I feel like i am becoming a broken record in this forum regarding this subject, i have been questioned several times about why i have been so strongly against the option of him moving back into the second row. WELL, if tonight wasn't the perfect example of why, then i give up.
A bloke of marty's size, strength, and aggression is far better utilized bashing and intimidating the big boys in the middle, helping set the platform for dce and our backline, as opposed to the narrow minded view of putting him out on the edges just to run at smaller blokes because it might earn him a few extra metres. Winning a game of footy starts with winning the battle in the middle, which was clearly evident in tonight's game. Big marty played a vital role in that tonight, he bent the line and created second phase plays around the ruck at nearly every opportunity, not to mention the wear and tear he inflicted to the roosters' middle men, they were deadset out on their feet, which was a great collaborative effort considering the quality of their pack. And for those of you that are reading this and still haven't joined the dots, it was these kinds of efforts around the middle of the field that set the platform for our backline to capitalise in the dying minutes of the game.
A bloke of marty's size, strength, and aggression is far better utilized bashing and intimidating the big boys in the middle, helping set the platform for dce and our backline, as opposed to the narrow minded view of putting him out on the edges just to run at smaller blokes because it might earn him a few extra metres. Winning a game of footy starts with winning the battle in the middle, which was clearly evident in tonight's game. Big marty played a vital role in that tonight, he bent the line and created second phase plays around the ruck at nearly every opportunity, not to mention the wear and tear he inflicted to the roosters' middle men, they were deadset out on their feet, which was a great collaborative effort considering the quality of their pack. And for those of you that are reading this and still haven't joined the dots, it was these kinds of efforts around the middle of the field that set the platform for our backline to capitalise in the dying minutes of the game.