Quote ="roopy"Brian Smith used to sometimes play Dureau off the bench, and he would often replace him on 50 minutes and give him a 10 minute spell.
Rick Stone worked on all sorts of ways to reduce his workload.
All because no one thought he could play for 80 minutes at NRL pace.
Opposition sides had a pretty simple game plan against a side with Dureau in it - send lot's of big forwards at him all game and he was a massive liability in defence for the last 20 and was quiet all game in attack.
The question is, will ESL coaches now start looking at Dureau tapes and work out how to counter him, or is the ESL just a bit slower and less physical than the NRL so that he can stay on pace for 80 minutes?
The other factor might be that he has had several games in a row where he has played 80 minutes for the first time since hitting firstgrade, so maybe he is match fit for the first time.'"
I think with some players what happens is that they think they are a certain kind of player - primarily for the way that they are used by a club. If they are used as a bit part player then it is hard to judge them as an 80-minuter until they get a regular chance.
