Ok, so I've been guilty just like many of being negative towards the guy (Flanno), SO when I watched yesterday's game again today I decided I might pay extra attention to his game to see what I come up with. I've ummed and ahhed about him like you for ages now, I wanted to get some facts to help me decide about him instead of running on emotion.
Winners are grinners and most players look good in a winning game.
So this will be long, if your not interested in this sort of thing then feel free to move on.
So if your still with me I watched him and made these notes,
* So I decided to do this after the 11th min and couldn't be bothered rewinding,
12th min - Kick, grubber that forces a line drop out
13th min - Kicked cross field, landed 10m out from opposition tryline - causes a knock-on = our scrum
* positional play and linking very good, organising forwards during play
14th min - JMK scores from dummy half scoot in the set from scrum
* Tigers have the ball for a bit here and score from JAC's wing error
22nd min - 5th tackle, 10m from tigers tryline Flanno takes on the line, stopped 1m out. At this point the backline was a little too deep but he should have passed it as there was an opportunity and most likely a try coming.
24th min - after a tigers kick Flanno was first back to dummy half to pass the ball, showed effort to be there ready 1%er
28th min - Prop run impacting on the line, Flanno waiting and available for the offload if needed. 1%er
29th min - arranging forwards during play and organising
30th min - Dogs attack falters near tigers tryline and we lose 25m, Flanno is back and available for the 5th tackle kick. Bomb lands 1m from tryline, good placement. 1%er
31st min - Dogs 1st tackle 15m out and Flanno stands as pivot, passes to JAC giving width, JAC runs 40m down field, passes to Burto who grubbers into in goal getting us a dropout. Flanno supporting inside Burto.
34th min - Allan catches kick on full and runs 40m. Dogs don't reset for attack, JMK passes to Flanno, takes the tackle and gets hurt a little 1%er
41st min - 1st man back at dummy half after tigers 5th tackle kick 1%er
50th min - Averillo try, Flanno first man there celebrating, Burto does the Penriff jump on group thing.
53rd min - 5th tackle kick, Flanno bomb lands 4m from tryline, good height and forces the tigers FB to jump under pressure from a screaming through Averillo.
53rd min - in defence Flanno adjusts well, makes tackle. Commentators say it's his 19th tackle so far.
54th min - Flanno does a 2 man cut out pass to Allan, Allan back inside for Kiraz to score
* Huge team celebration, JAC and Allan make intentional congrats to Flanno for the lead up pass Dogs 24 - 6.
66th min - Burto has ball on 5th tackle, switch play back to Flanno on other side of ruck. Flanno inside ball to a screaming through Averillo, AVO runs 10 to 15m before a chip/grubber that almost comes off for the dogs.
67th min - Schoupp intercept try, Flanno in support 1%er
70th min - Dogs get a penalty, Flanno can be seen in there organising the next play
71st min - Running switch play that started on the left and went back to the right and passes to a runner. Changing angles, not just 1 out stuff.
75th min - Flanno involved with a half break with Docker-Clay and Max King from dummy half.
77th min - Tigers make a break with Little. Flanno made it back to cover on the inside at FB and help stop the play. Vaughan then gets 10 mins in the bin. 1%er
79th min - Tamou consolation try - GAME OVER - YEAH DOGGIES 36 - 12.
I gave Flanno's game a 7/10 after watching it again. He played well.
Ok, so in conclusion to me his defence is solid and I don't think anyone can call out that part of his game.
His fitness is really high, he's always there as support runner, helping out guy's when being tackled and doing the 1%er's that you don't see unless watching for it.
So here's the question, he obviously not a massive point scoring/setting up half back but for me all we needed is/was someone to assist Burton and unlock Burto's potential. He does this quite well and one would think will get better. Flanno is on what> 450k by all reports, pretty much min wage for a halfback these days.
If I had my wish we would sign Jahrome Hughes, he's a great HB. Here's the quandary, do you go with the dominant 5/8, have a solid HB that does his job instead of breaking the bank and use that money in other areas?
We have Kikau and Mahoney next year, Burto, JAC, Averillo smashing it at FB, TPJ, RFM all adding to attack. That's not including the young blokes showing good things and Alamoti in the future, Is it an advantage having a solid HB and freeing up space for other area's of the salary cap?
Thank you for getting to this part if you made it. Hope this made sense.
Thoughts?
