I like Meaney at fullback. There's a lot of talk about his lack of support play and lack of passing. But our team hasn't offered a lot in terms of getting a good pass to support runners lately. So I think as that improves, so will Meaney. His try last week was from picking the right line to run which is a definite sign that he has some instinct on where to attack. He's been nailed to a small zone of attack for most of his NRL games since dwz arrived, so the instinctive knowledge might need a week or two more to fire up completely.
As for the passing game, it requires that support runners be ready to take advantage, and our support play under Pay just never looked up to scratch. I'd love to see that improve this year and for it to be great heading into next year. But for now it needs to improve from the whole backline. Otherwise any pass he gets away can potentially kill momentum.
What I do know is that he's very safe with defusing attacking kicks and puts his body on the line to do so. He's shown he's good with cover defence. And he has speed which is not something you can manufacture.
The #1 jersey is his to win and his last two weeks have given me some confidence that he's worth persevering with. If at some stage a proven gun #1 signs with us, so be it. But he's looking pretty good in his natural position after a long time on the wing. Hopefully with another game or two to reacquaint himself with the added workload & knowing who he can expect to see second phase play from, he'll shine in attack more. But it's very crucial that he's been safe and reliable with the defensive side of the game first and foremost.