Once again we saw last night how valuable Stafford is to the Tigers. Forget him for a moment, let's talk about what he does:
- add some much needed toughness: there was a centre ball up in the 3rd Q where the ball sort of went nowhere but out of the corner of the screen you saw him smash a few Lions under the disguise of the pack milling over the ball, you could see some of the forward entries the Lions were clearly wondering "where the hell is Stafford, i'm a good chance to get a knee in the back from this bloke". Which is exactly how J. Brown plays (except he's 8 years younger and a better player). The effect is noticeable.
- straighten up the delivery: probably because he can't move so freely he really anchors himself to the square and lets Richo and others run all over the joint, when Richo is the sole (or major) tall in the forward line he ends up in pockets/flanks whereas Stafford invariably has his shots from 20m-30m in front, hence he always kicks his 2's and 3's from limited shots
- he's smart: can't teach this, but he just knows how to play, in the 3rd Q he got the ball just inside the centre square and in a split sec summed up that if he drew Foley's man he would free Foley up. This resulted in Foley getting a goal assist. This is probably Staffords major strength, for all his inj probalems, he's so freakin clever he knows how to manage his way thru the game and have an impact. Another example was in the last q when Charman was running rampant and smashing the ball forward - he went into the ruck, sidestepped Charman who was looking for contact and just grabbed the ball and kicked it, again can't teach how smart that is, doing the exact thing the opposition isn't expecting
- Blokes like playing with him: likely because he's a little (or a lot) dirty and smart he falls into the category of "love playing with him, hate to play against him"
All in all, he's so valuable that i reckon our winning % when he's in would be pretty impressive as against when he's out (or when he's in but inj).
The real reason for this topic is that there is no replacement for him on the board for the next 1-3 years. I assume this is why he's survived the cut the last 2 years. Miller and Wallace would know that if/when he's fit (sadly about 10 games a year) we win a high proportion of these games and our structure is way better.
I know Phantom and others have been tolling this bells for years, but nights like last night show the looming big man hole for the Tigers. Unless Hughes and others are ready next year to be game winners (which is unfair on them and unrealistic) we're staring down the barrel until 2008/2009.
- add some much needed toughness: there was a centre ball up in the 3rd Q where the ball sort of went nowhere but out of the corner of the screen you saw him smash a few Lions under the disguise of the pack milling over the ball, you could see some of the forward entries the Lions were clearly wondering "where the hell is Stafford, i'm a good chance to get a knee in the back from this bloke". Which is exactly how J. Brown plays (except he's 8 years younger and a better player). The effect is noticeable.
- straighten up the delivery: probably because he can't move so freely he really anchors himself to the square and lets Richo and others run all over the joint, when Richo is the sole (or major) tall in the forward line he ends up in pockets/flanks whereas Stafford invariably has his shots from 20m-30m in front, hence he always kicks his 2's and 3's from limited shots
- he's smart: can't teach this, but he just knows how to play, in the 3rd Q he got the ball just inside the centre square and in a split sec summed up that if he drew Foley's man he would free Foley up. This resulted in Foley getting a goal assist. This is probably Staffords major strength, for all his inj probalems, he's so freakin clever he knows how to manage his way thru the game and have an impact. Another example was in the last q when Charman was running rampant and smashing the ball forward - he went into the ruck, sidestepped Charman who was looking for contact and just grabbed the ball and kicked it, again can't teach how smart that is, doing the exact thing the opposition isn't expecting
- Blokes like playing with him: likely because he's a little (or a lot) dirty and smart he falls into the category of "love playing with him, hate to play against him"
All in all, he's so valuable that i reckon our winning % when he's in would be pretty impressive as against when he's out (or when he's in but inj).
The real reason for this topic is that there is no replacement for him on the board for the next 1-3 years. I assume this is why he's survived the cut the last 2 years. Miller and Wallace would know that if/when he's fit (sadly about 10 games a year) we win a high proportion of these games and our structure is way better.
I know Phantom and others have been tolling this bells for years, but nights like last night show the looming big man hole for the Tigers. Unless Hughes and others are ready next year to be game winners (which is unfair on them and unrealistic) we're staring down the barrel until 2008/2009.
