Quote fc baldy="fc baldy"I kind of see where Bumpy is coming from but would release Pritchard and use his quota and wage on a 6 and as good as Micheals as been,id have kept Lancaster and really worked on him...we can cover pritchards spot with Abdul or Washy at 13 and a choice of Manu,Ellis and Mini with Thompson,Hadley,Turgut,Fash,Downes to come in as well.Im not a lover of stats I just go on what I saw and he didn't impress me a lot if I'm being honest'"
Yeah, bl00dy facts getting in the way of stuff.
Abdull or Washy do not, and can not, provide the same (or anywhere near the same) that Frank provides the side. Particularly as Frank is often thrown in when Ellis, Watts & Taylor are having a breather.
Thompson just isn't that good unfortunately, Hadley is a different sort of player, the other three are very young. If Frank were to leave, we'd still need one more IMO.
Sometimes as fans we're more impressed with the spectacular, and guilty of not quite noticing the hard work a player gets through. Not to mention the massive expectation heaped on Frank, along with him playing differently to how he did in the NRL.
His stats don't tell the full story, but they do tell part of a story. When he's on, he sticks his hand up, he grafts and he's more than effective:
- He made more carries than Ellis or Mini last year, in much less game time. His average carry is better than any other backrower we have, second in the forwards only to Taylor. He made 11 clean breaks, second in the forwards only to Mini (15) in much less game time. 20 offloads, again more than any other back rower we have. He made more tackle busts than Ellis , but behind Mini & Manu.
What you expect from him, and what Radford is asking him to do are two completely different things, and the latter is what he's fulfilling to a pretty high standard.
