Quote upthecats="upthecats"For all the stick Agar gets about playing players out of position I'm still seeing plenty select their teams with players who are 'supposedly' out of position....and ones that Agar tried out.....
Sammut at fullback for example.....and Daniel Smith at loose forward...Sykes at centre.....Mathers on wing....
I think nowadays players have to be versatile....the halfback playing at fullback is nothing new....it's a trend a lot of coaches are going with now and it's one I really like, and one that has brought us success.....same with Godinet playing hooker....it's not something that's totally alien to him, he's played there before for his country....a lot of halfbacks are happy to have a go and switch between both rolls.....Luke Robinson at Huddersfield being a perfect example.....Rob Burrow another at Leeds.....Sinfield is playing there at the moment through injuries.....
Folk are happy to go along with Daniel Smith (signed as, and always played as a prop as far as I know) as loose forward and yet leave our best backrower of the last couple of months (Washbrook) out of the side completely.....
Sykes is on record as saying he's happiest at six....in his time with us he's played all his best games there....he's covered all across the backline throughout his career but feels more comfortable at six....
Mathers for me is the only one you could genuinely question as it's an unfamiliar role to someone who has always played fullback.....as far as I can see he only went there due to real lacking options at wing due to injuries....now with both Owen and Riley named I'd be really surprised if Mathers was named to play on the wing...'"
A commendable effort at justifying Agars bizarre selections.
When Luke Robinson goes to hooker Hudds still have some quality at half back.
When Rob Burrow goes to hooker Leeds still have some quality at half back.
In addition Robinson and Burrow still get their hands on the ball and are pivotal.
We remove potentially our two best quality halves,put one to full back and the other on the bench,neither are pivots anymore and replace them with Sykes and Seijka.Against Warrington we had plenty of possession in the first half but Agars halves created nothing.Indeed a glance at the points scored column since Agar paired Seijka and Sykes makes for pretty dismal reading.
The red herring - Daniel Smith,thats totally different,Wigan,Leeds,Saints,Warrington are among a few clubs that have been using the loose forward position to actually play another out and out forward rather than a more traditional loose forward.The teams doing this still want the player to perform the same role that they would when playing prop.
It wouldnt surprise me in the least if Mathers was still on the wing and Riley or Owen were left out.
