Gift probably played as bad as I have seen him for 40 minutes last night. Straightened up in second half and was much better.
But this whole debate re Glen is ridiculous.He is a hardened warrior coming off 2 major injuries playing in a depleted forward pack who is trying too hard to make his presence felt.Each week you see flashes of the stuff that made him an eagle legend and he will get better when he gets the finals scent in his nostrils.Even if he doesn't improve massively he is far better than the other options which leads me to the next point.
The flip side to this is the equally ridiculous talk about Hasson, Skinner etc taking gifts place while he has a stint in reserve grade.Young forwards drop in and out of games and make errors but the good ones show flashes of ability that make you stand up and take notice very early on.You could tell blokes like Cordner,Papali.Burgess,Docker etc were made for first grade straight away.
What I see in Hasson,Skinner,Gower is nothing.Simple as that.They look like fringe first graders/reserve graders at best.They play in a seconds side where the forwards are dominated basically every week and in the 3 or 4 games I have seen they don't stand out even at that level.The wraps that seem to be on Hasson amaze me to be honest. Against a z grade cowboys pack last night he was not sighted in the early exchanges.All these guys try but in my opinion lack class.
I have been on record as saying we wont match it with the best sides at the pointy end because of our injuries etc and I think that will end up being the case.But there is one area where we do have an advantage.We have blokes like Choc/Kite/Glen who have spilt maroon blood for years and know how to win big games under immense pressure-they get the job done even if they are not in top form.
Anyone who doesn't want Gift in a Manly jersey against the massive bunnies pack in a semi final is simply out of their mind.He knows how to get it done and has more class in his left pinky than those who would replace him.
But this whole debate re Glen is ridiculous.He is a hardened warrior coming off 2 major injuries playing in a depleted forward pack who is trying too hard to make his presence felt.Each week you see flashes of the stuff that made him an eagle legend and he will get better when he gets the finals scent in his nostrils.Even if he doesn't improve massively he is far better than the other options which leads me to the next point.
The flip side to this is the equally ridiculous talk about Hasson, Skinner etc taking gifts place while he has a stint in reserve grade.Young forwards drop in and out of games and make errors but the good ones show flashes of ability that make you stand up and take notice very early on.You could tell blokes like Cordner,Papali.Burgess,Docker etc were made for first grade straight away.
What I see in Hasson,Skinner,Gower is nothing.Simple as that.They look like fringe first graders/reserve graders at best.They play in a seconds side where the forwards are dominated basically every week and in the 3 or 4 games I have seen they don't stand out even at that level.The wraps that seem to be on Hasson amaze me to be honest. Against a z grade cowboys pack last night he was not sighted in the early exchanges.All these guys try but in my opinion lack class.
I have been on record as saying we wont match it with the best sides at the pointy end because of our injuries etc and I think that will end up being the case.But there is one area where we do have an advantage.We have blokes like Choc/Kite/Glen who have spilt maroon blood for years and know how to win big games under immense pressure-they get the job done even if they are not in top form.
Anyone who doesn't want Gift in a Manly jersey against the massive bunnies pack in a semi final is simply out of their mind.He knows how to get it done and has more class in his left pinky than those who would replace him.