I thought Masons defence at the weekend was really good, he seems to be getting up to speed, would like to see him used nearer the line tho'. He still seems to be used as a decoy too often.

I was saying the same thing after the game. He is attracting four defenders most of the time, he ain't gonna get many off loads or run half the field (like some are expecting) with that kind of attention! We need to use the space he creates, the ball should be going out just before the tackle comes in and then the rest of the team can take advantage of the space. I know it's not possible all the time, but I think we need to take advantage of it way more than we do now.

I thought Mason put in some pretty good work in defence this weekend. People are expectimg miracles, give the guy a chance to bed in!

We also need to support him - noticed a few occasions where we'd worked a couple of attacking plays ending with Mason driving the ball up (met by the usual 4 players) yet no one was offering any kind of support, if he had got his arms free/made half a break.

Agree with Reeney - If he did run with options there's no way the defending team would be able to commit the usual 4 players to the tackle every time, and if they did, there’s going to be space to exploit. We've seen opposition teams are worried by him, and I think if we worked on execution a little more, players like Cockayne supporting from fullback will benefit.

I know JM doesn't appear to like offloads as part of the script, but this lack of support happens all the time. The top teams have players sniffing about and make use of every little half chance/break they get, whilst at times we're often caught on our heels a little bit (sometimes not even looking). [size=85*Did alright on Sat though!

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his defence was good on saturday IMO. His attacking threat has been quickly nullified by the opposition at the moment (with the exception of crusaders). There are many factors to take in to consideration though.
- not played for several months
-new team, new coach, new plays etc.
- settling in to a new country
- he doesn't seem anywhere near match fit yet (at least not to me he doesn't)

i think once enough time has passed that the above are no longer relevant (and personally i consider that to be a minimum of 3 or 4 months and not just the few weeks we've had so far) then if we're still not happy with how he is going then we might have something to worry about.

The problem is that we are not disguising him getting the ball, It is an easy read.
If we start giving him drop offs or face balls second man out the results could well be different.

Have a look who all the defenders are concentrating on when Greens bursts through just before Welhams try, he's having an impact without that ball certainly

Oh I know Phil but i'm talking about him with ball in hand.

Indeed, I think with Newton back in the side it will work similar to that of the crusaders game

truth hurt, you soap dodgers must be sick of doing your dough on washed up Aussies on a working holiday??..

Wrong board - you need to go up one.

Aye, your barbs inflict such agony... my keyboard is awash with salt tears.

Anyway, mustn't keep you...

I was trying to politely tell you to stop but I was obviously too subtle so take this as a first warning.