www.rugbyleague.com Will sharp third most metres, third most carries after 27 weekly rounds. Need i say more. No wonder he has barely scored a try. Front row open side next season for me!!!

www.rugbyleague.com Will sharp third most metres, third most carries after 27 weekly rounds. Need i say more. No wonder he has barely scored a try. Front row open side next season for me!!!

Yup, and right beneath him are 2 more wingers who do a decent job carrying the ball up when in their own 20, Hall and Richards. I wish people would stop ranting about this, its one of the only things that McDermott actually does right.

Agreed. Sharp is decent on the kick return but too small when asked to have a second drive from DH on tackle 3.

By contrast, Melling has the size to do both jobs well.

Stats say that he's doing that part of his job perfectly.

Exactly, what more do people want?!

That would be same Hall who also has nearly 30 tries? Richards bags a good few also.

Just pointing out I'd sooner see Sharp flying down the touchline to score than carting the ball up on tackles 2 and 3 as is often the case.

Kick return tackle 1 granted, but then a prop or second row should be in there and Sharp backing up for a quick break / offload - not carting the ball up again after poor old Melling or Wells.

Have you seen the Hall for MOS thread on the VT? whats the service to Sharpe been like this season?

Exactly.

No service at all. But that is as much about our style of play than the person on the inside of Sharp. Even when the team was going well he didn't get any good ball - no wonder he ended up in the forwards!

Deary me. Its not hard to spot the person who has no idea about Rugby League.

Nah. Metres per carry for the wingers making 3000+ metres:

Hall 8.96
Fox 8.78
Melling 8.64
Hodgson 8.36
Richards 7.77
Sharp 7.36

Sharp is making massive metres only because he's making a massive number of carries that, individually, don't make much ground. Like I said, using Melling from DH/first receiver works because he is much stronger. Likewise Ryan Hall.

Leave Sharp to returning kicks and get someone else to take the ball up on tackles 2/3/4.

are you seriously criticising someone who made over 3000 metres for not doing they're job properly?

Nope, I think Will Sharp is a great player who does as he's instructed. I'm criticising the tactic that asks him to hit the ball up on tackles 2/3/4 when the oppo's defence is set.

Just checked out some more stats and Pelo, Meli make 8.5-9 metres a carry. Sharp's not going to do that against a defence that's set.

So 6th in his class of wingers making more than 3000m in a season? I'll take that. And 1.5m less than the top winger? Oh no! That what, 3 meters per set lost?

The problem isn't with Sharp, the problem is when and where we use him to make metres. Returning kicks and looking for quick taps out of the 20m where we can realistically catch a side out of position is fine. Using him to cart the ball out of our 20m time after time, when we're not realistically going to get a break out of it, to see him snotted after 5 metres is just stupid. From an average of 7m per carry I'm willing to guess there are going to be some where he'll exploit a broken field, which he's good at (and would be even better at with a little bit more personal composure, and a lot more second phase support from his team mates), and there are going to be a lot where he's taking the first hit up into a set defence because we've got a lightweight pack.

You've missed the point by some distance by thinking that the sum total of this is a loss of 3 metres per set.

The point is that a winger failing to make big metres per carry is also likely to be being regularly put on his back and coming up with a very slow PTB. Sadly, this is what happens to Sharp and it impacts on the next tackle where the defence gets breathing space and plenty of time to align itself.

In any case, even if the above weren't true, get into the arm wrestle and over 6 sets without error, you've lost 10 metres and instead of kicking for territory from the half-way line, you're kicking for territory well inside your own half.

Any coach with any sense will continually kick to towards Will Sharp in the knowledge that you'll have a good chance of winning the collision when he makes his second hit-up in the 6.

Kelvin's Ferret has it right I think.

Thanks for posting that link. Nice to see Danny Orr leads with 24 try assists. And Dorn is in 5th with 16. And Chad Randall leads the way in scoots (342).


Anyway that aside. Are people not aware of scoot sets to get out of trouble? Are you not aware that there are calls for such a thing? Where the backs come in and scoot out of dummy half for most of a set? Sounds like Sharp did this a lot on top of his Kick returns. As a back he'd potentially be involved in hit ups from scrums and the odd offering of a hit up in GP. Apart from that, statistically I would suggest that he may have got a fair chunk of metres from his 14 clean breaks. Couldn't help but notice too that Sharp of his 460 carries, 73 would have been scoots.



I think to point out Sharp's metres and carries and suggest forwards aren't doing something or he is being misused in some is a bit off the mark TBH.

The top 5 leading ball carriers in the NRL are, 1 Sailor 389. 2 Sam Perrett 383. Kurt Gidley 379. Jarryd Hayne 378. 5. Anthony Laffranchi 373.

In the NRL only 2 of the top 13 players making the most metres are forwards. In fact Billy Slater who was 8th got almost exactly half of his metres form kick returns.

Lets not lose sight of the fact props only play for 40 minutes(ive not seen Grahams stats as he tends to play 80 mins)

There is nothing unusual about backs taking the ball up from the PTB as this keeps the forwards fresh for there defensive work-equally you would rather a pacy player run at a tired defender than a lumbering prop(in certain situations!) hence why Saints send on Roby after 20 and Wire Higham- both scooting hookers

I don't think looking simply at the stats gives the true picture, nobody really seems to object to using Sharp as a kick returner, or against an unready defensive line, the issue is having him effectively take hit up after hit up into a set defence because we don't have enough grunt. Using Sharp in the middle of the field to make 5m from a slow tap penalty, or a hit-up which should go to a prop is the issue.

There's a lack of grunt, especially since Temata got injured, Temata is a bit of an unsung hero in our pack, people don't notice what he does, but they notice some of what goes when he doesn't play. Heckenberg and Haggerty have both had injury problems which means neither were up to the peak of their performance (Heckenberg has struggled for a couple of seasons now). Ward is solid, but is not as athletic as LMS or Temata, and lacks the brute power of Haggerty. And BM's thing for hard grafting back-row forwards is a mixed blessing, Williamson, Robinson and Purdham are all intelligent ball handlers and defensively very capable, but Purdham is the only one who really seems to have an attacking edge, and none of them are going to drive us down the field with raw aggression, so we end up having Will Sharp taking hit-ups to nowhere down the middle of the field.

I think we're all aware of this and I endorse it if you have the personnel. Like I said, some backs are cut out for this job - e.g. Chris Melling and others aren't - e.g. Will Sharp. I have no problem with big wingers doing the job and making metres/winning a quick PTB but I have concerns over little wingers getting smashed and turned on their backs.

I think on a kick return the defender/receiver usually a winger/FB takes the first contact. Due to the lack of availability of forwards at this stage with the ball being kicked over there heads the availability of a player to take the second [itake up [/iis inevitably the other winger or full back. Equally at this stage the defensive line of the opposition isnt fully set and there is an opportunity for a possible strike/line brake from a faster type of player.

It is following this(second hit up) that the forwards look to take it up usually(I stress-usually). So with that in mind, with Sharpe who is always looking for the ball, either tackle one or two will inevitably be his.

Whether he is effective with the ball or in this position is another question.

Someone said Williamson is capable in defense, he's a liabilty, who constanty gives away penalties for interference.