Monday, February 16, 2004
Battle of the halves
At this stage the most interesting part of the Parramatta season is going to be what halves combination we end up with for the majority of the year. We really haven't had a great half/five-eight combination since Kenny and Sterling and while no-one is suggesting our halves are going to reach that standard this year, it could be the best since then.
Adam Dykes should have been one piece of the puzzle, since we signed him a couple of years back. But he just hasn't managed to stay on the park and when he was on the park last year he was slow and lacked the kind of timing that made him one of the best pivots in the comp when playing for Cronulla. However, the form he showed at the sevens suggest he is ready to finally show his best in the blue and gold.
1Eyed Eel must admit we've not had any time for Dykes since moving to the Eels. We were very excited, then, when we heard Smith had signed one of the UK's brightest stars, Chris Thorman. We figured a Thorman/Michael Witt combination might just be the halves answer we've been looking for.
However, I was interested to read that Thorman has been recruited squarely as a half back. "They signed me as a halfback, that's where I'm training, but if there's someone better than me, then I'll play anywhere," he told The Sydney Morning Herald.
Meanwhile, coach Brian Smith appears very keen to have Dykes on the park. In another Herald article he said: "[Dykes] is a high-quality player and if he has even luck he's going to be very good for us. He knows the ropes and he brings out the best in other players. They love being around him on the field."
This suggests as long as Dykes stays fit, it's going to be a battle between Witt and Thorman for the half back spot. While Witt was hailed as Parramatta's great white hope last year, he is only 20 and has not yet played a full season in the top grade, whereas Thorman has already represented England A with distinction against Australia.
That said, Witt has been signed for four years, so the Eels do see him as our future starting half-back. His fine running game will also complement Adam Dykes passing game superbly and while Dykes is best recognised for his tactical kicking, Witt has a longer boot.
That probably leaves Thorman coming off the bench. Smith likes to have a half-back/hooker kind of player coming off the bench and while James Webster was coming along well in that role last year, Thorman probably appears to be a classier player at this stage. With Lee Hopkins also representing an alternative option to John Morris at hooker, Parramatta will have that ability to move players around the park again that they had during 2001 when they were almost impossible to defence against.
This all assumes no injuries and as we've seen during the past two years, injuries do happen. The difference this year seems to be we have alternatives all over the past. Certainly with a line-up that includes Dykes, Witt, Morris, Thorman, Webster, Wagon and Hopkins, not to menion a player like former Warriors utility Jeremy Pai, we appear to have the depth to cover the halves and hooking positions.
At this stage the most interesting part of the Parramatta season is going to be what halves combination we end up with for the majority of the year. We really haven't had a great half/five-eight combination since Kenny and Sterling and while no-one is suggesting our halves are going to reach that standard this year, it could be the best since then.
Adam Dykes should have been one piece of the puzzle, since we signed him a couple of years back. But he just hasn't managed to stay on the park and when he was on the park last year he was slow and lacked the kind of timing that made him one of the best pivots in the comp when playing for Cronulla. However, the form he showed at the sevens suggest he is ready to finally show his best in the blue and gold.
1Eyed Eel must admit we've not had any time for Dykes since moving to the Eels. We were very excited, then, when we heard Smith had signed one of the UK's brightest stars, Chris Thorman. We figured a Thorman/Michael Witt combination might just be the halves answer we've been looking for.
However, I was interested to read that Thorman has been recruited squarely as a half back. "They signed me as a halfback, that's where I'm training, but if there's someone better than me, then I'll play anywhere," he told The Sydney Morning Herald.
Meanwhile, coach Brian Smith appears very keen to have Dykes on the park. In another Herald article he said: "[Dykes] is a high-quality player and if he has even luck he's going to be very good for us. He knows the ropes and he brings out the best in other players. They love being around him on the field."
This suggests as long as Dykes stays fit, it's going to be a battle between Witt and Thorman for the half back spot. While Witt was hailed as Parramatta's great white hope last year, he is only 20 and has not yet played a full season in the top grade, whereas Thorman has already represented England A with distinction against Australia.
That said, Witt has been signed for four years, so the Eels do see him as our future starting half-back. His fine running game will also complement Adam Dykes passing game superbly and while Dykes is best recognised for his tactical kicking, Witt has a longer boot.
That probably leaves Thorman coming off the bench. Smith likes to have a half-back/hooker kind of player coming off the bench and while James Webster was coming along well in that role last year, Thorman probably appears to be a classier player at this stage. With Lee Hopkins also representing an alternative option to John Morris at hooker, Parramatta will have that ability to move players around the park again that they had during 2001 when they were almost impossible to defence against.
This all assumes no injuries and as we've seen during the past two years, injuries do happen. The difference this year seems to be we have alternatives all over the past. Certainly with a line-up that includes Dykes, Witt, Morris, Thorman, Webster, Wagon and Hopkins, not to menion a player like former Warriors utility Jeremy Pai, we appear to have the depth to cover the halves and hooking positions.
