the length before slipping it to Toa or Hunte to finish off.
- Shoot out of the line to try it again and end up out of position and the opposition score, Fletcher St end go "oh FFS Briers, could see that coming a mile off"
- Throw a dummy and shoot through the line and score a great individual try
- Have a temper tantrum at the referee after we get a dodgy decision go against us
- Kick straight out on the full, still rattled by the bad decision
Whilst that was frustrating you could always see there was something special with Briers that just needed to mature over time. I would prefer a young halfback did that rather than go invisible during a game because surely the number one thing you want in a halfback is for them to be able to get involved and set the initiative.
