Quote: ChrisA "First and foremost a fullback needs to be solid in defence, to me anyway. Nowadays people seem to overlook this basic principal if the guy can chime into the line in attack. It's just another position where the fundamentals are changing.
Wingers aren't slight little speedsters anymore, more like second rowers, props don't prop up anything at the scrum, hookers don't hook the ball, scrum halves don't feed the scrum, and now fullbacks need to be a second stand off, good defence is a bonus.'"
I agree with you about these changes in the game but like you I do think at fullback you need a player that is confident in defence. Not so much tackling, as positioning, being able to field kicks in the air or on the ground and also be able to get the ball away from the danger areas especially when he's taking the ball behind his own line and needs to escape being trapped in the in goal.
Tackling gets overrated for a fullback because they don't make many tackles and when they have to make one often the attacker has broken through and there's a 2 on 1 situation anyway. Richie Mathers is a good tackler, he is aggressive and hits players hard, he had a massive game in terms of tacking at Wembley in 2010 where he did that "hat-trick of saved tries" with his tackling on the goal line. But you would not call Mathers a good defensive fullback because he was indecisive and got out of position and in a mess when he was fielding kicks. On the other hand Kris Radlinski was a top example of a fullback with the right defensive game, he could tackle hard when he had to but his reading of the play was excellent and he was very confident when the ball was down his area, and he was great at making yards near his own line and taking the pressure off the Wigan defence. IMO he was the last real top class traditional fullback in the game.
