Quote: Phuzzy "Just on Mago. I timed him on and off last night and he did 32 minutes. That's fine in a 5 prop rotation. In fact it's fine in a 4 prop rotation when you have big minutes in the other 3 as we do. Itch makes great play of him doing short minutes in his first stint but what do you want him to do? Play on through half time? The coach chose to put him on when he did as our props were doing very well at that point. Correct decision. I don't like subbing on the 20 minute mark regardless of how the team is playing. In fact I've never got what benefits that supposedly brings.
When he was on he was a handful. Difficult to put down, busy in defence and always a threat of an offload. He sucked in 3 or more defenders on every carry.
I too would like to see his fitness increase as I thought he looked a bit gassed at the end of his second stint. Mind you, he always looks gassed. Doesn't stop him taking the next drive in or making the tackle as discussed elsewhere so maybe it's no biggie.
Would I like to see him on the field for longer minutes? Depends. If that were longer minutes but with less effect then no. If it were longer minutes with the same effect then yes. That's one for the coaching staff to figure out.'"
Your final sentence sums up my point. After Harvard for me he is our best prop. If he did more minutes as effectively as his cameos then we could have a really special player. That’s all I’m saying. I’m not criticising him I’m questioning the coaching and fitness teams. I criticised his first 8 minutes because I thought his input was generally poor. I will watch it again and if I’m wrong I will hold my hands up.
I expect every player to improve a part of their game every year. That’s why they are paid professionals with a huge coaching and fitness support. All I’m saying about Mago is let’s get more productive minutes out of him.
I’m surprised at the 32 minutes but if that’s what you say then obviously I accept that. What were the minutes for the other props? If you could point me to the link it would be greatly appreciated.
I agree with you 100% on not substituting by the clock. I commented last night that Singleton and Byrne did longer starting minutes than usual and i understood and agreed why we did it.
Re playing through half time I’ve suggested to the lads I go with that I don’t see why Mago can’t do 20 minutes either side of half time on a regular basis. He’d do 40 minutes or so on a regular basis which should not be beyond any fully fit player.
